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The political economy of development
This academic site promotes excellence in teaching and researching economics and development, and the advancing of describing, understanding, explaining and theorizing.
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Castellano---- Français On Planning for Development: Latin America and the Caribbean - Editor: Róbinson Rojas Sandford
From OECD

Latin American Economic Outlook 2014
Logistics and Competitiveness for Development

Latin American economies continue to present relatively stable growth but continued uncertainty with regards to the duration of the commodity boom could pose threats to medium-term growth and economic development. Latin American countries face increasing competition from emerging economies across the globe particularly in manufacturing sectors. In this context of shifting wealth, it is increasingly important to foster competitiveness and connectivity.

Improving logistics performance is particularly important as it directly impacts growth, productivity, and trade within the region and beyond. The region’s productive structure with significant concentration in natural resource and agriculture augment the importance of logistics in fostering competitiveness. Nevertheless, logistics performance in the region faces serious gaps particularly in the areas of customs performance and the availability of infrastructure. Improving these aspects will entail more and better investment in infrastructure, as well as making the most of existing infrastructure by putting in place efficient trade facilitation measures and efficient and appropriate regulatory frameworks.


Paul Krugman - Princeton University
Paper presented at the 14th Jacques Polak Annual Research Conference Hosted by the International Monetary Fund Washington, DC─November 7–8, 2013

Currency Regimes, Capital Flows, and Crises

..."My answer is that claims about the vulnerability of floating-rate debtors to crisis haven’t been given any specificity because they do not, in fact, make sense. Simple macroeconomic models suggest that a loss of confidence in a country like the United States, taking place at a time when interest rates are at the zero lower bound, should, if anything, have an expansionary effect. Nor can one appeal to the lessons of history: cases resembling the hypothesized crisis scenario are rare, and those that exist don’t support the notion that Greek-style crises can take place under a very different currency regime. You may find it implausible that conventional wisdom, backed by so many influential people, could be wrong on so basic a point. But it’s not the first time that has happened, and it surely won’t be the last"...

Roberto Alvarez and José De Gregorio
Universidad de Chile - October 2013

Why did Latin America and Developing Countries Perform Better in the Global Financial Crisis than in the Asian Crisis?

The response of Latin American economies to the Global Financial Crisis was unprecedented. In the past, when the world got the flu, Latin America got pneumonia. Such was the case with the East Asian financial crisis, but this time was different. Emerging market economies were able to successfully weather the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. This paper looks at which factors explain better performance. Was it good luck? Was it good policies? In this article, economic growth during the global financial crisis is compared with growth during the Asian crisis. We look at the experience of Latin America and present econometric evidence for a large sample of countries, with special focus on emerging and developing economies. We find that exchange rate flexibility and a looser monetary policy played an important role in mitigating the crisis. We also find that higher private credit growth and more financial openness reduced growth. There is some evidence of good luck, but only within the sample of thirty one emerging markets. Better macroeconomic management during the recent crisis was key to the unprecedented economic performance.

Carlos A. Vegh - Johns Hopkins University and NBER
Guillermo Vuletin - Brookings Institution
October 21, 2013

The road to redemption: Policy response to crises in Latin America

This paper analyzes the …fiscal and monetary policy responses to crises in Latin America over the last 40 years. We argue that, on average, Latin American countries have graduatedin terms of their policy reponses in the sense that they have been able to switch from procyclical to counteryclical policy responses (with Brazil and Chile being prime examples). We further argue that such countercyclical policy response has been efective in reducing the duration and intensity of crises. Finally, we relate our analysis to the current crisis in the Eurozone and argue that it shares some of the features of the oldLatin America; in particular, procyclical …fiscal and monetary policy responses to crises in Latin America over the

From Cepal Review

Capital formation in Latin America: one and a half century of macroeconomic dynamics

Xavier Tafunell - 2013

Macroeconomic studies indicate that physical capital formation has played a pivotal role in long-term economic growth. These studies have been hampered, however, by a data constraint: in order to pinpoint exactly what the role of capital formation has been, a larger empirical database –larger in terms of both the time span and the geographical area covered– is needed. This study addresses that problem by providing new and very extensive series on capital formation in Latin America. It also describes the different series used to identify long, medium and short-term movements. One of the outstanding features of these investment trends were their marked instability up to 1950. Another salient aspect has been the more robust growth in investment seen in the second half of the nineteenth century, which actually outdistanced the growth spurt that occurred during the “golden age” of 1950-1980.


From the Thirty-Fourth Session of ECLAC- San Salvador- August 2012

Structural change for equality. An integrated vision for development

Structural change for equality

Virtuous structural change is a qualitative transformation of the production structure.
It drives and strengthens more knowledge-intensive sectors and activities that enjoy high demand, and it generates more and better employment, which is the master key to equality.

Equality is the objective; structural change, the path; and policy, the instrument.
Strengthen the role of the State as a guarantor of rights and driver of policies for sustainable economic and social development.


From the Thirty-Third Session of
ECLAC- Brasilia- May 2010


Time for Equity: closing gaps, opening trails

(2 July 2012) "Planning for development is back with a renewed strength and complex challenges," said today the Deputy Executive Secretary of ECLAC Antonio Prado, when opening the commemorative seminar to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the Latin American and Caribbean Institute for Economic and Social Planning (ILPES) at the organization's headquarters in Santiago, Chile.
"Closing the multiple gaps in the region takes a long-term vision, strategic planning and long-lasting persistence," highlighted Prado at the international seminar that will conclude tomorrow. "The State must be capable of providing strategic management for the long run, looking ahead, and being involved in the design of strategies for guiding national development," he emphasized.

J. M. Katz - 2001 - ECLAC

Structural reforms, productivity and technological change in Latin America

— The fact that we can predict eclipses does not mean that we can predict revolutions.
— Five overlapping sub-systems –science, technology, economy, politics and general culture– influence the process of economic growth. Although each of the five has its own distinctive features and relative autonomy, it is their interdependence and interaction which provides major insights into the processes of “forging ahead”, “catching up” and “falling behind” in economic growth.
Christopher Freeman, History, Co-evolution and Economic Growth, University of Sussex, Science Policy Research Unit

From Economic and Political Weekly
April 1, 2006
Vol. XLI, no. 13 (pp.1241-6)

Poverty and Capitalism
Barbara Harriss-White - 2006
University Professor of Development Studies; Director of the School of Interdisciplinary Area Studies programme - Faculty of Oriental Studies - University of Oxford

The 21st century has witnessed an impoverishment of the concept of development.

From its start as a project of capitalist industrialisation and agrarian change, the political direction and social transformation that accompany this process – and the deliberate attempt to order and mitigate its necessary ill effects on human beings and their habitats – development has been reduced to an assault on poverty, apparently driven by international aid, trade and financial agencies and festooned in targets. At the same time, the concept of poverty has been enriched by being recognised as having many dimensions – monetary/income poverty, human development poverty, social exclusion and poor peoples’ own understandings developed through participatory interactions [Laderchi et al 2003].

While it may be possible to mitigate poverty through social transfers, it is not possible to eradicate the processes that create poverty under capitalism.

Eight such processes are discussed: the creation of the preconditions; petty commodity production and trade; technological change and unemployment; (petty) commodification; harmful commodities and waste; pauperising crises; climate-change-related pauperisation; and the unrequired, incapacitated and/or dependent human body under capitalism. Ways to regulate these processes and to protect against their impact are discussed.


SEDLAC - Socio-Economic Database for Latin America and the Caribbean

This web site includes statistics on poverty and other distributional and social variables from 25 Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) countries. All statistics are computed from microdata of the main household surveys carried out in these countries using a homogenous methodology (data permitting). Statistics are updated periodically.

SEDLAC allows users to monitor the trends in poverty and other distributional and social indicators in the region. The dataset is available in the form of brief reports, charts and electronic Excel tables with information for each country/year. In addition, the website visitor can carry out dynamic searches online.

SEDLAC is an ongoing project. All statistics shown in this site are preliminary. We are grateful to all comments and suggestions that help improving the database.


Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean:

Cepal Review-------Papers
Structural Reforms Series
Research and studies
The political context and the role of the State
Social Change in Latin America in the Early 1970s

Statistical Yearbook
Preliminary Overview of the Economies of Latin America and the Caribbean
Economic Survey of Latin America and the Caribbean
Foreign Investment in Latin America and the Caribbean
Social Panorama of Latin America
Raúl Prebisch and the Challenges of Development in the XXI Century


El desarrollo económico de América Latina y algunos de sus principales problemas
- R. Prebisch, 1949

The economic development of Latin America and its principal problems
- R. Prebisch, 1949

Research for Development
This section of the Prebisch site is designed to support research into the history and present status of his thinking about development in Latin America and the Caribbean. Structured as a news bulletin, it will promote various activities to be organized or supported, such as meetings, workshops and seminars. Competitions will also be held for the preparation of articles on different subjects, and a series of discussion papers will be posted for debate.

Learning Network
This section of the Prebisch website is devoted to promoting teaching activities focused on the various topics relating to Latin American development studies. The purpose is to evoke debate and the sharing of ideas on the various contents.

G. Palma - 2010
Why has productivity growth stagnated in most Latin American countries since the neo-liberal reforms?

The World Bank on Latin America & Caribbean and Poverty
This page links to summaries of World Bank poverty analyses, including poverty assessments, poverty notes, poverty updates, country economic memorandums and development reports. The full text documents are also provided when available. Poverty assessments have been key instruments of the World Bank's poverty reduction strategy since 1992

From countercurrents.org - 28 November 2008
Victory For Venezuela’s Socialists In Crucial Elections
By James Petras
The pro-Chavez United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) won 72% of the governorships in the November 23, 2008 elections and 58% of the popular vote, dumbfounding the predictions of most of the pro-capitalist pollsters and the vast majority of the mass media who favored the opposition
The Media Response To Venezuelan Elections
By Stephen Lendman
The Wall Street Journal, New York Times and other publications falsely reported that a majority of the population is under opposition control. Official statistics show otherwise but were ignored

From Countercurrents.org - 29 September 2007
Defending The Cuban Revolution: With Love Or Venom?
By James Petras
Defending the Cuban revolution demands unconditional defense against imperialism and proposals to rectify its problems. These are acts of love. Polemical invective and personal attacks against life-long defenders of the revolution and revolutionary movements will further isolate Cuba and opportunists like Gonzalez Casanova from reality and the coming social transformations in Latin America and social changes in Cuba

Cuba: Continuing Revolution and Contemporary Contradictions
James Petras and Robin Eastman-Abaya - July 2007
Introduction
The Cuban revolution with its socialist economy has demonstrated tremendous resilience in the face of enormous political obstacles and challenges. It successfully defied a US orchestrated invasion, naval blockade, hundreds of terrorists’ attacks and half-century boycott.(1) Cuba was able to withstand the fallout from the collapse of the USSR, the Eastern European collectivist regimes, China and Indo-China’s transit to capitalism and to construct a new development model.
As many scholars and political leaders – including adversaries – have noted, Cuba has developed a very advanced and functioning social welfare program: free, universal, quality health coverage and free education from kindergarten through advanced university education.(2) In foreign, as well as domestic, policy Cuba has successfully developed economic and diplomatic relations with the entire globe, despite US boycotts and pressures. (3) In questions of national and personal security, Cuba is a world leader. Crime rates are low and violent offenses are rare. Terrorist threats and acts, (most emanating from the US and its Cuban exile proxies), have declined and are less a danger to the Cuban population than to the US or Europe.
It is precisely the successes of the Cuban Revolution, its ability to withstand external threats, which would have brought down most governments, that now has created a series of major challenges, which require urgent attention if the revolution, as we know it, is to advance in the 21st century. These challenges are a result of past external constraints as well as internal political developments. Some problems were inevitable consequences of emergency measures but are now pressing for immediate and radical solutions.

More articles here

E. Rozenwurcel - 2006
Why have all development strategies failed in Latin America?
After the Great Depression and throughout the rest of the twentieth century, Latin American countries basically approached economic development following two successive and quite opposed strategies. The first one was import substitution industrialization. The second was the so-called Washington Consensus approach. While the two views were founded on quite opposite premises, neither the import substitution industrialization nor the Washington Consensus managed to deliver sustained economic development to Latin American countries. Two domestic elements are crucial to understand this outcome. One is the failure of the state. The second is the inability to achieve mature integration into the world economy.
Vanderbilt University - 2006
The  Latin American Public Opinion Project 
 (LAPOP)

 "LAPOP's research efforts to date have produced more than 60  surveys analyzing major topics of great interest to political and social scientists, Latin Americanists, government officials, and interested citizens. LAPOP surveys analyzing citizen views on system support, political tolerance, citizen participation, local government, corruption, and views on authoritarianism have been conducted and are now being archived for: Bolivia, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Venezuela  as well as for Madagascar, Israel and Albania.   Complete datasets available."
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From The World Bank Group
31 August 2005

Infrastructure in Latin America & the Caribbean: Recent Developments and Key Challenges
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From SciDev.Net - May 2004
Latin America: brain drain largest for Argentina
Andrés Solimano, an economist at Cepal, told a meeting of the Foreign Knowledge Networks for Employment and Development last month (27 April) that for every thousand Argentineans who emigrate to the United States, 191 are qualified professionals, scientists or technicians In Chile the number drops to 156, in Peru to 100, and in Mexico to 26.
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8 December 2004
The South American Community of Nations
The South American Community of Nations (Spanish : Comunidad Sudamericana de Naciones, Portuguese : Comunidade Sul-Americana de Nações) or SACN will be a continent-wide free trade zone that will unite two existing free-trade organizations — Mercosur and the Andean Community — eliminating...
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NAFTA's promise and reality. Lessons from Mexico for the Hemisphere
J. Audley, S. Polaski, D.G. Papademetriou, and S. Vaughan
(November 2003)
What can Latin America learn from Mexico's attempt to use trade liberalisation for ecomomic development?
Publisher:Carnegie Endowment for International Peace , 2003
The report has two objectives:
to determine how quality of life in Mexico has been affected by trade liberalisation in North America. It focuses on the microlevel of people and their communities, on changes in household income, paychecks, rural employment and agricultural production. It explores the implications of these for migration and environmental quality and asks about the role of NAFTA in promoting these changes
to offer insights for other countries, especially in Latin America, that wish to strengthen their economic ties within the region.
The report's conclusions include:
while jobs in manufacturing have increased, there is still a growing problem of unemployment in Mexico
since joining NAFTA Mexico has seen an increase in the number of poor migrants to the USA
NAFTA has not created the necessary conditions for public and private sectors to respond to the economic, social and envronmental shocks of trading with the USA and Canada.
The report's recommendations include:
there is a need for longer, more gradual tariff reduction schedules fo agricultural products from rich countries to mitigate the problems of dumping
developing countries should distribute gains from trade more equitably
trade agreements should promote the development of domestic suppliers.
Other chapters in this document include:
"Jobs, wages and household income", by S. Polaski
"Shifting expectations of free trade and migration", by D. Papademetriou
"The greenest trade agreement ever? Measuring the environmental impacts of agricultural liberalisation", by S. Vaughan.

Introduction in English or Spanish
Chapter 1: Jobs, Wages, and Household Income
Chapter 2: The Shifting Expectations of Free Trade and Migration
Chapter 3: The Greenest Trade Agreement Ever? Measuring the Environmental Impacts of Agricultural Liberalization
Argentina in crisis
Argentina: life after bankruptcy (2002)
July 28, 2004
Report on the evaluation of the role of the IMF in Argentina, 1991-2001
ARGENTINA
In the hands of the oligopoly of foreign capital. During the 1990s, economic policies were characterised by a strengthening of the neo-liberal model, promoted by multilateral credit institutions. Thus the public and financial services, following a process of privatisations, were monopolised by an oligarchy of private companies with foreign capital. Devaluation was mainly due to the «Convertibility Law», which was supported until the bitter end by the IMF and the «financial community». The massive capital flight during 2001 sealed Argentina’s fate.
BOLIVIA
Water and privatisation: doubtful benefits, concrete threats. The Bolivian experience of privatisation of the companies that manage and distribute water is a good window on the conflicts triggered by the privatisation of basic services. It also shows the enormous difficulty – some say the impossibility – of making the search for profit compatible with an equitable and sustainable supply of basic services; that is, making privatisation benefit the poor. TOM KRUSE - CECILIA RAMOS
BRAZIL
The implicit agenda of a conservative patrimonial reform. 1 Although it was argued that the proceeds from privatisation would be invested in social reforms, from 1995 it became clear that those revenues generated an important inflow of international capital, to be used not for social investment, but rather to finance trade deficits and debt service. The economic results of privatisation were mixed, while in social terms they have been a failure. LUIZ CARLOS DELORME PRADO - LEONARDO WELLER
CHILE
The brutal rationale of privatisation. «Beyond euphemisms, privatisation of health, social security and education operated by neo-liberals has imposed a brutal rationale: depending on the amount of money you have, you will have so much health care, quality of education for your children and pension upon retirement. If you are privileged, you will have access to privileged services. If you are poor, you will have to make do with what the public system is able to give you.» ANA MARÍA ARTEAGA
COLOMBIA
The violation of social rights within market rationale. Privatisation of social services is being imposed by the international funding institutions through severe and never-ending structural adjustment programmes. In these programmes pressure is put on the government to change social policies to make social services profitable; thus health, education, social security and access to water, energy, telecommunications and environmental sanitation services can be operated by private agents, guaranteeing them high profit margins. ALBERTO YEPES P.
COSTA RICA
Selling our grandparents’ inheritance. Within the context of the economic crisis, the rapid loss of mechanisms of social mobility and economic, political and cultural break down, a real and symbolic rupture is occurring, under progressive and unorthodox procedures, in various fields of the State’s monopolistic of the provision of services, such as electricity, health care and education. Attempts at privatising a public institution or a complete sector have faced strong opposition among the people. ANA FELICIA TORRES REDONDO - CARLOS PENTZKE PIERSON
ECUADOR
Adjustments, debt and privatisations: what will become of our rights?. The sale of state companies required by the IMF, the scaling down of the State through mass dismissal of workers, reduction in government spending, the elimination of subsidies to basic services and fuel, cutbacks in wages and salaries, the protection of international creditors through FEIREP and the intensification of the extractive model of overexploiting resources—these are characteristics of the public policy implemented by the national government, following the guidelines of international bodies. SUSANA CHU YEP - JORGE ACOSTA ARIAS - PATRICIO PAZMIÑO FREIRE
EL SALVADOR
Privatisation: a process with cracks. The privatisation discourse promised to reduce the size of the State, reduce the deficit, provide better services and supply the State with immediate resources, which would be used to cancel the short-term debt and be invested in infrastructure or social expenditure. However, even the private sector has recognised that there has been a lack of transparency in decision making. In fact, the implementation of privatisation has involved many sacrifices, including privatisation of banking and de-nationalisation of the public assets. JEANNETTE ALVARADO - ROSARLIN HERNÁNDEZ - GLORIA GUZMÁN - MARIO ANTONIO PANIAGUA
HONDURAS
The invisible price women have to pay for privatisation. Within the framework of the free trade treaties progress is being made in the process of public service privatisation in Honduras. The disappearance of State responsibility for maintaining public services has led to women having to double or treble their workday to take on a greater workload at home, with more hours of voluntary work in the communities and in activities generating income, to the detriment of their health, quality of life and leisure. ANA MARÍA FERRERA - SUYAPA MARTÍNEZ - FILADELFO MARTÍNEZ - MIRTA KENNEDY - MARÍA ELENA MÉNDEZ
MEXICO
Now the responsibility lies with the individuals. Stabilisation and structural adjustment programmes adopted following the foreign debt crisis in 1982 have included the total or partial privatisation of many state companies and activities in various sectors: industrial, financial, agriculture and stock-raising, mining, infrastructure, communications, petro-chemical and even social security. Along with cutbacks in social expenditure associated with trends to privatise public and basic services, the «novelty» lies with the transfer of State responsibility to private companies. ARELI SANDOVAL TERÁN
NICARAGUA
A nation in the dark. Privatisation has not resulted in any social benefit for the poorest people. The energy and telephone companies have not only raised the already «dollarised» price of services, but also increased requirements for access to these services and decreased quality. In addition to being a country of poor people, today Nicaragua is also a nation in the dark. RUTH SELMA HERRERA M
PANAMA
The neo-liberal State: debt, inequality and poverty. The faithful compliance with the economic recipes imposed by international financial bodies has been carried out through the transformation of the State’s role. The result has been more expensive services, weakened agricultural, livestock and industrial productive sectors, the deterioration of living conditions, a widening inequality gap and the acceleration of the debt spiral. CARLOS MARCELO CASTILLO
PARAGUAY
Social mobilisation against privatisation. Privatisation in the 1990s was marked by state de-capitalisation, the absence of benefits for the people, high rates and insufficient coverage. In the year 2000 the promotion of privatising was reactivated through promulgation of the Law for Privatisation of State Companies. The attempt at privatising telecommunications within this legal framework was carried out in a context of swindles and corruption. Social mobilisation managed to have the law repealed, but it is feared that the privatising agenda will be taken up once again. JUAN CARLOS YUSTE - DIEGO BROM
PERU
The people halt privatisation. The privatisation of electric energy services guaranteed the buyers that they would obtain large profits on their operation at the expense of the State and consumers. The State delivered captive consumer markets and converted a public monopoly into private ones. This process has nothing to do with a market economy, but rather with profitable commercialism, which the present government has maintained under pressure from the International Monetary Fund and other financial bodies. HÉCTOR BÉJAR
SURINAME
Shape up or ship out!. Surinamese society is moving towards privatisation and liberalisation among heated debates. Bad quality and high costs of public services make consumers demand the government to either shape up or ship out and give private initiative the chance to do it better. On the other hand, there is fear for the consequences to employment and the accessibility of quality services for the poor, and benefits from concessions to multinationals are questionable. MAGGIE SCHMEITZ
URUGUAY
The reform of the social sector: statism, inequality and privatisation by default. The Uruguayan case shows the benefits of state perseverance and public assets and the adverse effects of privatisation by default. Although an attempt has been made to attribute the crisis to this statist emphasis, the present collapse of the economy and its social effects are basically the result of a financial system that lacks adequate monitoring, a marked deterioration of industry, a foreign exchange rate that damages the country’s competitiveness, and the vision of a country regarded as a financial and service market. FERNANDO FILGUEIRA
VENEZUELA
The social programme of the Bolivarian Republic. Going against the current of predominant trends, the 1999 Bolivarian Constitution consecrates rights of citizens to health and medical care, as well as other social rights, while increasing state responsibility. In the context of social development, the new Republic promotes enhancing the standard of living through common and supportive action, and encourages people to have a sense of inclusion and belonging through political, economic and social participation. FRENTE CONTINENTAL DE MUJERES
D. Johnstone (1 May 2003):
What about Guantanamo? About Cuba
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S. Landau (2 May 2003):
The Cuba Conundrum
J. F. Wilson, 1993: Liberation Theology: is there a future for it?
Ben Witherington- 2007
The future of liberation theology

G. O'Donnell, 1996:
Poverty and inequality in Latin America, some political reflections
The paper begins with a brief overview of the present social situation of Latin America, arguing that during the 1980s the widespread poverty and deep social inequality already existing in the region further increased. After this the paper reviews several strategies that could be used by would-be reformers, pointing out the potentialities but also the limitations of these strategies. Consequently the present text examines the broad contours of political coalitions that might be able to deal reasonably effectively with poverty and inequality. The paper concludes by arguing that the only possible foundation for these strategies and coalitions is a morally and democratically inspired view of the respect due to the dignity of every human being. The likelihood of such an emergence is not assessed.

O. Sunkel, 1985: The transnational corporate system
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T. Dos Santos: The Structure of Dependence
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F.H. Cardoso/E. Faletto: Capitalist development and the State
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F.H.Cardoso: Dependency and Development in Latin America
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M. A. Garretón, 1998:
Popular Mobilization and the Military Regime in Chile: the complexities of the invisible transition
This paper attempts an analysis of the popular mobilizations in Chile from the perspective of the problem of transition from a military regime to democracy. It begins with some general reflections on the role of social mobilizations under military regimes, distinguishing among various regime phases and types of mobilizations, and goes on to outline changing state/societal relations in Chile in the pre-1973 period to provide the historical context for an extended discussion of popular protest in Chile under the military regime. In this next section the author describes the mobilizations of the 1973-1983 decade and the cycle of protests and strikes after 1983, and gives an analysis of the principal sectors involved. The concluding section presents some interpretative hypotheses about the paradoxical role of mobilizations: their fundamental importance in reconstituting civil society and transforming dictatorial regimes, and their limits with respect to bringing about an end to dictatorship and the restoration of full democracy.


Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean:

Cepal Review-------Papers
---
Structural Reforms Series
---
Research and studies
---
The political context and the role of the State
---
Social Change in Latin America in the Early 1970s

---
Statistical Yearbook
Preliminary Overview of the Economies of Latin America and the Caribbean
Economic Survey of Latin America and the Caribbean
Foreign Investment in Latin America and the Caribbean
Maio/2012
O investimento estrangeiro direto na América Latina e Caribe 2011
May/2012
Foreign direct Investment in Latin America and the Caribbean 2011
Mayo/2012
La inversión extranjera directa en América Latina y el Caribe 2011
Maio/2011
O investimento estrangeiro direto na América Latina e Caribe 2010
May/2011
Foreign direct Investment in Latin America and the Caribbean 2010
Mayo/2011
La inversión extranjera directa en América Latina y el Caribe 2010
Mayo/2010
Foreign direct Investment in Latin America and the Caribbean
Mayo/2010
La inversión extranjera directa en América Latina y el Caribe 2009
Mayo/2009
Foreign direct investment in Latin America and the Caribbean 2008
Mayo/2009
La inversión extranjera directa en América Latina y el Caribe 2008
May/2008
Foreign Investment in Latin America and the Caribbean 2007
Mayo/2008
La inversión extranjera en América Latina y el Caribe 2007
April/2007
Foreign Investment in Latin America and the Caribbean 2006
Abril/2007
La inversión extranjera en América Latina y el Caribe 2006
April/2006
Foreign Investment in Latin America and the Caribbean 2005
Abril/2006
La inversión extranjera en América Latina y el Caribe 2005
March/2005
Foreign investment in Latin America and the Caribbean 2004
Marzo/2005
Documento informativo Investimento estrangeiro na América Latina e no Caribe 2004
Marzo/2005
La Inversión extranjera en América Latina y el Caribe 2004
May/2004
Foreign investment in Latin America and the Caribbean. 2003 Report
Mayo/2004
La inversión extranjera en América Latina y el Caribe 2003
April/2003
Foreign Investment in Latin America and the Caribbean, 2003
April/2003
Foreign investment in Latin America and the Caribbean. 2002 Report
Marzo/2003
La Inversión Extranjera en América Latina y el Caribe - Informe 2002
October/2002
Foreign investment in Latin America and the Caribbean. 2001 Report
Mayo/2002
La Inversión Extranjera en América Latina y el Caribe. Informe 2001
June/2001
Foreign Investment in Latin America and the Caribbean. 2000 Report
Abril/2001
La inversión extranjera en América Latina y el Caribe. Informe 2000
February/2000
Foreign investment in Latin America and the Caribbean. 1999 Report
Enero/2000
La inversión extranjera en América Latina y el Caribe. Informe 1999
December/1998
Foreign investment in Latin America and the Caribbean. 1998 Report
Diciembre/1998
La inversión extranjera en América Latina y el Caribe. Informe 1998
March/1998
Foreign investment in Latin America and the Caribbean. 1997 Report
Marzo/1998
La inversión extranjera en América Latina y el Caribe. Informe 1997

Social Panorama of Latin America
Novembro/2011
Panorama social da América Latina 2011
November/2011
Social panorama of Latin America 2011
Noviembre/2011
Panorama Social de América Latina 2011
Noviembre/2010
Panorama social de América Latina 2010
Noviembre/2010
Panorama social da América Latina 2010
Noviembre/2010
Social Panorama of Latin America 2010
Novembro/2009
Panorama social da América Latina 2009
November/2009
Social Panorama of Latin America 2009
Noviembre/2009
Panorama social de América Latina 2009
Diciembre/2008
Panorama social de América Latina 2008
Diciembre/2008
Social Panorama of Latin America 2008
November/2007
Social Panorama of Latin America 2007
Noviembre/2007
Panorama social de América Latina 2007
December/2006
Social Panorama of Latin America 2006
Diciembre/2006
Panorama social de América Latina 2006
March/2006
Social Panorama of Latin America 2005
Noviembre/2005
Panorama social de América Latina 2005
Noviembre/2004
Panorama social de América Latina 2004
November/2004
Social Panorama of Latin America 2004
May/2004
Social panorama of Latin America 2002-2003
Agosto/2003
Panorama social de América Latina 2002-2003
Noviembre/2002
Panorama social de América Latina 2001-2002
November/2002
Social panorama of Latin America 2001-2002
September/2001
Social panorama of Latin America 2000-2001
Septiembre/2001
Panorama social de América Latina 2000-2001
November/2000
Social panorama of Latin America 1999-2000
Agosto/2000
Panorama social de América Latina 1999-2000
May/1999
Social panorama of Latin America 1998
Abril/1999
Panorama social de América Latina 1998
February/1998
Social panorama of Latin America 1997
Febrero/1998
Panorama social de América Latina 1997
Febrero/1997
Panorama social de América Latina 1996
Diciembre/1995
Panorama social de América Latina 1995
Noviembre/1994
Panorama social de América Latina 1994

Latin America and the Caribbean in the World Economy

Preliminary Overview of the Economy of Latin America and the Caribbean 1997
Despite the instability in international financial markets in recent months and the turbulence it has created in Latin American stock markets, in 1997 the region’s economies put out their best performance in a quarter of a century, combining an average growth rate of 5.3% (compared to 3.2% during the period 1991-1996) with an average rate of inflation of under 11%. Although the current account deficit has widened considerably, from US$ 35 billion in 1996 to US$ 60 billion in 1997 (3% of GDP), inflows of foreign capital will more than cover the gap; they are expected to reach unprecedented levels, totalling at least $73 billion. Of that amount, nearly two thirds will be in the form of direct investment. The employment situation has improved slightly, although the percentage of the population unemployed continues to be very high in a number of countries. High unemployment rates are undermining efforts to move ahead more rapidly in reducing the extent of poverty –a serious problem in an otherwise generally positive scenario.

1998  Report on Foreign Investment in Latin America and the Caribbean
The United States continues to be the principal foreign direct investor in Latin America, though Europe has been closing the gap in the last two years. The region is also receiving a growing proportion of worldwide US foreign direct investment (FDI), especially of that going to developing countries. Within Latin America, most such investment is now sent directly to the final recipient countries, diminishing the role of Caribbean financial centres and intermediaries.

Economic Survey of Latin America and the Caribbean 1997-1998. Summary
Two types of external shocks have affected the region --and much of the rest of the world as well-- in the current biennium. The first has been generated by the climatic phenomenon known as El Niño, which, by warming ocean currents, has caused both severe floods and droughts in different places. In a number of Latin American and Caribbean countries, El Niño has disrupted agricultural production and fishing, wreaked havoc in forestry and ranching activities and destroyed infrastructure and housing stock. The results include depressed growth rates, increased inflation and pressures on the balance of payments owing to both lower exports and higher imports.
The other shock has been the financial crisis that began in Thailand in June 1997 and thereafter expanded to include large devaluations, recessions and inflation in many of the developing countries of East and South-East Asia. The continuing stagnation of the Japanese economy has only exacerbated the problems of its neighbours. As noted in an earlier ECLAC study (ECLAC, "Impact of the Asian Crisis on Latin America" (LC/G.2026), May 1998), the repercussions of the Asian crisis have been transmitted to Latin America through three channels: trade (a decline in the volume of exports to Asia, lower commodity prices, competition from cheap Asian exports, negative spillovers from intraregional effects in Latin America itself); finance (speculative attacks on exchange rates, weakening stock markets, scarce and/or more expensive foreign capital); and policy responses (tighter fiscal and monetary policies).

J. A. Ocampo (1998):
Income distribution, poverty and social expenditure in Latin America
Great social inequality has long been a frustrating feature of Latin American economic development. Not in vain has Latin America been described as the region of the world with the highest levels of inequality of income distribution. Although the prevailing levels of poverty are lower than those typical of other parts of the developing world, they are still extremely high and, taking the region as a whole, are higher now than they were before the debt crisis. These are the conditions now confronting the new elements which have changed the economic and social dynamics of the region. Special mention may be made of four of these elements: the structural reforms embarked upon in all the countries, the accompanying process of globalization, the resumption of economic growth, and the new reforms initiated in the area of social expenditure and social services as part of the "second generation" reforms. This article puts forward some hypotheses about the effects of these new events on poverty and inequality and analyzes their implications for social policy.

On industrialization in Latin America
ECLAC books:
July/2002 The sustainability of development in Latin America and the Caribbean: challenges and opportunities
March/2002 Growth with stability. Financing for development in the new international context (updated version)
Cover, index, foreword and summary
Chapter 1 Financing for development in the 1990s
Chapter 2 Promoting stability of capital flows for development financing
Chapter 3 Trade linkages and access to the international capital market
Chapter 4 Mobilizing domestic resources to provide financing for development
Bibliography and Annex
May/2001 Economic reforms, growth and employment. Labour markets in Latin America and the Caribbean
May/2001 The income distribution problem in Latin America and the Caribbean
FOREWORD
PREFACE
Chapter I
INTRODUCTION
A. Latin America: The Highest Inequality in the World
B. A Closer Look at Region-wide Data for Latin America and the Caribbean
C. Inequality within Latin America and the Caribbean
D. Trends in Inequality Over Time within Latin America and the Caribbean
Chapter II
DETERMINANTS OF THE DISTRIBUTION OF INCOME
A. A Schematic Model of the Distribution Process
B. The Impact of Growth on the Distribution of Income
C. The Adoption of Reforms
D. The Impact of the Structural Reforms
Chapter III
WHY IS THE DISTRIBUTION OF INCOME IN LATIN AMERICA SO UNEQUAL?
A. Education
B. Physical Capital
C. The Distribution of Land and Unskilled Labour
D. The Contribution of Inequality at the Top of the Distribution
Chapter IV
THE EFFECT OF REFORM AND GROWTH ON DISTRIBUTION OF FAMILY INCOME
A. The Model for the Level of Distribution
B. The Effect of Growth on the Distribution: An Application of the Estimated Kuznets Curve
C. Subindexes of Reform
D. Results for the Model of Changes in Inequality
E. Conclusions
Chapter V
EVIDENCE FROM COUNTRY CASE STUDIES
A. Historical Evidence on Factor Prices and Relative Factor Supplies
B. Factor Shares and the Rate of Return to Capital
C. The Link between Labour Market Performance and Inequality
D. Patterns of Sectoral Growth in the 1970s and 1990s
E. What Explains the Big Increases in Inequality in Chile, Argentina and Mexico?
Chapter VI
THE COMPONENTS OF INCOME INEQUALITY
A. Decompositions of Inequality
B. The Effect of Changes in Education and Skill Differentials
C. Conclusions
Chapter VII
THE RICH AND THE POOR IN THE POST-REFORM PERIOD
A. A Profile of the Rich
B. Contribution of the Rich to Total Inequality
C. The Role of University Graduates in Explaining Inequality
D. The Poor
E. Reforms and Poverty Reduction
Chapter VIII
CONCLUSIONS AND POLICY IMPLICATIONS
A. Why is Inequality So High in Latin America and the Caribbean?
B. Inertia in the Distribution
C. The Impact of the Reforms
D. Policies that Can Help
BIBLIOGRAPHY
APPENDIX

May/2001 Structural reforms, productivity and technological change in Latin America
May/2001 Investment and Economic Reform in Latin America
July/2001 Equity, development and citizenship - Abridged version
Contents
Chapter I. The context for development policies today
Chapter II. The legacy of the 1990s
Chapter III. A development agenda for the twenty-first century
Bibliography

The twenty-eighth session of ECLAC took place in Mexico City in April 2000 and thus was held at the start of both a new decade and a new century. This occasion prompted the secretariat to prepare Equity, Development and Citizenship, which provides a comprehensive view of the institution's thinking concerning the development challenges facing the region in the world of today. The present publication is an abridged version of that report.*

This abridged volume is composed of three chapters. The first presents an overview of global trends together with the associated challenges in the areas of human rights and equity and a discussion of the integral nature of development. The second provides an overview of economic, social and environmental conditions in the region during the 1990s. The third sets forth an agenda for the region at the outset of the twenty-first century. It discusses, first, the principles of social policy and policies in the areas of poverty reduction, education, employment, social security and social spending. The accompanying economic development agenda encompasses macroeconomic growth and stability, dynamic productive development, the regulation of public utilities and the consolidation of sustainable development. The chapter concludes with some reflections on social cohesion and citizenship.

JOSÉ ANTONIO OCAMPO EXECUTIVE SECRETARY ECONOMIC COMMISSION FOR LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN


* A fully revised Spanish version has been published as ECLAC, Equidad, desarrollo y ciudadanía (LC/G.2071/Rev.1-P), Santiago, Chile, 2000. United Nations publication, Sales No. S.00.II.G.81; Equidad, desarrollo y ciudadanía, second edition, Bogotá, D.C., Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC)/Alfaomega, 2000; an English version has been published as Equity, Development and Citizenship (LC/G.2071(SES.28/3)), Santiago, Chile, 2000


Mayo/2000 Financial globalization and the emerging economies
April/1998 The Fiscal Covenant. Strengths, Weaknesses, Challenges (Summary)
December/1997 The Equity Gap: Latin America, the Caribbean and the Social Summit
July/1996 The economic experience of the last fifteen years. Latin America and the Caribbean, 1980-1995
July/1996 Strengthening development. The interplay of macro- and microeconomics
April/1994 Latin America and the Caribbean: policies to improve linkages with global economy
September/1994 Open regionalism in Latin America and the Caribbean. Economic integration as a contribution to changing productions patterns with social equity
September/1993 Population, social equity and changing production patterns
August/1992 Education and knowledge: basic pillars of changing production patterns with social equity
August/1992 Social equity and changing production patterns: an integrated approach
May/1991 Sustainable development: changing production patterns, social equity and the environment
March/1990 Changing production patterns with social equity
LANIC University of Texas -Austin
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Academic Research Resources
ARL - Latin Americanist Research Resources Pilot Project
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Cuba in Transition-Association for the Study of the Cuban Economy (ASCE)
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Internet Resources for Latin America "The Guide",M. Molloy, V. 4.0
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Search Internet Resources for Latin America
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Latin American Jewish Studies Association LAJSA
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Latin American Studies Association: LASA95 Papers
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Latin American Economic System SELA
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SME Forum/Foro PYME Joint IDB-LANIC Site
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Southern Labor Studies Conference: Abstracts
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Texas Papers on Latin America
UT-ILAS Working Papers
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Arts & Culture
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Latin American Collection of the Jack S. Blanton Museum of Art
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The Brazil Center of ILAS

The Brazil Center
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Calendar of Brazilianist Activities at UT-Austin
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Social Policy in Brazil Center for the Study of Western Hemispheric Trade
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Trade Center Home Page
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International Trade Information System IT-IS
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Data Bases 
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Castro Speech Data Base
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ENLACE - Electronic Network for Latin American Careers and Employment
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Granma Archives Index
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USAID: Latin America and the Caribbean Economic & Social Data
1994 Data Base
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1996 Data Base
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Latin American Information Base (LAIB) PC binary files
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The AMDH's Boletin Especial Chiapas in English and Spanish
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Latin American Studies Network LASNET
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New Federalism, State and Local Government in Mexico October 1996
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Mexico City's Water Supply
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Sustainable Development Reporting Project John Burnett
The EU's relations with Latin America
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Latin America: the European Commission adopts a strategy for regional cooperation 2002-2006
Latin America and the Caribbean in the next Millenium
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Latin America in the International Financial Crisis
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Options in light of the Crisis
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L.Brooks: Army Unit investigated in Colombia. Death Squads
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Joseph Kennedy on The School of the Americas
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R.Rojas: U.S. imperialism in Latin America
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R.Rojas: Notes on the doctrine of national security
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R.Rojas: Latin America: a failed industrial revolution
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R.Rojas: Latin America: the making of a fractured society
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R.Rojas: Latin America: a dependent mode of production
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R.Rojas: Latin America: on the effects of colonization

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R.Rojas: Theoretical notes about colonization
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R.Rojas: Latin America: structural changes in the economy. 1950-70
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R.Rojas: 15 years of monetarism in Latin America: time to scream
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R.Rojas: Notes on development and dependency
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R.Rojas: Notes on ECLAC's structuralism and dependency theory
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L. Andersen, 2000: Social mobility in Latin America
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In defence of Marxism: Latin America
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EUFORIC: European Union cooperation with Africa, Asia and Latin America
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R.A.Pastor: U.S. foreign policy: the Caribbean Basin
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E. Galeano: Latin America and the Theory of Imperialism
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Latin American Economic System
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NAFTA: North America Free Trade Association
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FTIS: Foreign Trade Information System
SICE - the Organization of American State's Foreign Trade Information System - centralizes information on trade policy in the Americas. On the SICE Website, you will find the full texts of trade agreements in force for OAS Member States, new and ongoing trade policy developments, information on national trade-related legislation, links to international, regional and national sources of trade policy information and more! SICE, with more than ten years online, strives to provide OAS member states and other users up-to-date and relevant information.

Latin World
 
From The World Bank:
Latin America: Securing our future in a global economy. 2000

In the 1990s Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) began to resurface from the lost decade of the 1980s after a sustained reform effort by the countries to enhance the role of market forces and increase the region's real and financial integration into the global economy. In spite of this, perceptions of economic insecurity run high in the region. This report assesses the extent, causes, and effects of economic insecurity in LAC and identifies policies and institutions that can help reduce the degree of insecurity faced by workers and households in the region, while allowing them to take advantage of the enhanced economic opportunities brought about by the recent reforms. After stating the facts concerning economic insecurity in Chapter 2, the report then sets out a general analytical framework to help organize the various options available to individuals and governments for dealing with economic insecurity (Chapter 3). With this framework, the remaining chapters focus on measures to deal with risks. First, they suggest the causes of macroeconomic or aggregate volatility and some remedies (Chapter 4). Then this report examines how these risks affect individuals and households, and their responses to economic shocks (Chapter 5). Next the report discusses the risk of becoming unemployed, and the public responses to help workers deal with this risk (Chapter 6). Appropriate social insurance and social protection is considered in the final chapter.
Background papers:
Latin American Economies (1997):
Total gross domestic product
Per capita gross domestic product
Consumer price index
Urban unemployment
Average real wages
Public-sector deficit (-) or surplus at current prices
Index of the real effective exchange rate for imports
Exports of goods, FOB
Imports of goods, FOB
Terms of trade (goods), FOB/FOB
Balance of payments (1)
Balance of payments (concluded)
Net foreign direct investment
International bond issues
Stock exchange price index, in dollars
Total disbursed external debt
Net resource transfers
Ratio of total accrued interest to exports of goods and services
Ratio of profits paid to exports of goods and services
------
Economic Survey of Latin America and the Caribbean 1997-1998
Figures
Latin America and the Caribbean: overall effects of the Asian crisis
Latin America and the Caribbean: changes in real value of local currencies Latin America and the Caribbean: changes in nominal interest rates
Latin America and the Caribbean: gross domestic product
Latin America and the Caribbean: consumer prices
Latin America and the Caribbean: employment rates
Latin America and the Caribbean: urban unemployment
Latin America and the Caribbean: current account balance Latin America and the Caribbean: exports to Asia
Latin America and the Caribbean: stock market quotations
Latin America and the Caribbean: international bond issues
Latin America and the Caribbean: savings and investment ratios

------
Economic Survey of Latin America and the Caribbean 1997-1998. Statistical Appendix
Latin America and the Caribbean: main economic indicators
Latin America and the Caribbean: gross domestic product
Latin America and the Caribbean: per capita gross domestic product
Latin America and the Caribbean: financing of gross capital formation
Latin America and the Caribbean: gross fixed investment
Latin America and the Caribbean: urban unemployment
Latin America and the Caribbean: consumer prices
Latin America and the Caribbean: non-financial public sector balance
Latin America and the Caribbean: exports
and imports of goods
Latin America and the Caribbean: exports of goods
Latin America and the Caribbean: imports of goods
Latin America and the Caribbean: terms
of trade
Latin America and the Caribbean: balance of payments

 
J. M. Villasuso: Economic Encounters
Journal of The Latinamerican Economic System SELA
Revista Capítulos
El primer número de esta importante publicación salió en agosto de 1983, finalizando su publicación con el número 65 de enero-junio de 2003. Con el número 45 (enero-marzo, 1996) se inició, paralela a la impresa, la versión digital. En sus comienzos Capítulos fue “concebida como un aporte para una mejor comprensión de los procesos económicos que involucran la participación del foro regional, a partir de un ejercicio ordenado que tienda a motivar a los lectores hacia un conocimiento cada vez más sistemático de las cuestiones coyunturales y estratégica de la economía latinoamericana”. A lo largo de su existencia, Capítulos se convirtió en un foro en el que convergieron los más altos exponentes del pensamiento latinoamericano referido a los procesos de integración, cooperación y desarrollo en América latina y el Caribe.


Capitulos Nº 67
Democratic Governance and Human Development in LAC

January-June 2003

Capitulos Nº 66
Trade and Development
September-December 2002

Capitulos Nº 65
International Migrations
in Latin America and the Caribbean

May-August 2002

Capitulos Nº 64
The New Paradigms
of International Cooperation

January - April 2002

Capitulos Nº 63
WTO and FTAA:
Priorities on the LAC Trade Agenda

September - December 2001

Capitulos Nº 62
The FTAA: Opportunities and Risks

May - August 2001

Capitulos Nº 61
Integration Now or Never

January - April 2001

Capítulos Nº 60.
"Twenty-five Years of SELA: An Assessment"

September - December 2000

Capítulos Nº 59.
"Finance, Investment and Growth"

May - August 2000

Capítulos Nº 58.
"From the Ghost of Seattle to the Spirit of Bangkok"

January - April 2000

Capítulos Nº 57.
"Options in Light of the Crisis"

September - December 1999

Capítulos Nº 56.
"Latin America in the International Financial Crisis"

May - August 1999

Capítulos Nº 55.
"Latin America and the Caribbean in the Next Millennium"

January - April 1999

Capítulos Nº 54.
"The Impact of
the Euro on
Latin America"

July - September 1998

Capítulos Nº 53.
"Globalization and the External Relations of Latin America and the Caribbean"

January - June 1998

Capítulos Nº 52.
"Growth and Employment"

Octubre - Diciembre 1997
 

Capítulos Nº 51.
"Strategic Industrial Policies Changes"

July - September 1997

Capítulos Nº 50.
"Trade in the Economies of Latin America and the Caribbean"

April - June 1997
 

Capítulos Nº 49.
"Trends in Latin American and Caribbean Integration"

Enero - Marzo 1997

Capítulos - Special Edition 1996.
"Globalization, trade and integration"

January - December 1996
Chronological index of CEPAL Review articles
1990-2006

From ECLAC - November 2008

Opportunities for Trade and Investment between Latin America and Asia - Pacific. The link with APEC
Prepared with the cooperation of the International Trade and Tourism Ministry of Peru. Reference material for government ministers and Heads of State attending the APEC Summit in Lima.
Latin America and the Caribbean in the World Economy, 2007. Trends 2008
ECLAC institutional periodical report. Provides a regional overview of trends in trade and the factors that determine them.
Economic and Trade Relations between Latin America and Asia-Pacific. The Link with China
Provides updated information on the internationalization process in both regions in order to stimulate biregional trade and investment.
The Latin American Pacific Basin Initiative and the Asia-Pacific region
A contribution to the fourth Forum of Ministers of the Latin American Pacific Basin Initiative. It provides a broad view of the economic and trade links between Asian and Latin American countries.
Millennium Development Goals. Progress towards the right to health in Latin America and the Caribbean
Interagency report, coordinated by ECLAC. Presents a review of progress towards the health-related Millennium Development Goals (MDG).
Economic Survey of Latin America and the Caribbean 2007-2008
ECLAC institutional periodical report. Presents determinants of economic evolution in the region during 2007 and the first semester of 2008.


From Foreign Policy In Focus
Cleaving a false divide in Latin America
By Juan Antonio Montecino | September 28, 2006
As Latin America shifts further left on the political spectrum, U.S. pundits are frantically struggling to artificially partition the continent’s leftist leaders between so-called populist demagogues and sound pragmatists.
While most analysts wrongly see a Latin America torn between Venezuela’s Hugo Chávez and Chile’s Michelle Bachelet—between ideological and pragmatic governance—the new wave of leftist leaders all blame the last 20 years of neo-liberal “reforms” for the continent’s present ills and agree on the need for new and alternative development models. What is surprising is that for all the praise of pragmatic thinking present in the debate, this dichotomy is itself ideological to the core.
-----------------------

From ECLAC:
Gender Statistics
Governments, researchers, and people interested in knowing about the situation of women and men in Latin America and The Caribbean will find on this site all the information available for each country, disaggregated by sex, and a compared overview of the whole region.
Country profiles - Regional indicators - Millennium Summit indicators - Beijing indicators - Inventory of gender indicators - Related information
-------------------

ECLAC - 2005
Latin America and the Caribbean 10 years after the social summit: a regional overview
J. L. Machinea
---
ECLAC - 2004
Latin America and the Caribbean: integration and strategies for social cohesion
J. L. Machinea
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ECLAC - 2005
Foreign Investment in Latin America and the Caribbean, 2004
--------------------

M. Benjamin, 18 August 2004
Why Hugo Chávez won a landslide victory
Go to the barrios of Caracas, and it becomes obvious why the recall effort against Hugo Chavez failed: providing people with free health care, education, small business loans and job training is a good way to win the hearts and minds of the people.
The Economist, 12 August 2004:
The Latinobarómetro poll
Democracy's low-level equilibrium
Latin Americans believe their democracies benefit a privileged few, not the many-but they don't want a return to dictatorship
Latin American Centre for Development Administration (1998)
A New Public Management for Latin America
United Nations Development Program (2004)
Democracy in Latin America
Towards a citizen's democracy
ZNet: Latin America Watch
Interamerican Development Bank
School of the Americas Watch
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Center for Latin American Capital Markets Research
---
Latin American and Caribbean Center (LACC)
---
Handbook of Latin American Studies Online (U.S. govt.)
---
O. Altimir: Growth, Human Development in Latin American countries-Long-term Trends, 1996
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Decent work and protection for all. Priority of the Americas. ILO. 1999
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AMARC (World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters)
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Tom Blanton (2000):The CIA in Latin America
 
The Helen Kellogg Institute Working Papers
Copyright © 2006 Kellogg Institute for International Studies
University of Notre Dame
130 Hesburgh Center   Phone: 574.631.6580  Fax: 574.631.6717

¿Crisis en el Sindicalismo en América Latina?
Francisco Zapata
Working Paper #302 - January 2003
Abstract
Economic adjustment policies, trade liberalization, privatization of State enterprise and transformation of labor markets and labor market institutions relate to a process of transition between a model of import substitution industrialization and a “new economic model” characterized by the transnationalization of Latin American internal markets. All these elements contribute to change the premises of the organization of unions and to weaken their role in the negotiation of salaries and working conditions, their intervention in the regulation of employment and their participation in the administration of social security and health benefits. On the basis of the cases of Brazil, Chile and Mexico, the presentation will provide a context in which to pose the question of the crisis of Latin American labor and examine some of the alternatives that are available for trade unions in the new economic conditions.

When Capital Cities Move: The Political Geography of Nation and State Building
Edward Schatz
Working Paper #303 - February 2003
Abstract
Capital relocation (i.e., the physical move of the central state apparatus from one location to another) is an unusual tool for nation and state building. Yet, it is used more frequently than we might expect. Thus, when Kazakhstan shifted its capital city in 1997 from Almaty to Astana the move was unique in that post-Soviet region, but not as uncommon in other post-colonial cases. This paper examines the move of the capital in Kazakhstan suggests that this move was designed to address particularly acute nation-and state-building challenges. If the Kazakhstan experience seems strange in de-Sovietization, this tells us much about the different nature of post-Soviet space versus other post-colonial contexts. The relative in frequency of capital moves implies that the challenges of nation and state building in the ex-USSR—as daunting as they have proved to be—are generally not as acute as in those of other post-colonial contexts.

Policy Making Under Divided Government in Mexico
Benito Nacif
Working Paper #305 - March 2003
Abstract
Without a majority in the Congress, the president’s party looses the ability to direct policy change. With only one-third of the vote, the president’s party can prevent any initiative from turning into law. Individual opposition parties gain influence under divided government but lack the power to veto policy change. Contrary to what critics of Presidentialism have argued, political parties in presidential regimes do not lack in incentives to cooperate and build policymaking coalitions. Coalition building depends on the potential gains of cooperation that both the president’s party and the opposition parties can capture if they modify the status quo. Two sufficient conditions for coalition building can be identified: an extreme position of the status quo, and the location of the president’s party at the median position. This explains law change and the size of lawmaking coalitions under divided government in Mexico.

La Posguerra Colombiana: Divagaciones Sobre la Venganza, La Justicia y la Reconciliación
Iván Orozco
Working Paper #306 - May 2003
Abstract
This essay explores the relationships between vengeance, justice and reconciliation in contexts of war and transitions towards democracy, with a special emphasis and interest on the Colombian situation. It aims at easing, at least partly, the tensions facing peace makers and human rights activists who deal with the issue of “impunity” for atrocious crimes perpetrated by the state and other political organizations. It does so by distinguishing between vertical and horizontal processes of victimization and by distributing functions between peace makers and human rights activists in accord with this distinction. Based upon the premise that transitional Justice always entails a compromise between punishment, truth and reconciliation, the paper argues for a certain priority of punishment in contexts of vertical victimization and for a partial precedence of reconciliation in contexts of horizontal victimization. The notion of “gray areas” where the distinction between victims and perpetrators, best represented by certain kinds of “collaborators” and, “avengers” collapses, lies at the heart of the logics of forgiveness and reconciliation. After characterizing the Colombian conflict as a case of horizontal victimization—i.e., symmetric barbarism—the paper proposes a model of transitional justice for Colombia built on the primacy of truth and forgiveness for the inhabitants of gray zones and punishment for the engineers and managers of barbarism.

Informal Institutions and Comparative Politics: A Research Agenda
Gretchen Helmke and Steven Levitsky
Working Paper #307 - September 2003
Abstract
During the 1990s, comparative research on political institutions focused primarily on formal rules. Yet recent studies suggest that an exclusive focus on formal rules is often insufficient, and that informal institutions, ranging from bureaucratic and legislative norms to clientelism and patrimonialism, often have a profound - and systematic - effect on political outcomes. Neglecting these informal institutions thus risks missing many of the “real” incentives and constraints that underlie political behavior. This article seeks to move informal institutions from the margins to the mainstream of comparative politics research. It develops an initial framework for studying informal institutions and, importantly, integrating them into comparative institutional analysis. In the conceptual realm, the article attempts to clarify what is meant by “informal institution” and then develops a typology of four patterns of formal-informal institutional interaction: complementary, accommodating, competing, and substitutive. In the theoretical realm, the article examines two issues that have been largely unexplored in the literature on informal institutions: the question of why and how informal institutions emerge, and the sources of informal institutions stability and change. A final section explores some of the practical challenges inherent in research on informal institutions, including issues of identification, measurement, and comparison

Political Disaffection and Democratization History in New Democracies
Mariano Torcal
Working Paper #308
Abstract
This paper focuses on the analysis of political disaffection. After discussing and defining this notion, the article shows that disaffection affects more widely, though not exclusively, third-wave democracies. The close link between levels of disaffection and the history of democratization in each country explains its higher incidence among new democracies. For this very reason, political disaffection could also run high among more established democracies. However, regardless of its incidence in each particular country, political disaffection reveals a distinctive nature in new democracies because of the absence of a democratic past in many of these cases. Thus, disaffection constitutes a key element to explain the lower propensity of citizens of new democracies to participate in every dimension of political activity.

Unemployment, Macroeconomic Policy and Labor Market Flexibility: Argentina and Mexico in the 1990s
Roberto Frenkel and Jaime Ros
Working Paper #309 - February 2004
Abstract
This paper compares the divergent unemployment experiences in Argentina and Mexico in the 1990s, examining in detail the remarkable contrasts in the adjustment of the labor market in these two countries that occur despite equally striking similarities in the evolution of a number of macroeconomic variables and external economic shocks. The paper focuses on the role of macroeconomic policies and the type of industrial
restructuring in these developments and considers to what extent the divergent unemployment experiences can be explained by differences in the institutional characteristics of the labor market.

The Violence of "Religion": Examining a Prevalent Myth
William T. Cavanaugh
Working Paper #310 - March 2004
Abstract
This essay examines arguments that religion is prone to violence and finds them incoherent. They are incoherent because they can find no way consistently to differentiate the religious from the secular. After exposing the arbitrariness of the arguments, the essay goes on to examine why such arguments are so common. The hypothesis put forward is that such arguments are so prevalent because, while they delegitimate certain kinds of violence, they legitimate other kinds of violence, namely, violence done in the name of secular, Western states and ideals. Such arguments sanction a putative dichotomy between non-Western, especially Muslim, forms of culture on the one hand, which - having not yet learned to privatize matters of faith - are absolutist, divisive, irrational, and Western culture on the other, which is supposedly modest in its claims to truth, unitive, and rational. In short, their violence is fanatical and uncontrolled; our violence is controlled, reasonable, and often regrettably necessary to contain their violence.

On the Role of Distance for Outward Foreign Direct Investment
Peter Egger
Working Paper #311 - June 2004
Abstract
This paper focuses on the estimation of three distance-related effects on outward foreign direct investment (FDI). (i) Distance harms vertical multinationals, since they engage in trade. (ii) It makes non-trading multinationals better off than exporters. (iii) This positive effect on horizontal FDI is expected to rise with bilateral country size due to the home market effect. The use of panel data and related econometric methods is highly recommended to avoid parameter bias from endogenous, unobserved, time-invariant effects. A unified estimation approach to assess all three hypotheses then has to rely on instrumental variable techniques for generalized leastsquares methods. In the empirical analysis of 1989–1999 bilateral US outward FDI stocks at the industry level, it is shown that testing and accounting for autocorrelation is extremely important for parameter inference. In sum, the paper lends strong support to the theory of horizontally organized multinationals as outlined in Markusen and Venables (2000).

Does Lootable Wealth Breed Disorder? A Political Economy of Extraction Framework
Richard Snyder
Working Paper #312 - July 2004
Abstract
This article proposes a political economy of extraction framework that accounts for political order and state collapse as alternative outcomes in the face of lootable wealth. Different types of institutions of extraction can be built around lootable resources--with divergent effects on political stability. If rulers are able to forge institutions of extraction that give them control over the revenues generated by lootable resources, then these resources can contribute to the maintenance of political order by providing the income with which to govern. In contrast, the breakdown or absence of such institutions increases the risk of civil war by making it easier for rebels to get income. The framework is used to explain two puzzling cases that experienced sharply contrasting political trajectories in the face of lootable resources: Sierra Leone and Burma. A focus on institutions of extraction provides a stronger understanding of the wide range of political possibilities--from chaos, through dictatorship, to democracy--in resource-rich countries.

Myths of the Enemy: Castro, Cuba and Herbert L. Matthews of The New York Times
Anthony DePalma
Working Paper #313 - July 2004
Abstract
Fidel Castro was given up for dead, and his would-be revolution written off, in the months after his disastrous invasion of the Cuban coast in late 1956. Then a New York Times editorial writer named Herbert L. Matthews published one of the great scoops of the 20th century, reporting that not only was Castro alive, but that he was backed by a large and powerful army that was waging a successful guerrilla war against dictator Fulgencio Batista. Matthews, clearly taken by the young rebel’s charms, and sympathetic to his cause, presented a skewed picture. He called Castro a defender of the Cuban constitution, a lover of democracy, and a friend of the American people: the truth as he saw it. The image created by Matthews stuck, helping Castro consolidate his power and gain international recognition. US attitudes toward the conflict in Cuba changed, dooming Batista. But after the triumph of the revolution, US views again abruptly shifted and Matthews was blamed for having helped bring Castro to power. The perception that Washington had been hoodwinked by Matthews and State Department officials sympathetic to Castro led to the development of the hard line which still guides US– Cuban relations.

A Sequential Theory of Decentralization and its Effects on the Intergovernmental Balance of Power: Latin American Cases in Comparative Perspective
Tulia G. Falleti
Working Paper #314 - July 2004
Abstract
Both advocates and critics of decentralization assume that decentralization invariably increases the power of subnational governments. However, a closer examination of the consequences of decentralization across countries reveals that the magnitude of such change can range from substantial to insignificant. To explain this variation, I propose a sequential theory of decentralization that has three main characteristics: a) it defines decentralization as a process; b) it takes into account the territorial interests of bargaining actors; and c) it incorporates policy feedback effects in the analysis of bargaining situations. I argue that the sequencing of different types of decentralization (fiscal, administrative, and political) is a key determinant of the evolution of intergovernmental balance of power. I measure this evolution in the four largest Latin American countries and apply the theory to the two extreme cases: Colombia and Argentina. I show that, contrary to commonly held opinion, decentralization in Argentina did not increase the power of governors and mayors relative to the president. In contrast, in Colombia, a different sequence of decentralization reforms led to higher degrees of autonomy of the governors and mayors relative to the president.

Tax Effort and Tax Potential of State Governments in Mexico: A Representative Tax System
Horacio Sobarzo
Working Paper #315 - October 2004
Abstract
Over the last two decades, Mexico has modified its intergovernmental fiscal structure from a very centralized system to a distorted scenario where state governments have gained substantial expenditure functions and most of the taxation responsibilities have remained in the federal government. It is argued that to move towards a more fiscally responsible scenario, some decentralization on the taxation side is needed. In this context, by constructing a representative tax system (RTS), this paper evaluates tax effort and tax potential in Mexico. The results are a useful input for policy decision making, not only in the event of future tax decentralization attempts but also in designing a new transfer scheme. The results are also the first RTS constructed for the Mexican case, and show that regional data in Mexico is gradually improving. Also, while the results shed some light as to which taxes could potentially be decentralized, the article warns about the fact that regional disparities in the country may well be a limitation on the extent to which taxes can be decentralized.

Rational Learning and Bounded Learning in the Diffusion of Policy Innovations
Covadonga Meseguer
Working Paper #316 - January 2005
Abstract
In political science, rational learning and bounded learning are commonly studied as two opposing theories of policy choice. In this paper, I use a rational-learning approach to reach conclusions about bounded learning, showing that the two theories are not necessarily incompatible. By examining a rational-learning model and the decisions of a set of developing countries to open up their trade regimes, I show that countries are particularly influenced by the choices of neighbouring countries and by particularly successful policy experiences. These are two typical contentions of the bounded-learning literature. I argue that bounded learning and rational learning yield the same results as soon as one drops the rational-learning assumption that there are zero costs to gathering new information. I use the discussion on rational learning versus bounded learning as a basis for exploring more general issues concerning the diffusion of policy innovations.

On the Continuing Relevance of the Weberian Methodological Perspective (with Applications to the Spanish Case of Elections in the Aftermath of Terrorism)
Robert M. Fishman
Working Paper #317 - February 2005
Abstract
This paper argues for the continuing relevance of Max Weber’s distinctive methodological perspective by first elaborating its constitutive elements and then applying it to the analysis of an important recent political episode: the Spanish case of elections in the aftermath of terrorism in March 2004. The paper takes as the central feature of Weberian methodology the embrace of both poles in a series of intellectual tensions such as the seeming opposition between pursuing generalizing theorization and case-specific nuance and specificity. The paper examines the basis for this approach in Weber’s classic Objectivity Essay and then builds a case for its continuing relevance by arguing that the impact of the March 11, 2004 terrorist attack in Madrid on Spain’s March 14 elections cannot be understood without a thorough analysis of much that is specific to the case’s political history, its pattern of conflict over regional and national identities, and its distinctive nexus between institutional and social movement forms of political engagement. Emphasis is placed on the large shift of votes in the country’s plurinational periphery and the electoral impact of micro-demonstrations. The paper argues that this case shows the importance of using generalizing concepts and theories without losing sight of case-specific dynamics that fail to fit within the a priori assumptions of such generalizing approaches.

Class Formation or Fragmentation? Allegiances and Divisions Among Managers and Workers in State-Owned Enterprises
Kun-Chin Lin
Working Paper #318 - March 2005
Abstract
This essay argues that crosscutting allegiances between managers and workers, and between existing workers and ex-workers, have formed strong social and psychological bases for sustained collective action and inaction during a period of organizational transformation in contemporary China. This thesis challenges the conventional wisdom that implies either class formation during marketization or the failure of such as an explanation for the alleged limits of the working class in mobilizing to defend its social contract against the central state. Through in-depth case studies of Chinese oilfields and refineries, I identify patterns of fragmentation deriving from intergenerational differences among the workers, managerial incentive structures, and the continuing reworking of patron-client relations between subgroups of workers and managers. I conclude that managers’ and workers’ passive and active responses to the state’s rapid dismantling of the socialist notion of “class” in a self-sufficient work unit have placed a tangible social limit on authoritarian institutional innovation.

Language and Politics: on the Colombian “Establishment”
Eduardo Posada-Carbó
Working Paper #320 - October 2005
Abstract
During the last decade, the term “Establishment” has gained currency among Colombian opinion makers—be they newspaper columnists, politicians, or even academics. After surveying the ambiguities of the concept in the United Kingdom and the United States—the countries where it was first popularized in the 1950s and 1960s—this paper focuses on the usages of the expression in the Colombian public debate. Based on a variety of sources—including op-eds and newspaper reports, interviews with leading public figures, and other political and academic documents—I show how generalized the term has become. I examine how the prevailing language gives the “Establishment” a central role in shaping political developments in the past decades. It blames the “Establishment” for the country’s most fundamental problems while conferring on this same “Establishment” the power to solve them. However, any attempt to identify what is meant by the “Establishment” soon reveals an extremely confusing picture. In the final part of the paper, I highlight some of the implications of the general usage of such a vague and contradictory concept for the quality of democratic debate, the legitimacy of the political system, and the possible solution of the armed conflict in Colombia.

With Friends Like These: Protest Strategies and the Left in Brazil and Mexico
Kathleen Bruhn
Working Paper #321 - October 2005
Abstract
This paper looks at the impact of Left victory and Left party alliance on the protest behavior of popular movements, based on an original dataset of protest in Mexico City, Brasilia, and São Paulo. I ask, first, whether Left victories reduce levels of protest, and second, whether party alliances constrain protest. My findings suggest that neither hypothesis is systematically correct. Organizations do not protest significantly less against their allies. Nor do Left governments experience less protest in general. Indeed, in two of the three cities analyzed, Left governments experienced more protest than conservative governments, much of it directed by their own political allies. In all three cities, Left party allies protest significantly more regardless of who is in power. These results suggest, first, that the tactical repertoires of movements reflect fairly stable characteristics of movement type, resources, and/or culture, as some sociological work has argued. Indeed, these stable characteristics trump changes in local political opportunity structures as predictors of movement tactics. Second, political opportunity structures do matter, but in inconsistent ways across cases. Therefore, my findings also suggest the potential fruitfulness of further specifying the contextual conditions under which Left victories result in increased or decreased tendencies to protest.

External Pressures and International Norms in Latin American Pension Reform
Kurt Weyland
Working Paper #323 - February 2006
Abstract
What accounts for the striking of wave of pension privatization that swept across Latin America during the 1990s? Many authors argue that the international financial institutions (IFIs) successfully promoted this drastic change, forcing or persuading weak developing countries to enact their uniform blueprints. But the present analysis, based on field research in Bolivia, Brazil, Costa Rica, El Salvador, and Peru, shows that these claims are not convincing. The IFIs cannot impose external models of social sector reform on Latin American countries; to a greater or lesser extent, all five countries under investigation—even weak, aid-dependent Bolivia— diverged from IFI recommendations. The diffusion of Chilean-style pension privatization did not result from the spread of new norms and values either; in fact, the IFIs promoted structural social security reform with instrumental, not normative arguments. Instead of vertical imposition, horizontal contagion among developing countries of equal status—especially direct learning from Chilean pension specialists—accounts for the diffusion of social security privatization. Even in the age of globalization, national sovereignty is quite alive and surprisingly well.

Los Sistemas de Partidos en los Países Andinos, 1980–2005: Reformismo Institucional, Autoritarismos Competitivos y los Desafíos Actuales
Martín Tanaka
Working Paper #324 - March 2006
Abstract
Here I study the party systems in the Andean countries in the last twenty-five years. Facing the challenges of the exhaustion of the statist national-popular development model, these countries followed a path of intense institutional reform, opening and democratizing the political systems. In the middle of these attempts, the party system collapsed in Peru and Venezuela, while in Bolivia, Colombia, and Ecuador, the party systems manage to evolve despite significant crisis. The difference between the two paths is a significant one: the collapse of the party systems led to the establishment of competitive authoritarian regimes, while the gradual opening of the political system allowed the emergence of new forces and the presence of sectors previously excluded or subordinated under pluralistic schemes. In recent years, the exhaustion of market reforms and an adverse international environment places the region again in a new critical juncture, where the main options seem to be to continue through a path of more reforms and opening of the political system, which may lead to governability crisis, or attempt to organize and institutionalize the disordered opening produced in recent years.

Sacred Writings, Profane World: Notes on the History of Ideas in Brazil
Francisco C. Weffort∗
Working Paper #325 - April 2006
Abstract
Like other Ibero-American countries, Brazil is a country whose Catholic origins would mark its cultural uniqueness for centuries to come. It was a new country, born in the wake of the great discoveries of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and dependent in its first centuries on Portuguese colonizing efforts that paved the way for the modern era, similar to the other Iberian countries of America, which were dependent on Spain. Brazil was also marked by the historical vicissitudes of the late Middle Ages, by the short Renaissance experienced in the Iberian countries, and by the Counter-Reformation and long decadence of the centuries that followed. After giving the world its first glimpse of modernity, Portugal and Spain appeared for centuries to be fortresses of tradition. Fruit of a history that was divided between seduction by the past and fascination with the new, Brazilian culture still shows traces of these origins. In more recent times we have preferred to simplify the image of that past, obeying the economic orientation that has become the dominant feature of our intellectual life and the main current of a style of thinking. Even our memory of the most distant past has been subordinated to the same one-dimensional logic of economic interest that we generally apply to present situations. Yet by relegating cultural and political passions to the margins, we are left with only a partial view of history that ignores essential aspects. This paper attempts to shed light on some of those forgotten truths.

Growth and Transformation of the Workers’ Party in Brazil, 1989–2002
Wendy Hunter
Working Paper #326 - August 2006
Abstract
The Partido dos Trabalhadores (PT) in Brazil, a once radical and programmatic party whose impressive rise in Brazil’s patronage-oriented political system appeared to defy institutionalist logic, has come to look more like its catchall competitors. Rather than continuing to build upon its earlier promise to shape the party system in a more programmatic direction and induce higher standards of conduct among the country’s politicians, the PT—once called an “anomaly” and the most likely case for continued difference—has itself become more like a typical Brazilian party. This evolution resulted from the increasing emphasis that party leaders placed on immediate vote–maximization and the corresponding moves to bring the party closer to the political center. While this shift expanded the party’s electoral base, the pull to power rendered the PT more vulnerable to institutional incentives and effectively compromised its political integrity.  Thus, rather than transforming the system, the PT became yet another of its victims.


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Puro Chile la memoria del pueblo
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Director: Róbinson Rojas Sandford


Informaciones sobre Cuba
--------------
Comisión Económica para América Latina
- CEPAL - Julio 2006

Estudio económico de América Latina y el Caribe 2005-2006
La presente edición del Estudio económico de América Latina y el Caribe corresponde al número 58 de esta serie. El Estudio se entrega en dos partes. En la primera se examinan los principales aspectos de la economía regional, mientras en la segunda se analiza la coyuntura de los países de América Latina y del Caribe. Además, se presenta un detallado anexo estadístico, que contiene datos regionales y nacionales.
----------------------
Del Banco Mundial
31 agosto 2005

Infraestructura en América Latina y el Caribe: tendencias recientes y retos principales
------------------------
ESPECIAL: la crisis en Bolivia - junio 2005
---------------------
23 abril 2005
Andre Gunder Frank murió esta madrugada en Luxemburgo
Andre Gunder Frank murió esta madrugada derrotado por el cáncer. Uno de los creadores de la teoría de la dependencia y brillante representante de la la teoría de sistemas mundiales, Andre fue más que todo un incansable luchador político contra toda manifestación de injusticias en nuestras sociedades. Precisamente por eso, fue siempre combatido por el mundo académico internacional, lo cual lo condenó a vivir un exilio permanente. Para nosotros, los chilenos, además de su gigantesca estatura intelectual, Andre fue un compañero de lucha en los hermosos tiempos de la batalla contra las injusticias sociales en los años sesenta, durante el gobierno de la Unidad Popular, y después en la lucha internacional contra los militares asesinos y terroristas dirigidos por el dictador Pinochet. Escribo con dolor estas líneas sobre la muerte de un amigo y compañero durante casi cuarenta años, pero también las escribo como una manera de decirle simplemente: hasta la victoria, siempre, Andre. (Róbinson Rojas, 23 abril 2005)
----------------------
26 abril 2005
ANDRE GUNDER FRANK
Theotonio Dos Santos
¿Quien es el economista más citado y discutido en el mundo? No pierda su tiempo buscando entre los premios Nóbel y otros muy promovidos en la gran prensa. André… Gunder Frank es de lejos el más citado y el más discutido en el mundo como revelan varios estudios sobre el tema y las más de 30.000 entradas que tiene en la Internet. Su muerte el sábado 23 de abril pasado produce un vacío en el pensamiento social contemporáneo difícil de ser sustituido...
---------------------
De CEPAL
Estadísticas de género para América Latina
Los Gobiernos, investigadores y personas interesadas en conocer la situación de las mujeres y los hombres de América Latina y el Caribe, encontrarán en este espacio toda la información disponible, desagregada por sexo, en cada uno de los países y una visión comparada de la región.
Perfiles de país - Indicadores Regionales - Indicadores cumbre del milenio - Indicadores de Beijing - Inventario de Indicadores de Género - Información Relacionada - Unidad Mujer y Desarrollo
---------------------
8 diciembre 2004
Comunidad Sudamericana de Naciones
La Comunidad Sudamericana de Naciones (Portugués : Comunidade Sul-americana de Naçãos) es una comunidad política y económica entre los 12 países sudamericanos  constituida el 8 de diciembre de 2004 en la ciudad del Cusco, Perú durante la III Cumbre Sudamericana . La Declaración de Cusco sobre la Comunidad Sudamericana de Naciones, es el...
---------
PNUD, mayo 2004
La democracia en América Latina
Hacia una democracia de ciudadanas y ciudadanos.
La democracia es la condición del desarrollo económico, sostenible y equitativo. No hay crecimiento sin cohesión social. No hay competitividad con exclusión social. Las reformas no produjeron los resultados esperados. El sacrificio de la gente no fue correspondido. Es el momento de avanzar: de la democracia electoral a la democracia de la ciudadania. La política debe recobrar contenido y representatividad. Hay que llenar a la sociedad de política y de política a la sociedad. La democracia es el camino del cambio. Este informe es un llamado a la acción. Es una contribución del PNUD a los esfuerzos de los pueblos de la región por construir un mundo mejor.
Banco de Datos RRojas invita a sus lectores a leer este informe con sentido crítico y con el propósito de avanzar en la creación de un modelo de desarrollo alternativo, sustentable y basado en la solidaridad entre los seres humanos, para impedir que la barbarie del sistema capitalista destruya el tejido social y el tejido ecológico de nuestro planeta.
Informe del Banco Mundial (2003):
Desigualdad en América Latina y el Caribe: ¿ruptura con la historia?
Este documento analiza los motivos de la persistente desigualdad que aflige a la región, identifica de qué manera ésta obstaculiza el desarrollo y propone formas para lograr más equidad en cuanto a la distribución de la riqueza, el ingreso y las oportunidades.
TLCAN: Tratado de Libre Comercio de América del Norte
----
SICE: Sistema de Información sobre Comercio Exterior
---
Mundo Latino

Las relaciones de la UE con América Latina
---
Comisión Europa: Informe estratégico regional sobre América Latina. Programación  2002-2006

Proyectos en la University of Texas:
---
Academic Research Resources
ARL - Asociación de bibliotecas para la investigación
---
Cuba en Transicion-Association for the Study of the Cuban Economy (ASCE)
---
Fármacos
---
Guía preliminar de fuentes documentales etnográficas para el estudio de los pueblos indígenas de Iberoamérica Fundación Tavera
---
Recursos en la internet sobre América Latina "The Guide",M. Molloy, V. 4.0
---
México y Estados Unidos en la Revolución Mundial de las Telecomunicaciones
---
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---
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---
Zapatistas!
---
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---
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---
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---
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---
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---
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---
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---
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---
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---
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---
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---
 
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Micro, Pequenas y Medianas Empresas Latinoamericanas
J. M. Villasuso: Encuentro Económico
CEPAL: 50 años. Reflexiones sobre América Latina y el Caribe :
Presentación , Oscar Altimir
Cincuenta años de la CEPAL , José A. Ocampo
El nuevo capitalismo, Celso Furtado
Evolución de las ideas de la CEPAL, Ricardo Bielschowsky, 
La CEPAL y la teoría de la industrialización, Valpy, FitzGerald
Aprendizaje tecnológico ayer y hoy , Jorge Katz
Relación del intercambio y desarrollo desigual, Jaime Ros
Shocks externos en economías vulnerables: una reconsideración de Prebisch , Nancy Birdsall y Carlos Lozada
Estructura, coordinación intertemporal y fluctuaciones macroeconómicas , Daniel Heymann
La reconstrucción del Estado en América Latina, Luiz Carlos Bresser Pereira
Globalización, moneda y finanzas , David Ibarra
La globalización y la gobernabilidad de los países en desarrollo , Roberto Bouzas y, Ricardo Ffrench-Davis
La globalización del capital financiero , David Felix
América Latina y la globalización , Aldo Ferrer
Un nuevo centro y una nueva periferia , Richard Mallon
La visión centro-periferia hoy , Armando Di Filippo
Globalización y democracia en América Latina , Alberto Couriel
Los desafíos de la globalización para Centroamérica , Gert Rosenthal
La CEPAL y la integración económica de América Latina , Maria da Conceiqo Tavares y Gerson Gomes
Desarrollo e integración regional: ¿otra oportunidad para una promesa incumplida? , Osvaldo Sunkel
El área de libre comercio de las Américas , Víctor Bulmer-Thomas
Incidentes de integración en Centromérica y Panamá, 1952-1958 , Víctor L. Urquidi
La CEPAL y el sistema interamericano , Vivianne Ventura-Dias
Medina Echavarría y el orden internacional: una revisión , Joseph Hodara
La búsqueda de la equidad , Héctor Assael
Pobreza y desigualdad: un desafío que perdura, Nora Lustig
Heterogeneidad estructural y empleo, Octavio Rodríguez
La apuesta educativa en América Latina, Ernesto Ottone
Las tareas de la pequeña y mediana empresa en América Latina, Alberto Berry
El futuro de los partidos políticos en la Argentina, Torcuato S. Di Tella
Cultura y desarrollo, Luciano Tomassini
Capítulos Nº 65
Las migraciones internacionales
en América Latina y el Caribe

Mayo-agosto 2002
Revista del Sistema Económico Latinoamericano
(SELA)
Capítulos Nº 64
Los nuevos paradigmas
de la Cooperación Internacional

Enero - Abril  2002
Capítulos Nº 63
OMC y ALCA:
prioridades en la agenda
comercial de ALC

Septiembre - Diciembre 2001
Capítulos Nº 62
Oportunidades y riesgos
del ALCA

Mayo - Agosto  2001
Capítulos Nº 61.
"Integración: ahora o nunca"

Enero - Abril 2001
Capítulos Nº 60.
"25 años del SELA: un balance"

Septiembre - Diciembre 2000
Capítulos Nº 59.
"Finanzas, inversión y crecimiento"

Mayo - Agosto 2000
Capítulos Nº 58.
"Del fantasma de Seattle al espíritu de Bangkok"

Enero - Abril 2000
Capítulos Nº 57.
"Opciones frente a la crisis"

Septiembre - Diciembre 1999
Capítulos Nº 56.
"América Latina en la crisis financiera internacional"

Mayo - Agosto 1999
Capítulos Nº 55.
"América Latina y el Caribe en el próximo milenio"

Enero - Abril 1999
Capítulos Nº 54.
"El impacto del euro en América Latina"

Julio - Septiembre 1998
Capítulos Nº 53.
"Globalización y
relaciones externas
de América Latina
y el Caribe"

Enero - Junio 1998
Capítulos Nº 52.
"Crecimiento y empleo"

Octubre - Diciembre 1997
Capítulos Nº 51.
"Cambios estratégicos en las políticas industriales"

Julio - Setiembre 1997
Capítulos Nº 50.
"El comercio en las economías de América Latina y el Caribe"

Abril - Junio 1997
Capítulos Nº 49.
"Tendencias de la Integración de América Latina y el Caribe"

Enero - Marzo 1997
Capítulos Nº 48.
"Industria, tecnología y competitividad"

Octubre - Diciembre 1996
Capítulos Nº 47.
"América Latina y el Caribe en los tiempos de la globalización"

Julio - Septiembre 1996
Capítulos Nº 46.
"Relaciones externas
de América Latina
y el Caribe"

Abril - Junio 1996
Capítulos Nº 45.
"Globalización Comercio e Integración"

Enero - Marzo 1996
 
Latinobarómetro. Opinión Pública Latinoamericana
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El informe Resumen Latinobarómetro 2004 afirma que hay un mayoritario rechazo a los gobiernos militares, pero que la mayoria de los latinoamericanos piensa que la democracia favorece a una minoría acaudalada y no a la mayoría de la población
Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe:

Estudio Económico para América Latina y el Caribe 2002-2003

Serie Reformas Económicas
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Revista de la Cepal-------Artículos
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* Anuario estadístico
* Balance preliminar de las economías de América Latina y el Caribe
* Estudio económico de América Latina y el Caribe
* La inversión extranjera en América Latina y el Caribe
* Panorama social de América Latina
* Panorama de la inserción internacional de América Latina y el Caribe

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Panorama Social de América Latina 2001-2002:
Síntesis de lanzamiento (pdf 148Kb)>
Capitulo I: Posibilidades y limitaciones de la reducción de la pobreza y la redistribución del ingreso(pdf 141Kb)
Capitulo II: Necesidades de formación de recursos humanos y absorción de empleo calificado en América Latina(pdf 137Kb)
Capitulo III: Deserción escolar, un obstáculo para el logro de los objetivos del desarrollo del milenio(pdf 215Kb)
Capitulo IV: Agenda social. Capital social: sus potencialidades y limitaciones para la puesta en marcha de políticas y programas sociales(pdf 118Kb)
Anexo estadístico(pdf 331Kb)
Presentación del Señór José Antonio Ocampo. Secretario ejecutivo CEPAL
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La inversión extranjera en América Latina y el Caribe. Informe 2000
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Libros de la Cepal:
Julio/2002 La sostenibilidad del desarrollo en América Latina y el Caribe: desafíos y oportunidades
Agosto/2001 Apertura económica y (des)encadenamientos productivos. Reflexiones sobre el complejo lácteo en América Latina.
Mayo/2001 El espacio regional. Hacia la consolidación de los asentamientos humanos en América Latina y el Caribe
Diciembre/2000 Juventud, población y desarrollo en América Latina y el Caribe. Problemas oportunidades y desafíos
Mayo/2001 La dimensión ambiental en el desarrollo de América Latina
Septiembre/2000 Las Mujeres Chilenas en los Noventa. Hablan las cifras.
Marzo/2001 Protagonismo juvenil en proyectos locales. Lecciones del Cono Sur
Julio/2000 La CEPAL en sus 50 años. Notas de un seminario conmemorativo
Noviembre/1999 Transformaciones recientes en el sector agropecuario brasileño. Lo que muestran los censos
Septiembre/1999 Un examen a la migración internacional en la Comunidad Andina. Proyecto SIMICA
Diciembre/1999 Nuevas políticas comerciales en América Latina y Asia. Algunos casos nacionales.
Diciembre/1999 Privatización portuaria. Bases, alternativas y consecuencias
Mayo/1999 Teoría y metaforas sobre el desarrollo territorial
Agosto/1999 Las dimensiones sociales de la integración regional en América Latina
Abril/1998 El pacto fiscal. Fortalezas, debilidades, desafíos. (Síntesis)
Diciembre/1997 La Grieta de las Drogas: Desintegración social y políticas públicas en América Latina
Marzo/1997 La brecha de la equidad. América Latina, el Caribe y la Cumbre Social
Julio/1996 Quince años de desempeño económico. América Latina y el Caribe, 1980-1995
Julio/1996 Fortalecer el desarrollo. Interacciones entre macro y microeconomía
Agosto/1996 Las relaciones económicas entre América Latina y la Unión Europea. El papel de los servicios exteriores.
Abril/1995 América Latina y el Caribe: políticas para mejorar la inserción en la economía mundial
Enero/1994 El Regionalismo abierto en América Latina y el Caribe. La integración económica en servicio de la transformación productiva con equidad
Agosto/1995 Población, equidad y transformación productiva
Agosto/1992 Educación y conocimiento: eje de la transformación productiva con equidad
Febrero/1996 Equidad y transformación productiva: un enfoque integrado
Mayo/1991 El desarrollo sustentable: transformación productiva, equidad y medio ambiente
Marzo/1990 Transformación productiva con equidad

DATOS DEL ESTUDIO ECONÓMICO DE AMÉRICA LATINA Y EL CARIBE

La versión impresa del Estudio económico de América Latina y el Caribe contiene un conjunto de información estadística que la CEPAL recopila a partir de fuentes nacionales oficiales y que luego procesa para los análisis que se realizan en el marco del desempeño macroeconómico anual (y trimestral para algunos indicadores) de las economías de la región. La edición 2003-2004 incluyó datos al mes de agosto del 2004 y reemplaza versiones anteriores.

En su primera parte, la Región, se utiliza la información sintetizada y estandarizada de los cuadros del Anexo Estadístico, mientras que para la segunda parte, los Países, se usaron los archivos con tablas por área temática que se entregan para cada uno de ellos.

La entrega de ambos conjuntos de cuadros, en planillas con formato excel, facilita su aplicabilidad por parte de los usuarios.

Datos por países:

Organización Internacional del Trabajo:
Panorama Laboral 2003

Presentación

Versión imprimible

Panorama Laboral cumple 10 años de existencia desde la aparición de su primer número en 1994. Se propuso entonces realizar un esfuerzo inédito en el seno de la OIT, ello implicaba invertir recursos para generar y recopilar los datos, situarlos en un marco estandarizado, actualizarlos y analizarlos en una publicación sintética, de fácil lectura. Observando el camino recorrido, podemos advertir que esta publicación ha crecido, madurado, se ha adaptado a nuevos desafíos y, sobre todo, se ha convertido en una herramienta útil para el conocimiento de la marcha anual no sólo del mercado de trabajo sino del marco más amplio de trabajo decente en la región. 

Panorama Laboral 2003, versión completa (pdf, 3.7 Mb)

La Oficina Regional de la OIT para América Latina y el Caribe está realizando una evaluación de Panorama Laboral con el fin de mejorar su calidad y utilidad, así como atender de la mejor manera sus requerimientos de información.

Consideramos que su aporte a esta tarea es fundamental. Por este motivo, le agradeceremos que terminada su lectura se sirva llenar la encuesta,  haga click aqui para ir a la encuesta directamente.

INDICE:
PROLOGO
iii
RECONOCIMIENTOS vii
BAJO CRECIMIENTO ECONÓMICO
SIN PROGRESO LABORAL EN LA REGIÓN
10
Cambios en las expectativas de crecimiento económico 13
El desempeño laboral de América Latina y el Caribe en 2003 20
El progreso laboral en 2003 35
Proyecciones de desempleo y del producto para 2003-2004 37
Políticas para avanzar en la agenda de trabajo decente 39
TEMAS ESPECIALES 42
Protección social y mercado laboral en América Latina 43
Aspectos laborales en los procesos de integración y
los tratados de libre comercio en la región
64
El ajuste laboral en América Latina:
una perspectiva de género (1995-2002)
74
Desigualdad y discriminación de género y raza
en el mercado de trabajo brasileño
84
Pronunciamientos políticos sobre crecimiento
económico, progreso social y trabajo decente
90
NOTA EXPLICATIVA 93
ANEXO ESTADÍSTICO 97
Materiales de prensa
Presentación
Materiales de prensa
Encuesta
Ediciones anteriores

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América Latina y el Caribe
Estadísticas Laborales 2000
[Fuente: Panorama Laboral Nro. 7, 2000 ]
América Latina y el Caribe
Estadísticas Laborales 1999
    [Fuente: Panorama Laboral Nro. 6, 1999 ]
Mercado Laboral y Recuperación Económica (Gráficos) Indicadores Laborales 1990 - 1999 (Cuadros)
Proyecciones de Desempleo y Producto 2000 - 2001 (Gráficos) Indicadores de la Situación Laboral de las Mujeres 1990 - 1999 (Cuadros y Gráficos)
Progreso Laboral de los Países (Cuadros)
Empleo de Jóvenes
Costos Laborales de la Protección a la Maternidad y el Cuidado Infantil (Cuadros)
Condiciones de Trabajo (Cuadros)
Anexo Estadístico (Cuadros)


Puro Chile la mémoire du peuple
Projet pour le Premier Siècle Populaire
Castellano
English


Editeur: Róbinson Rojas Sandford


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