TY - JOUR AU - Goldberg,Pinelopi Koujianou AU - Pavcnik,Nina TI - The Effects of the Colombian Trade Liberalization on Urban Poverty JF - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series VL - No. 11081 PY - 2005 Y2 - January 2005 UR - http://www.nber.org/papers/w11081 L1 - http://www.nber.org/papers/w11081.pdf N1 - Author contact info: Pinelopi K. Goldberg Yale University Department of Economics 37 Hillhouse Ave. P.O. Box 208264 New Haven, CT 06520-8264 E-Mail: penny.goldberg@yale.edu Nina Pavcnik Department of Economics 6106 Rockefeller Center Dartmouth College Hanover, NH 03755 Tel: 603/646-2537 Fax: 603/646-2122 E-Mail: nina.pavcnik@dartmouth.edu M1 - published as Pinelopi Koujianou Goldberg, Nina Pavcnik. "The Effects of the Colombian Trade Liberalization on Urban Poverty," in Ann Harrison, editor, "Globalization and Poverty" University of Chicago Press (2007) AB - We examine whether the Colombian trade reform can explain any of Colombia's decline in urban poverty between 1984 and 1995. Our approach focuses on short- and medium- run channels through which trade reform could affect poverty. Despite the chronological coincidence of the poverty reduction with the trade reforms over this period, we do not observe any evidence of a link between poverty and tariff reductions operating through the labor income channel. Our descriptive analysis suggests that although poverty is predominately concentrated among individuals living in households with unemployed head, it is non-negligible among the employed and especially those working in the informal sector and those paid below minimum wage. Industry affiliation also plays a role. However, we find no evidence that the trade reforms reduced poverty via any of the above variables in a significant way. We cannot rule out the possibility that trade liberalization has contributed to the poverty reduction through general equilibrium effects, and in particular through its potential role in lowering the prices of goods consumed primarily by the poor. ER -