Report on the national training workshop in the ECLAC methodology for estimating the socio-economic and environmental effects of disasters. 19-21 April 2005, Cayman Islands

Economic growth in Latin America: the role of investment and other growth sources

This research produced evidence about the contribution of investment and other sources to the growth process of Latin America during 1960-2002, and provided answers to the questions listed above unless from an historical perspective. The combined growth accounting and regression analysis, and used data for the six largest Latin American countries: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and Venezuela. These countries produce nearly 90 per cent of Latin America's GDP. Alternative growth accounting methodologies were used to measure the contributions of the sources of growth to GDP gro…

Capital flows to Latin America: first quarter 2005

Latin American markets entered 2005 with impetus, as the favorable environment for capital inflows at the end of 2004 persisted in the beginning of the year. However, investors' sentiment deteriorated as the first quarter progressed, and concerns about economic conditions (including rising interest rates in the United States and lower liquidity in global markets) increased. In February, Fitch, the credit rating agency, released a report warning that a combination of slowing global growth and higher-than-anticipated U.S. interest rates would lead to a less favorable environment for emergin…

Draft programme of regional statistical work for Latin America and the Caribbean, July 2005-June 2007

Draft programme of statistical work of the ECLAC system, 2006-2007

Poverty, hunger and food security in Central America and Panama

Food insecurity and hunger are closely associated with extreme poverty in Latin America and the Caribbean, but they should not be confused with it. A diet which is insufficient for leading a normal life and is also inadequate from a nutritional point of view affects not only those living in conditions of extreme poverty but also broader sectors and groups living in particular areas or regions of each country. Among the forms of deprivation affecting those living in a state of extreme poverty, however, the lack of access to food is the most serious problem and that which it is most urgent to er…

Mortgage loans and access to housing for low-income households in Latin America

On the basis of a study on mortgage loan options available in eight Latin American countries, this article identifies two pending tasks for most of the countries: the need to make long-term funds available to mitigate the risk of a mismatch of maturities and rates, and the need to harmonize profitability criteria for lenders with the criterion of access to credit for the low-income population. The paper recommends the creation of linkages between the housing finance market and the capital market through secondary mortgage markets, for which the housing finance market must use instruments other…

Anuario Estadístico de América Latina y el Caribe 2004 = Statistical Yearbook for Latin America and the Caribbean 2004

La edición 2004 del Anuario estadístico de América Latina y el Caribe contiene una selección de las principales series estadísticas sobre la evolución económica y social de los países de la región. Representa un esfuerzo de la División de Estadística y Proyecciones Económicas de la CEPAL, orientado a homogeneizar las cifras y a hacerlas internacionalmente comparables. La primera parte comprende indicadores socioeconómicos derivados (tasas de crecimiento, proporciones o coeficientes), que representan una visión resumida de cada área de interés y que constituyen antecedentes para que la informac…

CEPAL Review no.85

Measuring the information society in the Caribbean: An assessment of the capabilities of statistical offices in CDCC member states

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

International migration, capital flows and the global economy: a long run view

Historically, periods of increased trade and capital mobility have been also accompanied by more intense labor mobility across national borders. Conversely, in periods of global instability, stagnation, nationalism and more restrictive policies toward migration and capital mobility we observed less action in global factor markets. The first wave of globalization from around 1870 to 1913 was a period in which capital and labor were both free to move internationally. The interwar period with its economic turbulence, political disarray and rising nationalism witnessed both a movement towards redu…

Macroeconomic policies, sector performance and firm response: the case of Chile's textile goods market

Resumen Traditionally, economic literature has treated macroeconomic theory separately from the evolution of the microeconomic structure. However, the structure of the economy cannot be explained in terms only of macro factors or only of micro factors since each has a major influence on the other. It is important, therefore, to develop a greater linkage between the two in order to arrive at a better understanding of the interactions between macro factors and the microeconomic structure, especially the links between changes in macroeconomic policy and entrepreneurial decisions and firm…

Latin American South-South integration and cooperation: from a regional public goods perspective

The present level of intra-regional trade of Latin America and the Caribbean in relation to their total exports is still low when compared to the peak of 21.1% registered in 1997, despite its rebound in 2003 and continued recovery into 2004. While this trade holds a high potential for future growth, there are a series of problems to be addressed in order for regional integration to continue on the paths of recovery and deep integration. The countries in the region should keep working on the constraints that its regional integration process continues to suffer from the persistence of non-tariff…

Andean exchange-rate regimes, 1994-2003: a brief for "stable but flexible" regimes

Recent analytical work has focused on exchange-rate regimes and their general and specific consequences for growth and stability. Although significant progress has been made in formulating taxonomies of regimes, general consensus on which regimes are likely to prove optimal for given economies has proven elusive. In recent years, the five Andean economies have adapted a variety of exchange-rate regimes. Their experience appears to support the view that the most convenient exchange-rate regimes are those that afford policymakers sufficient freedom of maneuver to adjust their policies in r…

Investing better in order to invest more. Finance and management of education in Latin America and the Caribbean

The reforms being undertaken by all the countries in the region (although with varying emphases and intensity); with a view to promoting a leap forward in quality and equity in education are all, generally speaking, focused on transforming various parts of the system: teaching and learning processes and content; financing of the system and resource allocation mechanisms; the distribution of functions between the State and private enterprise; decentralization of management, and, in some cases, education planning; monitoring of the quality of education services through review of teaching practic…

Capital flows to Latin America: 2004 highlights

Investors expect a strong finish for emerging markets this year, as market environment remains supportive of credit products, especially those with strong fundamentals and interesting yields, which is the case for emerging markets. Since the start of the year there were two sets of forces driving emerging markets debt: global liquidity and fundamental credit improvements. To a large degree, improving credit quality has itself been the result of ample global liquidity and the low interest-rate environment. Against this backdrop, spreads reached record low levels and issuance was boosted. The we…

Preliminary Overview of the Economies of Latin America and the Caribbean 2004

This annual publication, one of the most important of ECLAC, includes official country figures up to November 30th, and an analysis of developments in the region's economy in 2004 and projections for 2005. The Latin American and Caribbean economy grew by 5.5% in 2004, outstripping the most optimistic forecasts, while the region's per capita GDP is estimated to have risen by about 4%. In 2005 GDP growth is projected to come in at about 4%; this rate would be high enough to bring about a further increase in per capita GDP. All the countries except Haiti turned in positive growth rates…

The relations between different levels of government in Argentina

This article deals with the fiscal and financial relations between the national government and the provincial governments in Argentina during the last 15 years, identifying the factors which help to explain the high degree of conflictivity of those relations. In view of the institutional roots of the conflict, a historical review is made in order to place the recent problems and future discussion in a long-term context. First of all, the development of federalism in Argentina and the evolution of the various forms of autonomy of the provinces is examined, followed, in the central section of th…

Inequality in Central America in the 1990s

This study seeks to answer two questions: how and why has the distribution of labour income changed in Central America? and why does Costa Rica display greater equity? In order to answer these questions, a technique based on the estimation of earnings equations is used. The direction of the changes in inequality is not uniform and depends on the indicator used. Although only Costa Rica and Guatemala show an unambiguous deterioration in the 1990s, there are some phenomena common to all the labour markets studied that have contributed to increasing inequality. The most important of these is the …