The territorial dimension in the framework of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development: A methodological guide for strategic planning in a territory

The purpose of this document is to make available a methodological guide to the territory’s actors in order to promote reflection on development practices in the field, taking the subnational level as the unit of analysis. That could be a municipality, an intermunicipal area, or a cross-border area, among others. This proposal offers a minimum of content and methodology that can be maximized by reading other texts suggested in the bibliography.…

CEPAL Review no. 131

International financial cooperation to address the Latin American economic crisis / José Antonio Ocampo .-- Mapping social conflicts in natural resources: a text mining study of extractive activities / Ramiro Albrieu and Gabriel Palazzo .-- The ECLA technique of programming and economists in Argentina in the mid-twentieth century / Mariano Arana .-- Indicator of the efficiency of value added tax and income tax collection in Ecuador / José Ramírez-Álvarez and Paul Carrillo-Maldonado .-- Growth and heterogeneity of human capital: effects of the expansion of higher education on the income increas…

Constant real expenditure policy: the macroeconomic impacts of budget composition and a primary surplus

This paper analyses the fiscal policy of constant real expenditure recently adopted by Brazil’s fiscal authorities. It also compares the policy of maintaining a primary surplus as a proportion of gross domestic product with that of changing the composition of spending in favour of investment in order to identify which of the two policies is more efficient in promoting economic growth. We investigate the effects of these policies on long- and short-term consumption, investment, labour supply and output and the reaction of the term structure of interest rates. We also analyse the relationship be…

Indicator of the efficiency of value added tax and income tax collection in Ecuador

This paper outlines a methodology to measure the efficiency of revenue collection by tax administrations. The proposed methodology is aimed in particular at developing countries that do not have enough disaggregated information to measure tax gaps (registration, filing, veracity and payment) using traditional methods. The proposed indices are based on estimations of the structural balances of public finances, and rises in the indices can be interpreted as a comprehensive narrowing of tax gaps. The methodology is applied to Ecuador’s value added tax (VAT) and income tax, producing results that …

Growth and heterogeneity of human capital: effects of the expansion of higher education on the income increase in Brazilian municipalities

This study analyses the effects of the expansion of the highly skilled labour force (higher education) on the per capita income increase in Brazilian municipalities. The results show that a larger highly educated labour force translates into stronger growth in the most developed municipalities with fewer opportunity costs, measured by wage differences. The reduction of regional inequalities fostered by the expansion of higher education over the past 15 years will become sustainable if the increase in the skill supply is accompanied by a rise in demand, so the opportunity costs between factors …

Food systems and COVID-19 in Latin America and the Caribbean N° 5: Impact and risks in the labour market

The agrifood sector is key in Latin America and the Caribbean in terms of contribution to the economy and employment generation. Hence, the interruption of food systems normal functioning can have severe consequences on poverty levels and food security. The first case of COVID-19 in the region is still recent, and the fluctuations in agrifood employment are not extreme; even so, we cannot be confident. We must continue to monitor the employment indicators in the sector. Only in this way can we identify the sector’s risks and challenges, and implement early and appropriate measures. It should b…

Food systems and COVID-19 in Latin America and the Caribbean N° 4: Health risks; safety of workers and food safety

In this new issue of the bulletin, we analyse health risks to people involved in the food system value chain – from workers to consumers – due to the COVID-19 crisis. Implementing measures to keep workers and consumers from contracting COVID-19 is not enough. It is also imperative to maintain high safety standards in order to keep the spread of foodborne diseases under control and thus prevent them from becoming yet another public health problem.…

Food systems and COVID-19 in Latin America and the Caribbean N° 3: Risks threatening international trade

This edition addresses the risks threatening international agrifood trade in Latin America and the Caribbean. In the previous issue we reviewed the lessons learned by those who have had to manage disasters. We presented a methodology for analysing and managing the crisis in food systems from a disaster risk reduction perspective.…

CEPAL Review no. 130

Technological change and employment in Latin America: opportunities and challenges / Jürgen Weller .-- A comparative analysis of medicine prices in Latin America / Roberto Álvarez and Aldo González .-- Innovation systems and changes in the core-periphery divide: notes on a methodology to determine countries’ trajectories using science and technology statistics / Catari Vilela Chaves, Leonardo Costa Ribeiro, Ulisses Pereira dos Santos and Eduardo da Motta e Albuquerque .-- Corruption, production structure and economic development in developing countries / Helis Cristina Zanuto Andrade Santos an…

The impact of public debt on economic growth: an empirical study of Mexico (1994–2016)

Following on from recent literature on the same subject, this paper analyses the impact of public debt on economic growth in Mexico between 1994 and 2016, against a global macroeconomic backdrop of sharp rises in public sector debt indicators, owing to expansionary fiscal strategies adopted after the 2007–2008 crisis. The main objectives of this study are to determine whether the relationship between these two variables has followed a non-linear path in the form of an inverted “U”, and to find the threshold beyond which increases in debt generate marginal decreases in growth. Using a dynamic m…

Data Protection in the Caribbean

Tax incentives for businesses in Latin America and the Caribbean. Summary

This paper analyses tax incentive policies for businesses in Latin American countries to promote the discussion and review of these instruments with the aim of building tax systems that foster investment, while continuing to provide the necessary resources to attain the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The amount of revenue that is lost because of tax incentives is not insignificant, in terms of both the size of the economy and total government revenues and public spending on health, education and social care. Moreover, the few cost-benefit studies that have been carried out in the region…

Planning for sustainable territorial development in Latin America and the Caribbean

Territory is understood as a human community with a sense of belonging, future and ownership of a physical, natural or artificial space. It is a social construct nourished by culture, politics, technology and infrastructure, which serves to address the challenges of development, sustainability and equality. It is within this complex construct that territorial development policies in the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean need to be examined and improved, in order to reduce inequalities and build capacities. This work gauges the state of the art and examines the variety and breadth of…

Programme of work of the Latin American and Caribbean Institute for Economic and Social Planning (ILPES), 2020. Subprogramme 9: Planning and public management for development

CEPAL Review no. 127

Local economic development policies in Chile’s municipalities: beyond welfarism

To what extent are local economic development policies limited to a welfare approach in Chile? The hypothesis pursued in this work is that, taken together, these policies far exceed this paradigm. For the study, a register of 40 policy categories was taken by means of a reading and systematization of local economic development policies run by Chile’s municipalities through 69 District Development Plans (PLADECO). On average, municipalities propose actions in 16 of the 40 categories, but these, overall, are capable of encompassing in a satisfactory manner the various local economic development …

The Hummingbird Vol.6 No.1

Final assessment report. Assessment of development account project 14/15 AG: Strengthening the technical capacity of public finance managers in select Caribbean Small Island Developing States (SIDS) to manage their public finances

The Hummingbird Vol.5 No.4

Mechanisms to accelerate the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals in the Caribbean

Almost two years have elapsed since the launch of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the pace of implementation in the Caribbean has remained slow. The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) has identified a lack of national institutional frameworks to support SDG implementation in most countries as a major factor in the slow pace of implementation. This study shows that Member States that have formalized an institutional arrangement for SDG implementation have recorded appreciable progress in mainstreaming the SDGs and in building national ownership of th…