Changing Times: Refocusing ECLAC's Role

Foreign Investment in Latin America and the Caribbean 2004

For the first time since 1999, foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows into Latin America and the Caribbean grew in 2004. These inflows topped US$ 54 billion, far exceeding the US$ 37 billion registered in 2003 and representing a 46% increase. This is welcome news for the region, as it may portend the beginning of a new and sustained investment boom. However, it does not mean that the Latin American and Caribbean countries have solved their problems with regard to the limited benefits they receive from the presence of transnational corporations (TNCs) within their borders. In general, exi…

¿A Chilean wine cluster? governance and upgrading in the phase of internationalization

Abstract The Chilean wine industry performed remarkably well over the past decades. Wines from Chile have found their way to consumers all over the world. This paper explores the factors that have supported the successful performance. In particular, through a questionnaire to key informants it tries to measure to what extent conscious collective action by local stakeholders to solve common problems of the industry in Chile and thereby create a shared basis for upgrading, have been relevant. The conclusion is that natural endowments, commercial and technological impulses from abroad and a favo…

Productive development in open economies

Presentation The countries of the Latin American and Caribbean region have shown a keen and lasting interest in mechanisms of economic development and public policies for its promotion. This is a process in which ECLAC has been involved ever since it was founded over half a century ago. Today, the debate on these issues continues against the backdrop of a globalization process in which the remarkable dynamism of some dimensions -especially its economic, financial and cultural aspects- contrasts with the slow formation of an institutional network capable of coping with the increased interdepend…

Population Ageing - Subregional Challenges of a Global Phenomenon

An assessment of the Caribbean Digital Library

Foreign Investment in Latin America and the Caribbean 2003

In 2003, flows of foreign direct investment (FDI) to Latin America and the Caribbean continued to shrink for the fourth year running. With this latest decline, Latin America and the Caribbean turned in the worst performance of any world region. This situation was exacerbated by the steady increase in profit remittances and in outflows of other FDI-related resources, which has diminished its impact on the balance of payments. The decrease in FDI inflows over the past few years has varied across subregions and countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, however. In Mexico and the Caribbean bas…

Report to the CDCC: Review of ECLAC/CDCC Programme of Activities for the 2002-2003 Biennium

Potential output in Latin America: a standard approach for the 1950-2002 period

(*) This document was prepared by André A. Hofman of the Economic Projections Center of the Statistics Division, and Heriberto Tapia research assistant in the office of the Executive Secretary of ECLAC. The views expressed in this document, which has been reproduced without formal editing, are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Organization.. Abstract Potential output estimates are becoming increasingly important in policy design in Latin America (ECLAC, 2002) and the objective of this paper is to make a methodological contribution to this field of work…

Preliminary Economic Overview of Caribbean Economies

Illusory competitiveness: the apparel assembly model of the Caribbean Basin

Abstract Exports of apparel represent the principal link of the Caribbean Basin to the international economy. These exports arise from a combination of factors, including low salaries, tax incentives, and preferential access to the North American market designed to assist US apparel firms compete better against Asian imports in their own market. The weakness of this model is that it produces an illusory competitiveness based on artificial advantages, not an authentic competitiveness that improves the productive base of the economy by way of the transfer of modern technologies, the creation o…

Small-scale mining: a new entrepreneurial approach

Summary In the second half of the twentieth century some of the Latin American countries suggested a system of stratification for mining activity, which was never actually applied, based on criteria such as the volume of production, the amount of capital invested and the number of workers involved in mineral extraction. One result of this stratification, which divided the industry into small-, medium- and large-scale mining, was that governments at different times implemented plans and programs in various areas, without any integrated planning between them; some related to the promotion of…

Road maps towards an information society in Latin America and the Caribbean

Preface The concept of an information society refers to a paradigm which is profoundly changing the world in which we live at the beginning of this new millennium. This transformation is being driven primarily by new ways of creating and disseminating information using digital technologies. Information flows, communications and coordination mechanisms are being digitized in many different sectors of society, and this process is gradually giving rise to new ways of organizing society and production. While this form of digital conduct is becoming an increasingly global ph…

Asymmetries and cooperation in the Free Trade Area of the Americas

Abstract The prospective Free Trade Agreement of the Americas seeks to link the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean (with the exception of Cuba); with Canada and the United States, thereby forming the largest free trade area in the world. Given the huge asymmetries in the size and level of development of participating countries, the major challenge in this ambitious and complex process will be to ensure that all countries, especially the smallest and least developed ones, benefit from trade liberalization within the hemisphere. This study argues that whether FTAA translates into benef…

Foreign Investment in Latin America and the Caribbean 2002

The decline in flows of foreign direct investment (FDI) to Latin America and the Caribbean which began in 2000 grew even sharper in 2002. This trend reflects a major change in the world and regional economies. At the regional level, it is associated with greater instability, slow economic growth and the approaching completion of the privatization process. National crises such as those experienced by Argentina, Uruguay and Venezuela made investors become more risk-averse. Sluggish growth in demand in the United States economy hurt investment in Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean, where…

An Integrated Management Approach to the Caribbean Sea

Small- and medium-sized enterprises' restructuring in a context of transition: a shared process: inter-player effects on efficient boundary choice in the Argentine manufacturing sector

Abstract When an economy goes through a transition from a closed to an open market economy, the agents that operate in it face a need to reconsider their position in the business environment and productive function. To function, organisations require resources they do not always have at their disposal. This scarcity makes that organisations interact with each other and exert influence to obtain the resources they need. Organisations, thus, are connected through dependence relations that, at the meso-level of analysis, make up a constellation of suppliers, intermedi…

The Development of the Caribbean Yachting Sector

Foreign Investment in Latin America and the Caribbean 2001

Foreign direct investment (FDI) flows to Latin America and the Caribbean dwindled for the second year in a row in 2001, and preliminary data for 2002 show no signs of a recovery. This trend was observed in both greenfield investment and mergers, acquisitions and privatizations. The investments announced by transnational corporations (TNCs) for the coming years remain concentrated in the service and infrastructure sectors. This indicates that the region has continued to strengthen its links with the incipient networks being established in service provision at the global level. This development …

Business development service centres in Italy. An empirical analysis of three regional experiences: Emilia Romagna, Lombardia y Veneto

The notion of business development service (BDS) is quickly gaining popularity among policy makers and scholars of management, industrial organisation and development. Similarly, attention is increasingly paid on the institutions and centres offering BDS, as an essential part of the local or regional innovation system . The notion that most clearly portrays the actual nature and function of these centres is that of providers of real services , to indicate the impact those services have on structural features of company behaviour, and notably on their competiti…