Health benefits guarantees in Latin America: equity and quasi market restructuring at the beginning of the millennium

Health quasi-markets aim to introduce competition into the public sphere by separating functions in order to improve efficiency and quality. In different public-private mixes, according to the morphology of health systems, different regulations can govern insurance, financing, and provision of services. The objective is to link financing to productivity, coverage, performance, and accomplishment of goals. Specifying guarantees to provide services for determined beneficiaries implies the formation of a purchase function based on strategic criteria involves three financing decisions: whi…

Mexico: economic growth, exports and industrial performance after NAFTA

This article concerns Mexico's industrial policy and economic performance, focusing on an analysis of the structural changes associated with NAFTA that have occurred in the country's manufacturing sector. The purpose of the article is to improve our understanding of why the post-NAFTA evolution of the Mexican economy has been characterized by lights and shadows, with low inflation, low budget deficit and a surge in non-oil exports, and on the other hand a slower than expected expansion of economic activity and employment. The article also presents some implications of economi…

Income inequality in Central America, Dominican Republic and Mexico: assessing the importance of individual and household characteristics

This study investigates the relationship between individual and household characteristics and income inequality in Central America, the Dominican Republic and Mexico from 1990 to 2002. A Theil decomposition exercise of individual and household income inequality is used to determine factors important for the level of inequality. In addition, the use of a novel semi-parametric simulation methodology from DiNardo, Fortin and Lemieux (1996) provides counterfactual income distributions of individuals and households to assess the importance of changes in their demographic, education and labo…

The 2004 hurricanes in the Caribbean and the tsunami in the Indian Ocean: lessons and policy challenges for development and disaster reduction

Are there lessons to be learned from the recent disasters at the global scale? Are the numbers of disasters increasing and is their impact more severe? Is there a difference to be established among hazard exposure and the resilience, fragility and brittleness of humanmade vulnerabilities? How do countries and societies manage risk, transfer it or disperse it. This document will not answer all of these questions, but they have come to the forefront after the tsunami in the Indian Ocean and the Caribbean hurricane season, both in terms of the outcome of the 2004 and the perspective for 2005. …

Central America Isthmus: economic evolution during 2003 and perspectives for 2004

The impact of hurricane Ivan in the Cayman Islands

Introduction and Summary The advent of Hurricane Ivan and its tragic and devastating consequences in the Cayman Islands and particularly in the Grand Cayman puts a strain on the economy and fiscal pressures on Government. The consequences of Ivan pose the need beyond the humanitarian response, for a rapid assessment of the damage (impact on assets); and losses (effects on economic and social flows); to determine its macroeconomic, social and environmental consequences and its implications for the country's fiscal stance. At the request of the Cayman Islands Government and with the support…

Assessment of the socioeconomic and environmental impact of hurricane Ivan on Jamaica

The mission was made at the request of the Jamaican Government, undertaken with the UNDP with a group of multi-sectoral, inter-institutional group of experts and consultants that assessed the damage following ECLAC's methodology for the evaluation of the socio-economic and environmental impact of disasters 2 and prepared a report with the assistance of the Planning Institute of Jamaica. The report was presented on 19 October 2004 to the Minister of Finance for their consideration in organizing the reconstruction process, establish additional resources needed for the country and adopt miti…

The United States-Central American Free Trade Agreement: fiscal implications for the Central American countries

In this paper we estimate the fiscal implications of the free trade agreement signed between the United States of America and the five Central American countries of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. Of the five possible effects on fiscal revenue (direct, indirect, elasticity, substitution and induced), in this paper we estimate the first three. The fourth effect is most likely negligible, whereas the estimation of the fifth one would be plagued by uncertainty, so we do not attempt it here. We use comparative statics to estimate the impact. We find the adverse …

Handbook for estimating the socio-economic and environmental effects of disasters

The Mexican maquila industry and the environment: an overview of the issues

The Mexico-United States border region comprises one of the most dynamic and complex industrial areas in the world. The region is characterized by high population growth and increasing urbanization and industrialization, all of which is taking place in a context of rapid political and economic change (Rincón, 2000). The Mexico-located maquila in-bond industry is a key player in this development. In the 1993-98 period, the maquilas accounted for 41.5% of the average Mexican export value (Dussel, 2000), and in the 1994-2000 period its share of foreign direct investment grew from 6% to 21…

Central America: management of used lubricants in Central America: final report

Each year, over 100 million barrels of used lubricating oils (billions of Liters of waste oil) are dumped onto the global world environment. In 1995, it was estimated that only 44% of available waste lubricants was collected worldwide (Reference 1). Therefore, 56% of used oils are NOT collected and, thus, they are either misused or discarded by the end user into the world environment. Considering that the worldwide lubricant yearly demand is ca. 40 billion Liters (~10.5 Billion Gallons), this implies that over 22 billion Liters of used oils are being disposed of in garbage cans, sewers, rivers…

Foreign investment in Mexico after economic reform

Introduction Since the mid-1980s the Mexican economy has undergone a process of deep economic reform designed to shift away from the more inward-oriented development model that Mexico had followed until then. The main purpose of these reforms was to privilege market mechanisms in economic activities, which meant reducing the state's direct and indirect involvement in the economy. Some of these economic reforms have been completed, some are still in process, and still others - those that encountered opposition - have not yet, or have only just, been implemented. Economic liberalization had…

Debt for nature: a swap whose time has gone?

Abstract This paper purports to review the performance of the Debt for Nature Swap (DNS) Programs in light of their dual objectives of lowering deforestation rates as well as the cost of debt servicing. It evaluates the performance of private and Public DNS and inquires whether such swaps have made any significant dent on the debt and deforestation problems besetting many developing countries. It also assesses the prospects for such swaps in the future. We argue that since the prospects for DNS are limited, a more conducive solution for the deforestation problem in many developing countries ma…

The fiscal impact of trade liberalization and commodity price fluctuation: the case of Dominican Republic, 1980-1998

Summary During the 1980's, the Dominican Republic made attempts at macroeconomic reform that saw little success. A decade later a stabilization and structural reform package was implemented. This package included, among other aspects, inflation control through monetary restraint and a tax and tariff reform which sought to increase the efficiency of the prevailing tax structure and eliminate its relative price distortion while maintaining fiscal equilibrium. Price stabilization was achieved, nominal import tariff rates were reduced and the economy started on a growth trajectory th…

The fiscal impact of trade liberalization and commodity price fluctuation: the case of Costa Rica, 1980-1998

Summary Following a period of economic growth, political stability and poverty reduction spanning two decades (1960-1979), Costa Rica experienced at the beginning of the 1980´s the worst recession in its most recent history. In 1981 and 1982 gross domestic product (GDP) fell by -2.3% and -7.3%. Analysts pinpoint to short term economic factors and long run structural problems as the main causes of the recession. Short term economic factors comprise the end of the coffee price bonanza and the second oil shock. Long run structural factors are rooted in the economic imbalances generated b…

El grado de preparación de los países pequeños para participar en el ALCA = Readiness of small countries to participate in the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA)

Nicaragua: recent economic evolution and international co-operation

Recomendaciones aprobadas en la Reunión Latinoamericana de Expertos Gubernamentales sobre Ciencia y Tecnología para el Desarrollo = Recommendations approved by the Latin American Meeting of Intergovernmental Experts on Science and Technology for...

Draft medium-term plan 1980-1983 ECLA

La economía Cubana: reformas estructurales y desempeño en los noventa