Pension arrangements and economic thinking: unreal assumptions and false predictions in the case of Argentina

In accordance with mainstream economic thinking, the World Bank advised Latin American countries to reform and fully or partially privatize their pension systems. Argentina was one of the countries to follow these recommendations, which it did without first checking whether the arguments were valid or whether the theoretical assumptions were fulfilled. On the basis of publicly available statistical information and a historical review of the Argentine pension system, we conclude that most of the arguments put forward by the World Bank were refutable at the time of the reform, which did not solv…

Foreign direct investment in Latin America from the perspective of illicit financial flows: “cocacolonisation” of saving?

This article analyses the implications of illicit financial flows for foreign direct investment (FDI). During the 2003–2017 period, in the financing of gross fixed capital formation in Latin America, external savings show high variability in relation to domestic saving. This study calculates the net effects of FDI on the balance of payments by country, concluding that its contribution is not always positive. In fact, it is negative in countries with investments mainly in the primary or extractive sector. The volume of inward FDI is lower than recorded for all countries when considering pass-th…

The Hummingbird Vol. 9 No. 4

The effects of oil royalties on regional inequality in Brazil

This article evaluates the impact of oil royalties on Brazil’s production structure and their effects on regional inequality. An interregional input-output model was used, encompassing the 27 Brazilian states and 26 sectors, with base year 2008. The simulation strategy assumed 75% of these funds are channelled into education and 25% into the health sector, as mandated by Law 12.858/2013. To measure the effect of royalties on regional inequality, the Gini coefficient was calculated both ex-ante and ex-post with respect to the impact analysis. The main findings indicate that interregional and in…

International engagement of Brazilian agribusinesses: a comparative analysis

Urban population growth in developing countries, together with the expansion of the middle class and increase in per capita income worldwide, have increased the demand for food. This article uses the method of constant market share analysis (CMSA) to identify the drivers of agricultural export growth among the main countries operating in the market. Two periods are analysed: (i) 1992–2001 and (ii) 2002–2013. The countries studied were Argentina, Brazil, China, France, Germany, India and the United States. The results reveal the increasing representation of emerging countries with natural resou…

Determinants of capital accumulation in Latin America

The theoretical model of Bhaduri and Marglin (1990) is one of the most discussed works regarding capital accumulation and functional income distribution. However, their analysis does not include the effects of an economy with government. The aim here is to identify the relationships between capital accumulation, the real exchange rate and the debt-to-GDP ratio, using a modified version of that model. The results of the theoretical model showed that an increase in the debt-to-GDP ratio contributes to a regime of conflict between capitalists and workers. The empirical results for a group of coun…

A strategy for development with income redistribution: the minimum wage and growth fronts in Mexico

The purpose of this study is to contribute to the discussion on the viability and potential impact of substantially increasing the pay of the lowest-income workers. To this end, a set of simulations are carried out using the input-output matrix to assess the impact on economic variables of increasing the minimum wage. The analysis yields very favourable indications for the viability of growth with income redistribution in Mexico, based essentially on the domestic mass consumption market. Stimulating growth in demand from the lowest-income households has a favourable impact on GDP and employmen…

IT enabled services in the post-pandemic economy new opportunities for relations between India and Latin America

During the last few decades, India’s trade with the Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) countries has grown substantially, especially in the area of Information Technology (IT) services. The definition of IT services now includes a plethora of IT-enabled services (ITeS) directed to specific sectors, including Agri-tech, Fin-tech, Health-tech, manufacturing and mining-based services, as well as e-commerce. This sector has attracted significant Indian investment in the region. Over the last decade, the share of the IT sector in total Indian Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the region has nearly…

Report of the Fourth session of the Regional Conference on Social Development in Latin America and the Caribbean

Evolution of school reopenings in Latin America and the Caribbean

Education in Latin America and the Caribbean: the prolonged crisis as an opportunity for restructuring

National educational responses to COVID-19

Secondary education in Latin America: between constraints and possibilities

Education, youth and work: skills and competencies needed in a changing context

Concluding remarks: interconnecting education policy with other social policies and the opportunity to rethink education

Towards generating policies for the comprehensive development of adolescents in Latin America

Innovation for development: The key to a transformative recovery in Latin America and the Caribbean

Science, innovation, knowledge and digital technologies have played a fundamental role in the growth potential, social inclusion and environmental sustainability of countries in recent decades, and have become even more important in the context of the crisis caused by the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. While Latin American and Caribbean countries have adopted various measures —many of them based on access to technology— to tackle the effects of the pandemic, the region’s structural challenges have become more pronounced, and the need for more comprehensive, complex, participatory and…

Intergovernmentally agreed conclusions and recommendations of the Fifth meeting of the Forum of the Countries of Latin America and the Caribbean on Sustainable Development

A decade of action for a change of era. Fifth report on regional progress and challenges in relation to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in Latin America and the Caribbean

For the fifth time, the countries of the region are convening in the framework of the Forum of the Countries of Latin America and the Caribbean on Sustainable Development. On each occasion, the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) has presented a report on regional progress and challenges in relation to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Since 2020, efforts to assess progress towards meeting the 2030 Agenda have had to be undertaken amid the constraints imposed by measures to address the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. In this difficult context, EC…

Policies to address the challenges of existing and new forms of informality in Latin America

The phenomenon of informality in Latin America is strongly conditioned by the main structural axes of the social inequality matrix. It is a heterogeneous and multifaceted phenomenon in which socioeconomic, territorial, gender, age and ethnic/racial inequalities are manifested. Deeper analysis of the characteristics and nature of this phenomenon, taking into account that diversity and heterogeneity, is a still pending task that calls for the production of data and information systems able to encompass those various dimensions. This is also a central condition for the design and implementation o…