Notas de Población Vol.26 N° 67-68

The Cuban economy

At the end of the 1950s, Cuba's economic structure was marked by serious technological lags and insufficient industrial development. The growth rates of production and investment were low, while income distribution displayed a notable bias towards concentration. Over the period from 1959 to 1989, the product grew at an average rate of around 4% per year and economic policy gave the State a leading role in the production of goods and services, with a marked predominance of planning over the market mechanisms in the regulation of economic activity. In this stage, the economy underwent far-r…

Determinants of inequality among urban households

This article summarizes the results of an analysis of the long-term factors affecting income distribution in five countries of the region (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Mexico);, on the basis of household surveys made in those countries between 1979 and 1992. After a brief introduction (section I);, the article describes the methodology applied (section II); and then details the main findings (section III);. These include in particular the lower labour remuneration received by the first income deciles, associated among other things with inequalities in the educational levels attained.…

Health management contracts in Costa Rica from a comparative perspective

This article analyses the recent establishment of quasi-markets in the field of public health in Costa Rica through the internal separation of the functions of collection of contributions, financing, purchasing and the provision of services in the Costa Rican Social Security Fund; the application of a new financing model; and the introduction of management contracts with hospitals and health areas as a key instrument for allocating and transferring resources as a function of performance and fulfilment of goals. The context and bases of the management reform are examined, and a description is g…

A development strategy founded on natural resource-based production clusters

This article contends that the rapid development of Latin America and the Caribbean --a region rich in natural resources-- will depend on how fast it learns to industrialize and process its natural resources and to develop the necessary input suppliers, engineering services and equipment for this. Consequently, this will not be a form of development based on the mere extraction of natural resources, as at present, but rather one based on the processing of such resources and the development of the activities that naturally tend to spring up and concentrate around this base (production complexes…

Big Latin American industrial companies and groups

This article seeks to summarize the results of some studies on the structure and dynamics of the big domestically owned industrial companies and groups in five Latin American countries (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Mexico); and presents supplementary elements for placing them in an overall perspective. The studies include individual analyses of 46 leading companies (in Brazil, Chile and Colombia); and 15 economic groups with an industrial base (in Brazil and Mexico);, together with aggregated studies of such groups in Argentina, Brazil and Mexico. In all cases, the studies were based…

Tariffs and the Plano Real in Brazil

This article analyses the economic rationale of Brazil's tariff policy during the first two years of the Plano Real. To this end, a study is made of the changes made in import duties for all the products traded. The tariff reform process in Brazil was begun in 1988, after the old Tariff Act had been in effect for thirty years, and represented a marked intensification in the process of trade openness, with the definition of a schedule of gradually decreasing tariffs which was further speeded up as from 1990. The Plano Real began in July 1994 and had many effects on import policy. The trade…

Preliminary Overview of the Economies of Latin America and the Caribbean 1998

The Latin American and Caribbean region will remember 1998 as one of the most problematic years of recent times. The severe effects of the international financial crisis that broke out in Asia in mid-1997 restricted the region's access to external financing. Tumbling export prices translated into the first drop in the value of the countries' exports to be recorded so far this decade, and this in turn led to a further deterioration in the current account of the balance of payments. Faced with this bleak outlook on the external front, economic authorities displayed a strong determinati…

Balance Preliminar de las Economías de América Latina y el Caribe 1998

Resumen El año 1998 será recordado como uno de los años más complejos que ha conocido América Latina y el Caribe en los últimos tiempos. Los efectos de la crisis financiera internacional que comenzó en Asia a mediados de 1997 fueron severos y restringieron el acceso al financiamiento externo. La caída de los precios de las exportaciones se tradujo en una disminución del valor de las ventas externas de los países de la región por primera vez en el presente decenio, que provocó un nuevo deterioro de la cuenta corriente del balance de pagos. Ante este panorama externo sombrío, las autoridades eco…

Uruguay en el MERCOSUR: perspectivas del comercio intrarregional

Carta Circular de la Red de Cooperación en la Gestión Integral de Recursos Hídricos para el Desarrollo Sustentable en América Latina y el Caribe N° 9

Entre el control político y la eficiencia: evolución de los derechos de propiedad agraria en México

El uso de variables sintomáticas en la actualización de población de áreas menores

Directorio de organismos nacionales a cargo de las políticas y programas para las mujeres de América Latina y el Caribe = Directory of national organizations dealing with programmes and policies on women in Latin America and the Caribbean

Introduction Since the first version issued in 1997, the Directory of national organizations dealing with programmes and policies on women in Latin America and the Caribbean (LC/L.1065); lists national authorities for the advancement of women and gender equity, specific programmes organized by ministries of foreign affairs and other official bodies responsible for women's issues at the sectoral level in each member State and associate members of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC);. For the purposes of this update, countries were once again requested to pr…

Directorio de organismos nacionales a cargo de las políticas y programas para las mujeres de América Latina y el Caribe = Directory of national organizations dealing with programmes and policies on women in Latin America and the Caribbean

Introduction Since the first version issued in 1997, the Directory of national organizations dealing with programmes and policies on women in Latin America and the Caribbean (LC/L.1065); lists national authorities for the advancement of women and gender equity, specific programmes organized by ministries of foreign affairs and other official bodies responsible for women's issues at the sectoral level in each member State and associate members of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC);. For the purposes of this update, countries were once again requested to pr…

Institucionalidad de la equidad de género en el Estado: un diagnóstico para América Latina = The institutionality of gender equity in the State: a diagnosis for Latin America and the Caribbean

Institucionalidad de la equidad de género en el Estado: un diagnóstico para América Latina = The institutionality of gender equity in the State: a diagnosis for Latin America and the Caribbean

Consultancy study for the development of a strategy for institutionalizing the gender perspective in the substantive work of ECLAC

Comercialización de los derechos de aguas en Chile

Resumen Este documento tiene por propósito examinar algunos antecedentes sobre el mercado y el sistema de derechos de aguas en Chile. A pesar de que durante las últimas décadas en muchos países de la región se han implementado reformas de políticas tendientes a liberalizar los mercados y eliminar las intervenciones estatales directas, quizás Chile sea el único país en desarrollo que cuenta con un sistema de derechos de aguas en el que se hace hincapié en la liberalización de este mercado. Se describen, por lo tanto, las principales características del Código de Aguas chileno y las institucione…

Reformas a la institucionalidad del crédito y el financiamiento a empresas de menor tamaño: la experiencia chilena con sistemas de 'segundo piso' 1990-1998

Resumen La reforma institucional de la banca desarrollo se inició en Chile a principios de los noventa y consistió fundamentalmente en la sustitución de los programas de crédito de largo plazo directo por esquemas de financiamiento de segundo piso. En este trabajo se analiza dicha reforma evaluando separadamente cada uno de los programas de crédito y financiamiento emprendidos desde CORFO, la principal agencia gubernamental de desarrollo. Adicionalmente, el trabajo examina el creciente papel de las instituciones financieras privadas en la cobertura de vacíos del mercado de capitales, en partic…