Sustainable development of human settlements: achievements and challenges in housing and urban policy in Latin America and the Caribbean

Abstract One year and a half after the United Nations Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II) held in Istanbul, the present document aims to assess the progress made on the implementation of the Regional Plan of Action on Human Settlements for Latin America and the Caribbean. The region faces a disturbing upsurge in urban poverty and widening income inequality, notwithstanding the slower rate of population growth. A worsening of environmental problems such as air and water pollution, waste disposal and vehicle congestion is being experienced in urban centres, and the region still has both…

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…

The strategies pursued by Mexican firms in their efforts to become global players

Almost 60% of the biggest non-financial groups in Mexico carry on at least two types of activities in transnational markets. This article describes and analyses the various internationalization paths and strategies of Mexican firms. This drive for internationalization is taking place against the background of an open export-oriented economy and growing integration with the United States and Canada. There are various national and international factors, as well as others specific to the firms themselves, which influence the strategies chosen and their results. This article consists of an introdu…

Regional integration in Latin America, globalization and South-South trade

Summary The first section sets out the historical background to the features of regional integration in Latin America between 1960 and 1990. The integration style of this region reflected the protected development models of the period, and developed slowly during the years 1960-1980. The period 1980-1990, known as the lost decade in Latin America, is then examined, bringing to light on the one hand the retreat of economic integration in the region and on the other the beginnings of a process of political democratization which was to set the stage for renewed progress towards integration …

Reflections on the use of labour market indicators in designing policies with a gender-based approach

The profound transformations undergone by the economies of Latin America and the Caribbean in recent decades have combined with a massive increase in the number of economically active women to produce significant changes in the labour market. Nonetheless, the indicators used to measure and describe this market have remained unchanged, despite the fact, which it is important to bear in mind, that they were designed for circumstances distinct from today's, with different participants and requirements in policy terms. Although the importance of measuring the share in economic activity accoun…

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…

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…

Restructuring in manufacturing: case studies in Chile, Mexico and Venezuela

Abstract This paper presents the results of an investigation of manufacturing firm strategies and changes in these strategies as a result of trade liberalization, globalization and transformations in the economic environment in which companies operate. The research concluded that these changes have brought about substantial changes in firms' behaviour. However, in spite of the importance of the influence of the economic environment on firms, the research also led to the conclusion that there is a margin for company strategy.Innovative firms have adopted flexible behaviour and are upgradin…

Military expenditure and development in Latin America

Public military expenditure (PME); has been analysed very little in the region, mainly for political reasons, which also limit access to the relevant information. Because of various events, however, it is beginning to be the subject of economic analysis both by governments and by multilateral bodies, especially with regard to its most appropriate level (how much is enough?);, its opportunity cost (what are its direct and indirect economic impacts?);, and its cost-effectiveness as a system of acquiring arms (what is its effect per monetary unit?);. According to the most conservative estimate, b…

Trade and industrial policies: past performance and future prospects

Abstract During the course of 1997 and 1998, the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) carried out the project Comparative study of development strategies of selected East-Asian and Latin American countries with special reference to trade and industrial policies under the new international trading system . The project was designed to extract from the experiences of both regions the essence of the appropriate public policy in industrial and trade development and to identify its new role and available instruments, in conformity with the post-Uruguay Round trade reg…

Quality management promotion to improve competitiveness

In this article, the author aims to demonstrate the importance of quality issues in national strategies for increasing productivity and competitiveness in Latin America. Quality is an important factor in today's increasingly globalized and liberalized markets, and it is considered that the application of quality management techniques will make a positive contribution to the competitive performance of countries, economic sectors and individual organizations. Since competitiveness contributes to sustainable development, the widespread diffusion and implementation of quality management seems…

National accounts of Caribbean countries: methodologies, sources and quality, and a comparative Caribbean study

Summary Reviews the methodologies used to derive production accounts. Looks at the non-financial corporate sector, the financial corporate sector, the government sector, the houshold sector and the external sector. Approaches to examining GDP are examined. Agriculture, mining and quarrying, manufacturing, electricity gas and water, construction, distributive trades, transport storage and communication and finance and real estate are assessed in detail. Includes sugestions for an improvement in the methodologies.…

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…

Best practices, policy convergence and the WTO trade-related investment measures

International experience shows that cost­free replication and adoption of industrial best practices on a universal basis is a misconception. Rather, it is a matter of a progressive and reciprocal adaptation between external and local practices in which learning costs and times, as well as the need for public and private cooperation, are essential. The potential for convergence of policies, practices and institutions triggered by globalization appears to be greater at the macroeconomic than at the microeconomic level. This article examines such issues in a general way and then focuses on the di…

Prices, property and markets in water allocation

Abstract This paper examines the means to incorporate the use of market signals through prices into water resources management with the objective of improving efficiency in the allocation of water. It reviews a vast body of recent literature on tradable resource use rights as well as actual experiences with implementing tradable water rights programmes both in Latin America and in the rest of the world. The issues discussed include the conditions required for a well-functioning water market; the potential strengths and weaknesses claimed for markets as a means of water allocation; the characte…

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…

Uso productivo de las remesas en El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras y Nicaragua

Resumen El presente documento constituye el informe preliminar del proyecto Remesas y economía familiar, II fase, cuyo principal objetivo es estudiar el uso productivo de las remesas en los países centroamericanos y promover fórmulas concretas para ampliarlo y mejorarlo. Para la realización de este estudio, el autor y consultor principal del proyecto —el Sr. Federico Torres Arroyo— llevó a cabo trabajos de campo en los cuatro países centroamericanos estudiados, y visitó asimismo las cinco ciudades de los Estados Unidos que concentran la mayor cantidad de migrantes centroamericanos: Los Ángeles…

Declaración de la Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL) sobre la crisis financiera internacional, 15 de septiembre de 1998 = Communiqué of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) on the...

Hacia la igualdad de la mujer: avances legales desde la aprobación de la Convención sobre la Eliminación de Todas las Formas de Discriminación Contra la Mujer = Towards equality for women: progress in legislation since the adoption of the Conventio...

Resumen Los avances de la región en el área legal, para el logro del objetivo de la integración de la mujer en el desarrollo económico y social, se acentuaron notablemente en la última década y se tradujeron, principalmente, en la consagración de la igualdad a nivel constitucional, en la eliminación de normas discriminatorias, en la creación y reforzamiento de oficinas rectoras del tema a nivel nacional, provincial y municipal, en la sanción de leyes especiales sobre problemáticas específicas, y en la formulación de algunos planes nacionales de acción. Para reforzar estos logros y orientar otr…

La educación de las mujeres: de la marginalidad a la coeducación: propuestas para una metodología de cambio educativo = The education of women: from marginality to coeducation: proposals for a methodology to achieve educational change

La importancia de la educación para el desarrollo individual y colectivo ha sido puesta de relieve desde los años sesenta, en que la teoría del capital humano destacó el hecho de que la inversión educativa es la más rentable de las inversiones, en términos estrictamente económicos, y tanto para la sociedad como para los individuos. Desde entonces, el valor de la educación ha seguido en alza: para todos los grupos humanos que se encuentran en situación de marginación, la educación ha constituido el mecanismo central de cambio de su situación, el que confiere a la vez cualificación para desarrol…