Research Program

Macroeconomics and Finance.
Mario Damill, José María Fanelli and Roberto Frenkel are in charge of Macroeconomics and Finance area.

> Macroeconomic Policies in Argentina and Latin America.
Projects under way:
> Real exchange rate, growth, employment and socio-economic indicators.
Mario Damill and Roberto Frenkel.
Funding: SECyT.
The project’s objective is to characterize and quantify in the Argentine economy those channels through which a competitive and stable real exchange rate would have an impact on growth, the labour market as well as on revenue distribution, poverty and extreme poverty indicators.
Project duration: 2007-2010

> Macroeconomics, Growth, Employment, and Income Distribution in Argentina and Latin America.
Mario Damill; Roberto Frenkel; Roxana Maurizio and Martín Rapetti.
Funding: Although it is a permanent line of work, funding comes from different sources according to the time frame, mainly ILO, ECLAC and the Ministry of Labour and Social Security of Argentina.
The purpose of this study is to analyze the impact of the macroeconomic policies applied in Argentina and other countries of Latin America during the 1990s on economic growth, employment, and income distribution.
Project duration: Permanent research line.

> Growth Diagnosis for Argentina.
José María Fanelli and Omar Osvaldo Chisari (UADE).
Funding: IDB-CEDES.
The purpose of this study is to empirically test when and under what circumstances external and fiscal restrictions can become operational in the future.  An attempt is made to identify what shocks could slow down and interrupt growth.
Project Duration: 2007-2008.

Projects concluded (last five years):
> The Argentinean Debt: History, Default, and Restructuring.
Mario Damill, Roberto Frenkel, Luciana Juvenal and Martín Rapetti.
Funding: Initiative for Policy Dialogue, New York.
The purpose of this project was to analyze the evolution and determinants of the public and private Argentinean external indebtedness, from the mid 1970s to the present.
The research focused on the impact of economic policies on the process of indebtedness. Specifically, it examined the extent to which the particular form of international integration -financial and commercial- and its interaction with the exchange policy contributed to a macroeconomic configuration that promoted the use of external financing by domestic agents. On the basis of this conceptual framework, the study analyzed the dynamics of the Argentinean external indebtedness during the last 30 years as well as the recent restructuring of the public external debt.
Project duration: 2004.

> Macroeconomic Policies and Social Vulnerability in Argentina.
Mario Damill, Roberto Frenkel and Roxana Maurizio.
Funding: Economic Commission for Latin America and Caribbean (ECLAC).
The main objective was to analyze the impact of the macroeconomic policies applied in Argentina during the 1990s on social vulnerability.
Project duration: 2002-2003.

> Macroeconomic Projections for Argentina.
Mario Damill and Daniel Kampel.
Funding: United Nations Development Program (UNDP).
The main objective of this project was to develop product and inflation projections that served as a basis for making tax revenues projections.
Project duration: 1995-2004.
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> Coordination of Macroeconomic Policies under Regional Agreements.
Projects under way:
> Growth diagnosis in MERCOSUR: regional and competitiveness-related dimensions.
José María Fanelli.
Funding: International Development Research Center (IDRC)–Canada, Red MERCOSUR.
Project objectives are as follows: a) to identify restraints on an increase in productivity and on activities giving rise to competitiveness in Brazil and Argentina; b) to identify areas in which regional intervention could be relevant so as to contribute to improving self-discovery activities and improve price and non price related competitiveness; c) to define the main uncertainties, coordination failures and resource restrictions which jeopardize the capacity to strengthen competitiveness in the identified areas; d) to elaborate on the characteristics of policy instruments which should be developed to remedy market failures acting at the regional level to turn MERCOSUR into a platform of self-discovery activities linked to the tradable sector; e) to characterize the evolution of fiscal and external gaps and macroeconomic volatility with the purpose of assessing to what extent an opportunity window has been opened to support regional policies and improve the implementation of such policies in a less volatile environment;  f) to analyze the implications of initiatives identified for Argentina and Brazil in the light of the interests of the smallest partners.
Project Duration: 2007-2008.

> Fiscal space for MERCOSUR’s growth.
José María Fanelli.
Funding: International Development Research Center (IDRC)-Canada, Red MERCOSUR.
The project’s main objective is to assess tax changes so as to estimate whether it is possible to generate more "fiscal space" to ensure growth through the coordination of specific tax-related initiatives and the creation of regional mechanisms to optimize the management of external resources which accumulate as a result of the current account surplus.
Project Duration: 2007-2008.

> MERCOSUR: Integration and Economic Research, Phase III (Regional project).
Economic Growth, Institutions, and Financial Integration Policies in the MERCOSUR
José María Fanelli, Martín González Rozada, Ariel Héctor Geandet, Eduardo Ariel and Ramiro Albrieu Roca.
Funding: International Development Research Center (IDRC), Canada.
The main purpose of this project is to study the conditions for financial integration in the MERCOSUR in terms of institutional requirements, and to analyze how financial integration could further integration, encouraging regional growth.
Project duration: 2005-2008.

Projects concluded (last five years):
> Macroeconomic Coordination in the MERCOSUR (Phase II).
José María Fanelli and Martín González Rozada.
Funding: International Development Research Center (IDRC), Canada.
The project had two primary objectives at the institutional and research levels. Firstly, it attempted to establish a research network comprised by the main institutions devoted to economic studies in the countries of the MERCOSUR. Secondly, it aimed at generating regional studies on (a) the effects of the financial crisis in Argentina and the changes in the Brazilian regime on the integration process; (b) the consequences of national economic cycles on the coordination of macroeconomic policies; and (c) possible exchange regimes appropriate for the region. The project made a conceptual and instrumental contribution to the design of economic policy regarding integration in the MERCOSUR.
Project duration: 2004-2005.

> Macroeconomic Coordination in the Mercosur.
José María Fanelli.
Funding: International Development Research Center (IDRC), Canada.
The general objectives of the research project were: a) to analyze the implications of the recent changes in Brazil and Argentina in terms of restrictions and new opportunities for the macroeconomic coordination in the region, b) to analyze the factors associated with macroeconomic coordination, especially cyclic movements, and c) to formulate policy conclusions on: i) the problem of identifying the “best long term monetary regime and exchange rate” for the region, ii) the design of the transition period following the current crisis, and iii) the debate on the need to develop macroeconomic coordination institutions.
Project duration: 2002-2004.
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> Financial Systems.
Projects under way:
> Democratizing the debate on topics related to financial regulations.
Mario Damill and Roberto Frenkel.
Funding: Ford Foundation.
The main objective is to enhance public understanding of the main topics related to the financial regulations in the broad sense of the word, that is to say, regulations applicable to the banking sector, capital flows, taxation, etc. by encouraging public debate.
Project Duration: 2007-2010.

Projects concluded (last five years):
> International Financial Architecture, Macroeconomic Volatility, and Institutional Designs.
José María Fanelli.
Funding: International Development Research Center (IDRC), Canada.
The general objectives of the project were: a) to identify the exogenous sources of volatility in certain countries, with their specific financial market failures; b) to characterize the structure and components of DFA (Domestic Financial Architecture) in terms of their ability to absorb exogenous shocks, their propensity to amplify noises, and their functionality vis-á-vis the performance of international capital markets; c) to examine the impact of exogenous volatility on the establishment of institutions comprising the DFAs and interacting with restrictions in economic policy; d) to examine the implications of the interconnection between the IFA (International Financial Architecture) and the DFA, adopting the perspective of the country under study and, if possible, to find the regional perspective; e) to recognize and analyze the reforms in the institutional agreements governing international financial flows, including the regional dimension (along the lines of the Chiang Mai Initiative).
Project duration: 2004-2006.

> Microfinance and Financial System in Argentina.
Mario Damill, Lucio Simpson, Nicolás Salvatore and Luciana Juvenal.
Funding: School of Economics, Universidad de Buenos Aires.
The main objective of this research project was to evaluate the potential role of the banking system in the development of microfinance in Argentina, in particular in the granting of microloans to low-income households.
Project duration: 2002-2003.

> Economic Reforms.
Projects concluded (last five years):
> Understanding Reforms.
José María Fanelli.
Funding: Global Development Network (GDN).
The general objective of this research project was to increase and go deeper in the state of knowledge on the reforms in place, in order to improve the design and implementation of future reform efforts, which includes learning lessons and applying good practices.
Three basic research questions were posed and answered under this project: 1) Why did the countries carry out the reforms?; 2) What factors allowed them to carry out the reforms? How could these factors shape the design and implementation of the reforms?; and 3) How well are reforms doing? What were the reform outcomes?
Project duration: 2002-2004.
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Applied Microeconomics and Public Policies.
Daniel Maceira is in charge of the Applied Microeconomics and Public Policies area.

> Organization, Financing, and Equity in the Argentinean Health Care System.
Projects under way:
> Catastrophic financial expenditure on health in Latin America.  Argentina Chapter.
Daniel Maceira.
Funding: IDRC.
From a financial perspective, the Argentine health system is organized into three sub-sectors: the public and private sectors and the social security sector.  The project’s main objective is to understand the effectiveness of formal insurance (private and social) as well as the public sector opportunities to meet health needs.  An attempt is made to carry out a comparative study on the evolution of health expenditure coverage and the use of health services by analyzing changes between income quintiles in the 2003-2005 period.
Project Duration: 2008.

> Local Health Systems.
Daniel Maceira (coord.)
Funding: Ramón Carrillo-Arturo Oñativia Fellowships, National Health Ministry.
The purpose of the study is to carry out an in-depth analysis of the structure, organization and outcomes of three provincial experiences to identify priorities for building assurance mechanisms so as to set up solvent risk-pooling based on horizontal equality parameters.  In view of the health system's decentralized and disarticulated scheme, each jurisdiction has to test its own funding and health care structures on the basis of its idiosyncrasy, both from an epidemiological and health infrastructure standpoint as well as regarding the relative weight of the different participating sector institutions.  Health-related outcomes stem from the interaction of these structures with the funding and service provision mechanisms.
Project Duration: 2007-2008.

> Analysis of Córdoba’s Health Care System.
Daniel Maceira and Ignacio Apella.
Funding: Collaboration of the IADB, within the framework of the Primary Health Care Reform Program in the Province of Cordoba.
The objectives of the project are to establish a situational diagnosis of the provincial health system and study the existing correlation between service supply and users’ needs and the interrelation between the various health subsystems, identifying feasible cooperation and coordination mechanisms. At the same time, the project intends to analyze the Provincial Employees’ Health Care System (IPAM) as a key stakeholder in the provincial health financing system and as a key institution in the development of the primary health care program, identifying the kind of contracting and monitoring of provider networks that have been established as providers integrated to the provincial health care system, and analyzing available information, differences and similarities in the organization and performance across these networks.
Project duration: 2002-.

Projects concluded (last five years):
> Allocation of resources to health.
Daniel Maceira and Ignacio Apella.
Funding: Laboratorio Roche.
The purpose of this study is to identify the health sector’s insertion compared to other budgetary items within the Argentine Treasury’s allocation and delivery outline.  An attempt is made to identify the evolution of the sector throughout time relating the sector to the health system's reforms and milestones in the last decade.  Special interest will be attached to the study on the impact the decentralized processes have on resource allocation at the central level.
This publication focused on funding will consider the decision-making and budget delivery mechanisms regarding health expenditure in Argentina and will try and answer the following queries:  how much of the national budget is spent on health, how is the national health budget  distributed among the different sector items, which are the inputs used to support decision-making on budget allocation in the field of health and is there any decision-making mechanism based on reliable information for health-related public policy formulation.
A survey will be carried out of historical, economic and political milestones that could have had an impact on the health budget allocation and the sector's expenditure.  An attempt will be made to identify the potential convergence between national public efforts in health (measured in terms of budget allocation) and the outcomes achieved within the framework of the financed programmes and resources.
Project Duration: 2006-2007.

> Equity and Health. Health Care and Development at the National Level.
Sonia Bumbak.
Funding: Ramón Carrillo-Arturo Oñativia Fellowship, from Estudios Colaborativos Multicéntricos, National Commission of Health Care Research Programs/Ministry of Health and Environment.
The main purpose of this project is to analyze equity in two dimensions: a) Expenditure on health, and b) Health outcomes in all the country provinces.
Project duration: 2005-2006.

> Provincial Employees’ Health Care Systems: The Case of Tierra del Fuego.
Daniel Maceira and Ignacio Apella.
Funding: Cámara Argentina de Especialidades Medicinales (CAEMe).
This proposal aims at providing a detailed analysis of some aspects concerned with the performance of the employees’ health care system of Tierra del Fuego, identifying parameters for the analysis of health care policy. It also intends to provide a perspective that helps establish a diagnosis and formulate recommendations for the internal debate on social policies.
Main topics: a) brief situational diagnosis of the provincial health sector within the national context, b) institutional organization of the employees’ health care system, its regulations, and coordination with the provincial health care system, c) management and financing mechanisms, d) contracting structure, payment mechanisms and outcomes, e) recommendations and suggestions for the debate.
Project duration: 2004-2006.

> Changes in Household Use and Expenditure Patterns in Health and Impact of the Macroeconomic Crisis (1997-2003).
Daniel Maceira and Fernanda Villalba.
Funding: Cámara Argentina de Especialidades Medicinales (CAEMe).
The purpose of this work was to study the patterns of health service use and out-of-pocket expenditure by income quintile, contrasting the results from 1997 and their projections with the data available in the Use and Expenditure Survey 2003. The research analyzed the variation in health coverage in the Argentinean population by type of insurance and by income quintile.
Project duration: 2004-2005.

> Risk Pooling, Savings, and Prevention: Regional Study of Policies and Institutions for the Protection of the Poor from the Effects of Health Shocks.
Daniel Maceira.
Funding: World Bank.
The objective of the project was to analyze, in Argentina, by region and by income quintile, possible household financial risks in the case of a health shock. The ultimate goal was to evaluate the impact of out-of-pocket expenditures on income due to a health shock, and their possible catastrophic effects on the family sustainability and the creation of human capital. The research drew on the insurance theory described by Ehrilich and Beker (1972), which consists in identifying three protection mechanisms: self-insurance, self-protection, and market-insurance, recognizing differentiated behaviors among individuals according to the mechanism chosen.
Project duration: 2003-2004.

> Organization, Financing, and Equity in the Argentinean Health Care System.
Daniel Maceira.
Funding: World Bank.
This document had two main objectives: a) to detect inequalities in the financing of health services across provinces, regions, and income quintiles within each of these regions, and b) to estimate current patterns of household expenditure on health services.
Project duration: 2002-2003.

> Provincial Employees’ Health Care System. Comparative Analysis of Organization, Financing, and Management.
Daniel Maceira.
Funding: Social Expenditure Department, Ministry of Economy, with the support of Cámara de Obras y Servicios Sociales Provinciales de la República Argentina (COSSPRA).
The purpose of the project was to analyze the provincial employees’ health care system as a whole, considering the various regulations across districts, and the existing gaps among them. The structures of theoretical income and expenditure by beneficiary were compared, using the funds disbursed by the provincial public sector as parameter.
Project duration: 2002-2005.

> National Employees’ Health Care System. Financing and Equity.
Daniel Maceira and Valeria Cicconi.
Funding: World Bank.
The purpose of this study was to analyze the general characteristics of the national employees’ health care system, its financing sources, service provision, and fund allocation mechanisms across institutions. The work focused on the analysis of this subsystem as a mechanism within the Argentinean social insurance system, identifying its ability to provide access to health services and its feasibility as a resource redistribution tool across groups of formal workers.
Project duration: 2002-2004.
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> Reform Experiences in Latin American and the Caribbean.
Projects under way:
> Political Economy in the Health Sector: Stakeholders and Strategies. The Case of Uruguay.
Daniel Maceira.
Funding: World Bank.
The project aims at studying the dynamics of the Uruguayan health sector within a framework of analysis that takes into account the interaction among the various stakeholders involved: Ministry of Health, Mutual Associations, Private Providers, Financiers, Associations of Physicians.
Project duration: 2004-.

Projects concluded (last five years):
> Technical document on the health sector funding and reform: a systematized analysis of key experiences and models in Latin America and Europe. 
Daniel Maceira (Coord.).
Funding: EUROsociAL, Instituto de Investigación para el Desarrollo.
The publication’s objectives are as follows: a) to analyze intra-system organization patterns in terms of health service funding, assurance and provision; b) to identify the system’s participants and the financial reform mechanisms set up by the selected nations; c) to establish a reference framework so as to carry out a comparative analysis, considering the structure of each health system, its equality, social cohesion and assurance implications, and the risk absorption and transfer mechanisms between players.
Project Duration: 2007.

> Labour disputes and governance in the Latin American health sector.
Daniel Maceira.
Funding: IDRC.
Objectives: The idea is to identify and look into existing and potential governance problems in the region’s health systems. The Project seeks to make an analysis of the relevant players which participate in the reform procedures and establishes their interrelations, level of influence and participation in the design process.
Project duration: 2006-2007.

> Decision-making Process in Health Sector Reforms. Experiences in Latin America.
Daniel Maceira.
Funding: Inter-American Development Bank (IADB).
The purpose of this project was to analyze the policy-making process of the health sector reforms carried out in Latin America. The basic hypothesis is that such process takes place in a space involving two main aspects: institutional development level in the public sector, and power of the various stakeholders to participate in and influence the reform agenda. This, in turn, presupposes the existence of certain initial conditions in the sector which determine who the stakeholders structuring the health sector are, how goals and strategies of each one of them are defined, and how they interweave (Maceira, 2004). The policy-making process of the health sector reform incorporates, thus, specific aspects in each case, given the diversity of stakeholders and participating interests.
Project duration: 2004-2005.

> Comparative Analysis of Health Care Systems: Latin America, Western and Eastern Europe, United States, and Canada.
Daniel Maceira, Eugenia Barbieri and Bárbara Lignelli.
Funding: OSDE.
The purpose of the project was to obtain a comparative picture of current social insurance mechanisms, global patterns of resource management and payment mechanisms, and ability of the various coverage schemes to meet the needs of the population.
Project duration: 2004.

> Public Contracting of NGOs in El Salvador Health Sector.
Daniel Maceira and Fernanda Villalba.
Funding: PHR Plus.
On the basis of the Program of Essential Health and Nutrition Services (SESYN, in Spanish), the study intended to analyze the capitated contracting of four NGOs in El Salvador by the national government, with funds from international loans. The goal of the initiative was to provide preventive and primary health coverage to traditionally priority low-income groups and living in rural areas in the Departments of Ahuachapán and Sonsonate, in the West of the country.
Project duration: 2004.

> Social Health Insurance in the South Cone.
Daniel Maceira.
Funding: Centro Latinoamericano de Economía Humana (CLAEH-Uruguay).
The project aimed at discussing the tools used by the Latin American South Cone nations to expand coverage beyond traditional systems and to identify the alternative or complementary financing modalities that were incorporated.
Project duration: 2002-2003.

> Bolivia: Evaluation of the Decentralization Process and Poverty Reduction by Geographical Area and Perspectives.
Daniel Maceira.
Funding: Inter-American Development Bank (IADB).
The objective of the project was to establish a quantitative and qualitative diagnosis of the achievements and limitations of decentralization with regard to poverty reduction, analyze the role of geographical and demographic variables (ecological land, rural and urban areas, ethnic groups) in the ability of the process to improve the population’s quality of life, and provide future perspectives and recommendations following the reforms introduced by the National Dialogue Act.
Project duration: 2001-2003.
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> Priority Interventions in Health.
Projects under way:
> Cost analysis of the HIV/AIDS/STD Comprehensive Care Programme for Truck Drivers along National Route No. 11 of Argentina.
Daniel Maceira, Pedro Kremer and Bárbara Lignelli.
Funding: The World Bank.
In the last few years AIDS has been one of the greatest challenges for health policies worldwide due to the increasing need for State intervention to diminish the incidence of this disease and its effects on the population as well as narrow the gap in access to treatment and prevention.
From this viewpoint, it is necessary to identify State operating mechanisms to allow the participation of all civil society players in these activities.  The publication aims at identifying costs linked to this kind of initiative.  The case study chosen was one that analyzed the incidence of HIV on the cargo transport sector in Santa Fe province, focusing on the Rosario-Santa Fe stretch of National Route No. 11.
Project Duration: 2008.

Projects concluded (last five years):
> Multicentric collaborative study to develop methodologies for establishing priorities in selecting research work.
María Eugenia Barbieri.
Source of Funding: Ramón Carrillo-Arturo Oñativia Fellowship-National Health Ministry
Public funding of a significant part of health expenditure under conditions of budgetary constraints calls for establishing priorities and criteria to allocate the available monetary, human and physical resources. In view of the above, the setting of priorities in the field of health aims to provide an instrument for choosing between interventions, seeking a more efficient use of the limited resources. This paper has the purpose of analyzing the status of available knowledge on effectiveness and cost evaluation studies regarding health-related problems prioritized in Argentina.
Project duration: 2006-2007.

> Compulsory HIV/SIDA Testing in the Labor World and Discrimination in Argentina.
Daniel Maceira, Bárbara Lignelli, Fernanda Villalba and Mercedes Vellez.
Funding: World Bank, International Labor Organization (ILO).
The objective of this project is to approach the study of compulsory HIV/SIDA testing and discrimination in the labor world in Argentina, focusing on the case of the city of Buenos Aires.
Project duration: 2005.

> Financing and Costing of the National Immunization Program in Paraguay.
Daniel Maceira, Sonia Bumbak and Martín Peralta.
Funding: World Bank.
The main purposes of this study were: a) to understand the primary factors affecting financial sustainability and coverage level of vaccination through time, b) to identify and analyze the determinants of coverage gaps in various geographical areas, c) to design specific strategies to address these gaps, and estimate the cost of immunization services for Paraguay.
Project duration: 2004-2006.

> Analysis of the Remediar Program. Evaluation and Follow-up Notes.
Daniel Maceira.
Funding: Inter-American Development Bank (IADB).
The Remediar Program provides generic medicines free of charge to the population seeking care at Primary Health Care Centers (PHCCs). The purpose of this study was to evaluate the program outcomes regarding their various elements: dissemination of generic medicines, transfer of the demand from public hospitals to Primary Health Care Centers, outreach to population with UBNs.
Project duration: 2003-2005.

>Financing, Decentralization, and Reforms in Sexual and Reproductive Health in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Daniel Maceira.
Funding: Ford Foundation and Mc Arthur Foundation.
This study intended to analyze the impact of health system reforms, especially the decentralization and financing processes, on sexual and reproductive health indicators and the extent to which this perspective is considered at the time of designing health care policies.
Project duration: 2002-2003.
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> The Pharmaceutical Sector.
Projects concluded (last five years):
ANMAT-INPI: Organization, Structure, and Lessons from International Experiences.
Daniel Maceira, Sonia Bumbak, Eugenia Barbieri and Martín Peralta.
Funding: Centro de Implementación de Políticas Públicas para la Equidad y el Crecimiento (CIPPEC).
This project provides an organizational overview of the ANMAT (National Administration of Medicines, Food, and Medical Technology) and the INPI (National Institute of Industrial Property), compares their structures, goals, and strategies with similar institutions from Brazil, Chile, Spain and the United States, and presents recommendations and a future research agenda. It studies the roles, capacities, and responsibilities of the ANMAT and INPI and the links between both institutions; regulatory changes, drivers motivating them, and their effects on the institutional management; and the strategy of the pharmaceutical industry and their implications on the actions of the regulatory and monitoring institutions. International comparisons focus on the central processes that allow the regulating agencies to control the quality of the medicines.
Project duration: 2005.

> The Argentinean Pharmaceutical Market and Public Production of Medicines.
Ignacio Apella.
Funding: Ramón Carrillo-Arturo Oñativia Fellowship, from Estudios Colaborativos Multicéntricos, National Commission of Health Care Research Programs / Ministry of Health and Environment.
The purpose of this research was to know the structure of the Argentinean pharmaceutical market and the evolution of drug demand in terms of the existing gap between potential and actual demand and their causes. It also studied the ability of the public sector as a producer of medicines, through various laboratories, to meet the needs of the population without actual access to them. The study also opened up the debate on the organization mechanisms of the sector as a whole, based on the theory of Political Economy.
Project duration: 2004-2005.

> Entry of New Products and Price Response in Pharmaceutical Markets without Patent Protection: The Argentinean Case.
Daniel Maceira.
The purpose of this study was to verify the leader-follower hypothesis in the Argentinean pharmaceutical markets, until recently without patent protection and thus allowing immediate entry, and to compare the results with those obtained in the United States.
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> Organization, Strategy, and Competition in Sectors Producing Goods and Services in Argentina.
Projects under way:
> Strategies for product differentiation on the workers’ compensation market.
Daniel Maceira.
Funding: self-funded.
The publication aims at providing answers to the following research-related questions: a) with regard to the morphology of the workers’ compensation market, does this market show similar concentration levels to those of the other social security sub-systems?  How has it evolved throughout time?; b) Is there any link between price and actual or perceived quality?; c) Is there a horizontal differentiation mechanism by field of specialization either between economic activity branches (intra labour risks) or insurance provision (among insurance activities)?; c) is there any risk transfer or absorption mechanisms between workers’ compensation agencies and the contracting companies? 
Project Duration: 2006-.

> Private capitalization systems in Latin America: a comparative study.
Daniel Maceira.
Funding: Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). Research Department.
An important social security reform process took place in Latin America during the nineties as a result of the pension fund and social security system crisis.  Based on this context, the project's objective is to convene the region's researchers to publish a book showing the status of knowledge on this sector.  The methodology for presenting each of the topics is based on a comparative analysis of relevant aspects pertaining to at least three national system case studies.  The publication covers the following topics: a) introduction; b) organization of private capitalization systems in Latin America; c) market structure, cost structure and strategic behaviour of the supply sector; d) optimum portfolio regulation; e) coverage of the private capitalization system; f) regulatory instruments.
Project Duration: 2006-.

> Regulatory mechanisms of the Argentine pension system.
Daniel Maceira and Ignacio Apella.
Funding: agreement between the Pension Fund Managers (AFJP) Superintendent's Office and School of Economic Sciences, Universidad de Buenos Aires.
Project Duration: 2005-.

Projects concluded (last five years):
> Regulation and Competition in the Argentinean Market of AFJPs: A Literature Review.
Daniel Maceira and Ignacio Apella.
Funding: AFJP Control Agency.
The main goal of this study is to review the theoretical framework that supported the traditional mechanism of economic regulation, the developments that challenged their validity, and the lines of thought giving rise to the new mechanisms adopted by the theory and the economic applications of the regulation.
Project duration: 2005.

> Product Differentiation and Demand in the Argentinean System of AFJPs.
Ignacio Apella and Daniel Maceira.
Funding: The project was carried out under the agreement between the AFJP Control Agency and the School of Economics, Universidad de Buenos Aires.
The purpose of the project was to study market share determinants and sources of product differentiation, in terms of number of positive contributors received on a three-monthly basis. Taking into account not only the price of the social security contribution, but also those characteristics associated with vertical and/or horizontal product differentiation policy, the parameters of the demand function were estimated.
Project duration: 2004.

> Strategic Behavior in the Argentinean Market of AFJPs.
Ignacio Apella and Daniel Maceira.
Funding: The project was carried out under the agreement between the AFJP Control Agency and the School of Economics, Universidad de Buenos Aires.
This study focused on the existence of a possible collusive agreement among the first four AFJPs since December 1997. The main objective was to know the relevance of profit margin on the price.
Project duration: 2004.