Artificial intelligence (AI) systems, when applied well, could help in addressing key global challenges and advance the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). However, these potential benefits will not materialize automatically. The use of AI also carries significant risks, such as disruption to job markets and economies, loss of cultural diversity, new AI-enabled digital weapons that increase misinformation and surveillance, and threats to human rights and democracy. While AI systems could support the achievement of many of the SDGs , they could also impede the achievement of others and increa…
Artificial Intelligence offers extraordinary opportunities for accelerating human progress across a range of fields from healthcare and education, to combating climate change and disasters. However, if left unregulated, AI could exacerbate inequalities, undermine human rights and threaten peace.…
In this digitally transforming world, digital inclusion is becoming increasingly important to social inclusion and sustainable development. Affordable access to broadband is an essential precondition to digital inclusion. Internet quality, as measured by speed and other indicators, is also important, as digital inclusion is ultimately about ensuring equal access to the benefits and opportunities offered by digital technologies and the Internet. This policy brief provides insight into Internet speed and affordability across the Caribbean, and offers some recommendations for policymakers working…
Although the notion of a circular economy (CE) has been conceived and debated for more than half a century
(Henrysson and Nuur, 2021), it has gained considerable popularity in the lexicon of economists, ecologists and
other development thinkers over the past two decades. The increasing evidence of the existential threat of
human-induced climate change and the related imperatives of decarbonizing the global economy, have led to greater focus on strategies for a more sustainable use of the natural and environmental resource base.…
This study examines the impact of de-risking on the study countries—bank and non-bank sectors. The study approach is based on survey instruments, consultations and analysis of secondary data. The impacts that have been observed, to date, have generally been discounted in most analysis as “anecdotal” and not valid for “reliable inference”1. However, in small economies such as those in this study what is anecdotal may be indeed reasonable for inference. The typically small number of banks as well as their dominance in the financial sectors of these small states suggests that reduced banking serv…
Offshore Shore Centres (OFCs) are generally small, low tax jurisdictions. In defining International Financial Centers (IFC’s) the International Monetary Fund (IMF) notes that there must be a large number of financial institutions functioning in a simplified regulatory environment, with low or no tax, and with the majority of its transactions initiated offshore. Regional Financial Centres (RFCs) are groups or blocks of countries, viewed as IFCs and which have specialties in the offshore financial business .
Many Caribbean islands, including Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, Mont…
Caribbean countries have been seriously impacted by the trend toward “de-risking” in the global financial system, and this is damaging to their economic security and the ability of Caribbean businesses to innovate. De-risking is the name given to the tendency of banking institutions to turn away from working relationships and lines of business for which the cost of regulatory compliance—and the risk of non-compliance— is deemed to be too high in comparison to the returns. This is a phenomenon that is affecting developing economies around the world, but the small and vulnerable economies of the…
This study builds on the Corporate governance and development of capital markets in Latin America report published by the Development Bank of Latin America (CAF) and the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), which looked at the regulatory framework related to the principles of corporate governance in the region and assessed its contribution to the development of capital markets. This book complements the previous study and is the result of a joint effort by CAF, the Inter- American Development Bank (IDB) and ECLAC to identify the key elements of corporate governance …
It has been established for a long time that there is significant dispersion in prices charged for seemingly homogeneous goods. This may happen in competitive markets because the world is not frictionless, and certainly in other markets where price discrimination is carried out by firms with oligopolistic power. This paper is the first survey of the economic literature on price dispersion that addresses the following three key issues: i) its characteristics as a result of optimizing search behavior; ii) its relevance as a reflection of price discrimination and its consequences for social welfa…
This paper reviews the current status of the international fight against money laundering and the financing of terrorism, highlighting the importance of its prevention for economic and financial stability in Latin America and the Caribbean. It synthesizes the recent history of international legislation and agreements with respect to the issues, and presents the framework of public and private sector actors engaged in combating these threats. It reviews Latin American and Caribbean countries’ compliance with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) (40 + 9) Recommendations, and analyzes the regio…
El objetivo de este estudio es realizar un diagnóstico del sector de residuos sólidos en Colombia, Chile, Perú y Uruguay, y contribuir a la identificación de oportunidades de incorporar reformas en el marco regulatorio del sector de gestión y manejo de dichos residuos. Asimismo, se analizan los posibles efectos de diferentes opciones de política pública en la gestión y manejo de los residuos sólidos y sus potenciales efectos sobre las emisiones de gases de efecto invernadero. De manera particular, se destaca el papel que pueden tener los incentivos económicos para contribuir a optimizar el ser…