An Econometric Cost-Benefit Analysis of Argentina's Youth Training Program

Victor Elias, Fernanda Ruiz Núñez, Ricardo Cossa and David Bravo

No 3174, Research Department Publications from Inter-American Development Bank, Research Department

Abstract: The Youth Training Program (YTP) was an important component of Argentina’s active labor policy of the 1990s. The program offered courses of three months’ duration, divided equally between lectures and practical experience, and targeted young people, most of whom were not employed and had a low level of education. The program was offered by different institutions chosen through a bidding process and included courses in the fields of agriculture, manufacture, construction and services. This paper conducts an econometric cost-benefit analysis of the fifth round of the YTP. Benefits (wage increases, increase in likelihood of employment, increase in earnings) are estimated using non-matching (Before and After, Cross Section and Difference in Difference) and matching techniques based on propensity score estimate (Nearest Neighbor, Kernel, Local Linear Regression) in order to avoid selection bias. Estimates of the ATE and TT effects are also provided. A sample consisting of 1,670 beneficiaries and a similarly-sized comparison group provided the information necessary to apply the methodology. Benefit estimates are made for the aggregate, by gender and for both youth and adults. Regional differences are also provided. The cost includes direct and indirect components and the alternative cost of beneficiaries reducing their contributions to output during the program. Estimates of rate of return are provided based on the previous benefit and cost estimation. In general, the results support an estimate of 10 percent of return. This looks reasonable if it is compared with the very low rate of return of education estimated separately for the beneficiaries group. Finally, the management of the program is evaluated.

Date: 2004-11
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (11)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.iadb.org/research/pub_hits.cfm?pub_id=R ... le_name=pubR-482.pdf (application/pdf)
Our link check indicates that this URL is bad, the error code is: 404 Not Found (http://www.iadb.org/research/pub_hits.cfm?pub_id=R-482&pub_file_name=pubR-482.pdf [301 Moved Permanently]--> https://www.iadb.org/research/pub_hits.cfm?pub_id=R-482&pub_file_name=pubR-482.pdf)

Related works:
Working Paper: An Econometric Cost-Benefit Analysis of Argentina’s Youth Training Program (2004)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:idb:wpaper:3174

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Research Department Publications from Inter-American Development Bank, Research Department Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Felipe Herrera Library ().