The global financial crisis: what happened and what’s next

Global economic conditions have been deteriorating sharply since mid- September 2008. Lending has dropped abruptly, credit spreads have widened sharply, stock markets have plunged and economies everywhere are stumbling. Governments around the world have undertaken unprecedented measures, including some coordinated intervention. However, global economic prospects remain troubled, and further policy action is required. In order to better understand the task before policy makers as they chart a new direction, this paper examines how the global economy arrived at its current predicament, looking b…

The repercussions of the crisis on the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean. Second Meeting of Ministers of Finance of the Americas and the Caribbean

The outlook for agriculture and rural development in the Americas: a perspective on Latin America and the Caribbean, 2009

In order to give decision makers in this Hemisphere a consensual reference document,the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), the UnitedNations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and the Inter-American Institutefor Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) decided to join forces to prepare this report ontrends in the agricultural sector and rural areas. It is based on a common data base and aseries of indicators available to all interested parties at www.agriruralc.org.These three institutions intend to make this document the first of a regular series ofpublications, w…

Selected statistical indicators of Caribbean countries Vol. XXI

This year’s issue of the SSI features regional tables in the introductory section followed by summary country tables. As far as possible, a full series of economic and socio-economic indicators is given for all CDCC member States for the period 2001-2007. In addition, the data sources for each country are provided, thereby making this publication a good starting point for researchers who are interested in more detailed statistics. Every effort was made to ensure that those changes did not compromise the quality and usefulness of the publication. To ensure accessibility to the full data series,…

Indicators for monitoring the implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Woman

This report proposes a series of gender indicators as instruments to support Member States of the United Nations in monitoring the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, by virtue of which all Latin American and Caribbean countries, among others, have agreed to guarantee the exercise of the rights established by the Convention, and to adopt all necessary measures to ensure the exercise of those rights. The purpose of these indicators is to highlight the scale and intensity of the different forms of gender inequity within a framework that facilitates interna…

Latin America and the Caribbean in the World Economy 2007: 2008 trends

This year's edition of Latin America and the Caribbean in the World Economy is divided into seven chapters. Chapter I contains an analysis of recent trends in the main industrialized and emerging economies and reviews the possible impact of the financial crisis that began in the United States on the world economy and on the economic and trade performance of Latin America and the Caribbean. The effect of the crisis on the prices of commodities (especially food and oil) and the implications for growth, inflation and the region's external sector are also examined. Lastly, the chapter l…

Distributive effects during the expansionary phase in Argentina (2002-2007)

This article analyses developments in the labour market and incomedistribution in Argentina between 2002 and 2007, using data from thePermanent Household Survey and econometric estimates. Following the2001 crisis the employment situation improved in the aggregate and therewas initially a marked decline in income concentration. This reduction latertailed off, however, apparently because of differences in the opportunitiesfor different types of households to reap the benefits of growth. Membersof resource-poor households had less chance of finding work and faceddisadvantages in terms of pay and …

Income distribution and poverty through crisis and adjustment

This article analyses the costs in terms of income distribution of the crisis and adjustments of the 1980s, as well as the effects of the subsequent recovery and resumption of sustained growth patterns. This analysis is based on comparable pairs of estimates of income distribution and poverty prepared by ECLAC for the ten largest and predominantly urban countries of the region. The method of analysis consists, on the one hand, of comparing the changes in distribution and in the macroeconomic and labour market variables during similar macroeconomic phases in the course of the adjustment process…

Promoting corporate social responsibility in small and medium enterprises in the Caribbean: methodology report

Over the past decade, a growing number of companies have recognized the business benefits of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) policies and practices. Their experiences are bolstered by a growing body of empirical studies that demonstrates that CSR has a positive impact on business economic performance and is not detrimental to shareholder value. Maximization of profits is perhaps the most important element for ensuring the continuity of the business over the time. However, value creation is also related to social issues such as health and safety, equality and environmental protection, und…

CEPAL Review no.96

Venture capital and innovation in Latin America

One of the drivers of economic growth is innovation, which raisesproductivity by creating new production methods, technologies, productsand firms. This article examines an instrument that supports this process,venture capital, and highlights the need for a financing system coveringeach phase of innovation. It starts by illustrating Latin America's innovationdeficit. It then proceeds to a general analysis of the difficulties affecting thefinancing of innovation and the provision of venture capital to overcomethese. It goes on to examine the form taken by these obstacles in theregion and, c…

Tourism life cycle, tourism competitiveness and upgrading strategies in the Caribbean

In the 1980s Butler adapted the life cycle product model to the tourism industry and created the “Tourism Area Life Cycle (TALC) model”. The model recognizes six stages in the tourism product life cycle: exploration, investment, development, consolidation, stagnation and followed, after stagnation, by decline or revitalization of the product. These six stages can in turn be regrouped into four main stages. The Butler model has been applied to more than 30 country cases with a wide degree of success. De Albuquerque and Mc Elroy (1992) applied the TALC model to 23 small Caribbean island States i…

Economic Survey of Latin America and the Caribbean 2007-2008: Macroeconomic policy and volatility

This 2007-2008 edition of the Economic Survey of Latin America and the Caribbean comes 60 years after the first session of ECLAC, when the Executive Secretary of the Commission was mandated by the United Nations Economic and Social Council and the countries attending the session to undertake the collection, evaluation and dissemination of [...] economic, technological and statistical information on the region with a view to preparing an economic survey of Latin America . The first report drawn up in fulfillment of that mandate was seen as a first step in what was already…

Opportunities for trade and investment between Latin America and Asia-Pacific: the link with APEC

Although trade and investment between Latin America and the Caribbean and the Asia-Pacifi c region have recovered since the Asian crisis and are continuing to expand, thanks especially to the upsurge in trade fl ows with China, biregional economic links generally remain weak and show little diversifi cation. For most of the countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, the Asia-Pacifi c region is still a largely unexploited market despite its impressive record in areas such as growth, international trade, foreign direct investment (FDI), technology upgrading and innovation capacities, as well…

Capital flows to Latin America: recent developments

The external environment has deteriorated sharply as a result of the spiraling financial turmoil, and has led to a weakening in commodity prices and fears of a worldwide recession. Latin America and the Caribbean's fastest expansion in 40 years may be threatened as the global credit crunch makes financing scarce and squeezes demand for the region's commodities. This time around the region is better positioned to weather the crisis than in the past, given improvements in macroeconomic and financial policies as well as a reduced net dependency on external capital inflows. However, Lati…

Economic and trade relations between Latin America and Asia Pacific: The link with China

ECLAC submits this report to participants at the second China-Latin America Business Summit, in the hope that up-to-date and relevant information on the internationalization process unfolding in both China and Latin America, presented in a visual and easy-to-read form, will be useful in promoting public-private-partnership initiatives on various fronts, covering biregional trade and investment, trade facilitation and other biregional cooperation issues.…

Economic survey of the Caribbean, 2007-2008

This survey provides an overview of the economic performance of countries of the Caribbean Development and Cooperation Committee (CDCC) for the year 2007 and their outlook for 2008. The report consists of three chapters. The first chapter provides a regional analysis of the main economic indicators from a comparative perspective starting with a brief discussion of the principal events in the world economy. The second chapter deals with two selected topics that are pivotal for the economic development of Caribbean countries, namely public debt sustainability and competitiveness in the tourism s…

Public debt sustainability in the Caribbean

This paper analyses public debt in the most indebted Caribbean countries – i.e. Barbados, Belize, Guyana, Jamaica, Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, and St. Kitts and Nevis – from the standpoint of its sustainability. A level of debt is deemed to be sustainable when the debt-to-GDP ratio remains constant or declines. The concept of sustainability is closely linked to that of solvency. A government is solvent if the net present value of its future primary balances (i.e. that excludes interest payments) is equal to or greater than the present value of public debt stock. It can be demonstra…

The Latin American Pacific Basin initiative and the Asia-Pacific region

Although trade and investment between Latin America and the Caribbean and the Asia-Pacific region have recovered since the Asian crisis and are continuing to expand, thanks especially to the upsurge in trade flows with China, biregional economic links generally remain weak and show little diversification. For most of the countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, the Asia-Pacific region is still a largely unexploited market despite its impressive record in areas such as growth, international trade, foreign direct investment (FDI), technology upgrading and innovation capacities, as well as i…

Millennium development goals: progress towards the right to health in Latin america and the Caribbean

Enormous differences in health within and between countries intertwine closely with degrees of social disadvantage, and when People's health is at the mercy of their individual situations, health-care inequalities can entail dramatic individual risks and costs. Promoting health equity can also be defended on the grounds that it simultaneously fosters economic development, since investments in health and its determinants contribute to economic growth, productivity and prosperity. On the other hand, economic growth by itself without appropriate policies to ensure reasonable fairness in the …