Programme of work of the Latin American and Caribbean Institute for Economic and Social Planning (ILPES), 2026. Subprogramme 9: Planning and public management for development

Drivers of public debt reduction in the Caribbean: a case study of Jamaica, Saint Kitts and Nevis and Suriname

The Caribbean’s long-running public debt challenge has been worsened by COVID-19. Recent international interest rate increases and the looming threat of climate change impacts place even more burden on Caribbean governments' budgets. While the Caribbean's average debt burden has risen in the past 13 years, some countries have been able to lower their debt ratios. This study closely examines the performance of two Caribbean countries which over the past 13 years, have seen a sustained downward trend in their debt ratios, Jamaica and Saint Kitts and Nevis, and one country that has seen…

CEPAL Review No. 144

The weakening of the developmental State in Brazil: an analysis of the political economy of the 1970s and 1980s

This article analyses the weakening of the developmental State and the consolidation of neoliberalism in Brazil that took place through the reconfiguration of interests between social classes and groups, as part of the process of the return to democracy and the struggle waged to install a less exclusionary Constitution. It argues that, unlike in central countries, where the transition to neoliberalism had to do above all with containing the rise of the working class, in Brazil, it took the form of an anti-nationalization vision that gained strength from the late 1970s onward and was driven mai…

Harnessing the potential of artificial intelligence to create public value in the Caribbean. Policy Brief

Caribbean governments need to proactively harness and adopt artificial intelligence technology in public sector organizations to create public value. Despite its numerous benefits, public sector organizations in the Caribbean are lagging in artificial intelligence (AI) adoption. AI is a disruptive technology that has become increasingly ubiquitous and pervasive in modern societies. Extremely transformative, they have advanced rapidly, and affect virtually every aspect of our existence, including the way we interact with and transact within society. AI has provided many benefits, which were pre…

Programme of work of the Latin American and Caribbean Institute for Economic and Social Planning (ILPES), 2024. Subprogramme 9: Planning and public management for development

Institutional transformation and strengthening of Latin America’s ministries of finance: From control to the strategic use of public resources for development

The institutional development of ministries of finance determines their capacities to achieve fiscal policy objectives (sustainability) and contribute to economic policy objectives. This study analyses the institutional transformation of ministries of finance in Latin America. Methodologically, it examines the functions assigned by law (legal-regulatory frameworks). Analytically, it proposes two categories of functional models (traditional models focused on spending control and modern ones focused on strategic spending management). Successful institutional strengthening processes have at least…

Health system privatization, the pandemic and deprivatization under discussion

This article analyses the privatization processes that have been implemented in the health systems of Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Colombia. It describes and characterizes the participation of the public and private components of each of these systems, and analyses the politics of the public policies involved in these privatization processes. The results reveal the presence of multiple public-private relationships that adopted different forms over time. The article also analyses some of the responses provided and the challenges faced by the health systems during the coronavirus disease (COVID-…

CEPAL Review No. 139

Measurement of tax expenditures in Latin America

The tax system is one of the main instruments used by the State to finance the provision of public goods and services. In the tax system, there are preferential treatments that seek to promote economic activity or support certain sectors. The public revenues forgone by these preferential treatments are known as tax expenditures. The volume of tax expenditures in Latin America is considerable. On average, they were equivalent to 3.8% of GDP and accounted for 20.6% of tax revenues in 2020. Given the need to promote a transformative recovery and finance the implementation of the Sustainable Devel…

Programme of work of the Latin American and Caribbean Institute for Economic and Social Planning (ILPES), 2023. Subprogramme 9: Planning and public management for development

Digital Public Goods: Driving the Development of Digital Public Infrastructure in the Caribbean

Resilient institutions for a transformative post-pandemic recovery in Latin America and the Caribbean: Inputs for discussion

The emergency generated by the COVID-19 pandemic has turned a spotlight on the key role of the State in providing public goods and services, while the public sector has returned to the fore as the locus for emergency response and for driving the recovery. However, the State and the public sector have been rendered less effective by the weakening of public leadership and of its capacity to generate confidence in the work of State institutions. This document argues that stronger State institutions are needed to address the structural problems of the current development pattern and tackle the new…

Programme of work of the Latin American and Caribbean Institute for Economic and Social Planning (ILPES), 2022. Subprogramme 9: Planning and public management for development

The recovery paradox in Latin America and the Caribbean Growth amid persisting structural problems: inequality, poverty and low investment and productivity

This Special Report examines the economic and social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, more than a year after it first appeared, providing new growth projections for the region’s countries. The document, entitled The recovery paradox in Latin America and the Caribbean. Growth amid persisting structural problems: inequality, poverty and low investment and productivity, analyzes the performance of the region’s main economic and social indicators and presents policy proposals for achieving a transformative recovery based on the forging of a new development pattern.…

The territorial dimension in the framework of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development: A methodological guide for strategic planning in a territory

The purpose of this document is to make available a methodological guide to the territory’s actors in order to promote reflection on development practices in the field, taking the subnational level as the unit of analysis. That could be a municipality, an intermunicipal area, or a cross-border area, among others. This proposal offers a minimum of content and methodology that can be maximized by reading other texts suggested in the bibliography.…

Growth and heterogeneity of human capital: effects of the expansion of higher education on the income increase in Brazilian municipalities

This study analyses the effects of the expansion of the highly skilled labour force (higher education) on the per capita income increase in Brazilian municipalities. The results show that a larger highly educated labour force translates into stronger growth in the most developed municipalities with fewer opportunity costs, measured by wage differences. The reduction of regional inequalities fostered by the expansion of higher education over the past 15 years will become sustainable if the increase in the skill supply is accompanied by a rise in demand, so the opportunity costs between factors …

CEPAL Review no. 131

International financial cooperation to address the Latin American economic crisis / José Antonio Ocampo .-- Mapping social conflicts in natural resources: a text mining study of extractive activities / Ramiro Albrieu and Gabriel Palazzo .-- The ECLA technique of programming and economists in Argentina in the mid-twentieth century / Mariano Arana .-- Indicator of the efficiency of value added tax and income tax collection in Ecuador / José Ramírez-Álvarez and Paul Carrillo-Maldonado .-- Growth and heterogeneity of human capital: effects of the expansion of higher education on the income increas…

Constant real expenditure policy: the macroeconomic impacts of budget composition and a primary surplus

This paper analyses the fiscal policy of constant real expenditure recently adopted by Brazil’s fiscal authorities. It also compares the policy of maintaining a primary surplus as a proportion of gross domestic product with that of changing the composition of spending in favour of investment in order to identify which of the two policies is more efficient in promoting economic growth. We investigate the effects of these policies on long- and short-term consumption, investment, labour supply and output and the reaction of the term structure of interest rates. We also analyse the relationship be…

Indicator of the efficiency of value added tax and income tax collection in Ecuador

This paper outlines a methodology to measure the efficiency of revenue collection by tax administrations. The proposed methodology is aimed in particular at developing countries that do not have enough disaggregated information to measure tax gaps (registration, filing, veracity and payment) using traditional methods. The proposed indices are based on estimations of the structural balances of public finances, and rises in the indices can be interpreted as a comprehensive narrowing of tax gaps. The methodology is applied to Ecuador’s value added tax (VAT) and income tax, producing results that …