Call for research proposals:

Labour Demand and Job Creation: Empirical Evidence from Firms in Latin America

Context and motivation

CEDLAS and IDRC recently launched a regional research project on Labour markets for inclusive growth in
Latin America. Over the last two decades, Latin American societies experienced a series of major transforma-
tions, which affected the role and the characteristics of their labour markets. These changes arose from the
impact of globalization, from structural reforms and from a series of crises, which affected both workers and
firms. The project’s research agenda lies at the intersection of labour supply and demand perspectives. It will
seek to account for the implications of changes in labour supply, firm employment demand, labour market
policies and partial social protection reforms, among other related factors. The project will facilitate crucial
policy dialogues influenced by robust evidence on the labour market challenges facing Latin American
economics and the proper articulation of policies needed for more inclusive jobs.1

Call for proposals

CEDLAS and IDRC are launching a competitive call for proposals for research teams based in Latin America2
for three studies on factors affecting labour demand based on firm-level data (see the section on data sources
below). The proposals will be selected in two phases (expressions of interest and full proposals) by the selection
committee detailed below.
The major economic changes in Latin America in the last few decades, such as increased openness and structural
reforms, have modified the productive structure in terms of the distribution of firms’ size and productivity, tax
and social security compliance, informality status, skill intensity, labour demand, employment creation and
rotation, structure and levels of remuneration levels, and other related factors. The selected proposals will
develop country case studies3 dealing with the topics related to those listed below:4
ƒ the relationship between labour regulations, firm productivity and the demand for skills;
ƒ the effect of social protection systems’ incentives on firm’s employment and formality decisions – such as
the effect of social transfers or legal status on the demand for labour;
ƒ the interaction of labour market regulations and institutions (including taxes or contributive and non-
contributive social protection systems) on employment creation, formality levels and/or job displacement;
ƒ the type of employment (formal-informal; subcontracts; etc.) offered by firms, and its relationship with
worker’s characteristics and remuneration levels, with emphasis on firms offering multiple contract types;
ƒ the identification of labour demand aspects (for instance, job creation, formality levels and job displace-
ment) through the impact of policy changes.

The proposals will be evaluated according to their academic rigor, their originality and their policy relevance.
The expressions of interest will have to specify the national debate on these issues and their potential to inform
and influence this debate. They will also need to specify how the proposed study differs from those existing in
the literature and from the authors’ previous research – proposals should consist of original work. The research
resulting from this call will be presented and discussed within this project’s workshops and events, and the final
research documents (to be written in English) will be disseminated as CEDLAS working papers. Although a
policy-oriented version of the resulting papers will be included in a collective volume, the authors will be
encouraged to submit their work to refereed journals.

1
For more information on the project, please visit the website http://www.Labor-AL.org
2
The principal investigator must be based in an institution in the region, but teams can include researchers from developed countries.
3
Note however that multi-country studies based on microdata will also be considered.
4
Please note that the selection team will accept informal enquiries regarding potential research topics. These enquiries should be sent to
the following email address: laboral@cedlas.org
 
Research Project: Labour Markets for Inclusive Growth in Latin America – www.Labor-AL.org – laboral@cedlas.org  
 
Data sources
This call for proposals aims to produce evidence derived from firm level data – such as establishment level
information; firm surveys; economic census; tax, social security and other administrative information; and
related sources. Each team will need to demonstrate a capacity (i.e., possession of databases, licenses, etc.) to
access its selected sources throughout the duration of the project. Teams with previous research experience with
the data sources will be preferred, and priority will be given to studies based on linked employer-employee data.

Application procedure and project timeline

Selection process: Expression of interest-team’s experience. December 1, 2010-January 28, 2011
The candidates should include the CVs of all team members and a short (five page maximum) expression of
interest in English, detailing the following items:
1. Section 1: Overview of the team’s proposed study (three pages maximum)
2. Description of the proposal’s data sources, including the team’s previous experience with the
data and the institutional arrangement for data access.
3. Policy relevance of the results: the proposal should specify the national debate on the proposal’s
objectives.
4. Research to policy and dissemination strategy: the proposals should specify their potential to in-
form and influence this debate, and the strategy to achieve this potential.
The expressions of interest and CVs in PDF format should be sent to laboral@cedlas.org Clarifications, updates
and further relevant information for this call will be posted at the project’s website: http://www.Labor-AL.org
These expressions of interest will be evaluated by the selection committee. The committee will select the
expressions of interest with most potential for the project, and will request on March 1st, 2011 a more detailed
proposal due by March 28th, 2011. The final decision for the three studies will be announced by April 29th
2011.
Tentative schedule: The studies will start on May 2011, and the final versions will be submitted by October
2012. The final schedule detailing intermediate deadlines, peer review processes and payments will be specified
upon signing the contract.

Budget
Each of the three selected proposals will be awarded 20.000 USD in instalments tied to deliverables. The project
also envisages extra funding of up to 6.000 USD for each selected team to finance events related to policy
dissemination strategies.

Selection committee
Gary Fields, Cornell University María Laura Alzúa, CEDLAS-UNLP
Sebastián Galiani, Washington University in St. Louis Guillermo Cruces, CEDLAS-UNLP
Carmen Pages, IADB Leonardo Gasparini, CEDLAS-UNLP
Carolina Robino, IDRC

The selection process will also draw on the expertise of the project’s advisory board, which also includes Fabio
Bertranou (ILO), Matías Busso (IADB), Mauricio Cárdenas (Brookings Institution), Jeff Dayton-Johnson
(OECD), Habiba Djebbari (Université Laval), Luis Felipe López Calva (World Bank), Hugo Ñopo (IADB) and
Pablo Sanguinetti (CAF).

 
Research Project: Labour Markets for Inclusive Growth in Latin America – www.Labor-AL.org – laboral@cedlas.org