The Human Development Index (HDI) is an indicator designed to track the development of countries in respect of three dimensions of development: health, education and income. Since it was first published in 1990, great efforts have been made to improve hdi, which, as has been stressed on numerous occasions, cannot be seen as a definitive measure of development. This paper includes a reflection on what constitutes human development, the pillars underpinning it and two new dimensions that should be incorporated into hdi (employment and political freedoms) for it to better express progress in deve…
This study draws on household survey results spanning a period of three decades in length to analyse young people's entry into the labour market in 10 Latin American countries. It finds that: (i) the employment status of young people had deteriorated over time until seeing an improvement in the late 2000s, although youth unemployment and informality rates are still very high; (ii) young people are entering into a typical employment cycle in which they are surpassing the results obtained by adults of earlier generations. Informality is not a part of this pattern, however, indicating the ex…
Evidence suggests that labour markets do not clear as posited by conventional microeconomics. The enduring inter-industry wage differentials (IIWD) and employer-size wage differentials (ESWD) present a challenge. Data from the Jamaican private sector reveal that eswd could be the impetus for IIWD. After accounting for labour quality and other characteristics, employers with 10 to 49 employees and 50 or more employees pay estimated premiums of 14.3% and 22.9%, respectively. After estimating the differences in tenure profiles, the premium associated with the largest employer size was reduced to …
Despite its importance, the literature on wage differentials between public- and private-sectors employees in Latin America is sparse. This article analyses the wage gap between the two sectors in Chile, based on monthly longitudinal data obtained from the Social Protection Survey (EPS) for the period 2002-2009. The study takes advantage of the panel structure of the data to control for time-invariant observable and unobservable factors that determine the self-selection of workers between sectors and wages. The results show that the wage differential between workers in the public and private s…
This paper provides empirical evidence to assess the impact of socioeconomic and political variables on different measures of income inequality based on the 27 units of the Brazilian federation in the period from 1999 to 2008. The Brazilian experience is a good example for understanding the income inequality policies in developing countries. The findings suggest that the improvement observed along the period under analysis is a result of the combination of increased trade openness, technological and financial development, a reduction in the unemployment rate, the adoption of social policies th…
This study uses the capability approach to undertake a multidimensional analysis of deprivation in urban areas of Brazil between 2003 and 2008 based on a four-dimensional index (living conditions, health, level of education and participation in the labour market) constructed out of 13 different indicators. Its findings indicate that a majority of the population is living in households that are not experiencing deprivation and that, of those that are, the instance of deprivation is confined to a single indicator. When the results were then compared with the income-poverty index for the differen…
The aim of this paper is to evaluate the effects of the Bolsa Família family conditional cash transfer programme (PBF) on beneficiary families' spending on food, fruit, meat and fish, poultry and eggs, green vegetables, cereals and oilseed products, flours and pastas, tuber and root vegetables, sugar, bakery products, alcoholic beverages, education, hygiene, health and school utensils. The estimation was based on microdata obtained from the 2008-2009 Brazilian Household Budget Survey; and the propensity-score matching methodology was used to calculate the average effect of the treatment o…
A variety of methodologies, such as the Foreign Trade Competitiveness Index, the Foreign Trade Policy Index and the Tradecan competitiveness matrix, reveal a process of adaptation to changes in world trade in the period from 2002 to 2012, within the context of the so-called complex adaptive system as a transition from the fourth to the fifth technological revolution in fresh asparagus exports from Peru. The country's competitiveness map shows that it is not competing globally at the international level but rather partially or regionally. Mexico is its main competitor, with com…
This article deals with the interaction between supply chains and territory, identifying two types of development: the enclave type of the rain-fed farming economy in the inland area known as the Secano Interior, and the potential linkage between this enclave and the greater metropolitan area of Concepción. The benefits of the forestry and cellulose supply chain, which is of global importance, are not spreading through its territory, which remains underdeveloped. Greater Concepción, the country's second most important industrial conurbation, has not succeeded in es…
This edition of the FAL Bulletin aims to present and encourage the use of the economic infrastructure investment database for Latin America and the Caribbean (EII-LAC-DB), built by the Infrastructure Services Unit of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC). The information contained refers to the period 1980-2012, in keeping with measurements undertaken by the World Bank, ECLAC and under the cooperation agreement between ECLAC and the Development Bank of Latin America (CAF).…
El presente Boletín FAL, tiene por objeto presentar y poner a disposición de los usuarios, la base de datos de inversiones en infraestructura económica de América Latina y el Caribe (EII-LAC-DB) construida por la Unidad de Servicios de Infraestructura de CEPAL. La información contenida en este Boletín FAL corresponde al periodo 1980-2012, según las mediciones realizadas por el Banco Mundial, la CEPAL y el acuerdo de cooperación entre CEPAL y CAF.…
En el presente documento se describe la política y estrategia de evaluación de la Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL). El objetivo de esta política y estrategia es fortalecer la función de evaluación, aumentando al máximo la transparencia y la coherencia y asegurando un alto nivel de calidad en las evaluaciones. Se espera que esto, a su vez, contribuya en última instancia a una mayor rendición de cuentas y mejor desempeño y aprendizaje institucional en la CEPAL. La política de la Comisión se ha establecido de conformidad con el Reglamento y Reglamentación de la Secreta…
(31 de marzo, 2014) En promedio cerca de 20 % de los adolescentes de 12 a 18 años, varones y mujeres, no asiste a un establecimiento educativo en América Latina. Para enfrentar tanto las causas como las consecuencias del abandono temprano y el rezago en la educación secundaria se requieren políticas específicas con perspectiva de derechos e igualdad de género, según un estudio publicado por la Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL) y la Oficina Regional de UNICEF para América Latina y el Caribe.
Prácticamente todos los niños de 11 años estudian en los países de América Lati…
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La Alcaldesa de la comuna de Santiago de Chile, Carolina Tohá, y la Secretaria Ejecutiva de la Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL), Alicia Bárcena, firmaron hoy -en el salón de Honor del Palacio Consistorial- un convenio de cooperación para desarrollar acciones que promuevan la igualdad de oportunidades entre hombres y mujeres y contribuyan a la incorporación de la perspectiva de género en el Plan de Desarrollo Comunal.
En la ceremonia -a la que asistieron la Ministra del Servicio Nacional de la Mujer (Sernam), Claudia Pascual, y la concejal Esp…
Intervención de Alicia Bárcena, Secretaria Ejecutiva de la Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL), en ocasión de la ceremonia de firma del Convenio Marco de Cooperación Técnica entre la CEPAL y la Ilustre Municipalidad de Santiago
Salón de Honor, Palacio Consistorial
Santiago, jueves 27 de marzo de 2014
Señora Carolina Tohá, Alcaldesa de la Ilustre Municipalidad de Santiago,
Señora Claudia Pascual, Ministra del Servicio Nacional de la Mujer (SERNAM),
Señora Daniela Cañas, Directora de Asesoría Jurídica de la Ilustre Municipalidad de Santiago,
Señora Esperanza A…