The hundredth anniversary of the birth of Raúl Prebisch
is an invaluable opportunity for us to take another look
at the ideas of this great Latin American, one of the
thinkers from the developing world who has had the
strongest influence in world economic debates. His
ideas have been the subject of heavy criticism, but much
of this has been based on distorted versions of his
thinking or of its practical application, rather than his
true intellectual work. Taking his proposals out of their
historical context has also been a frequent practice, even
by some of his own followers. It should be reme…
Prebisch arrived at ECLA for the first time in 1949, to
write a report in which he set out his views on the main
problems then facing the economic development of
Latin America (Prebisch, 1949);. As he had been hired
as an outside consultant, he did not receive the support
of other members of the institution in its preparation,
nor did he have much time at his disposal, so that the
report was a reflection of the ideas he already held prior
to joining ECLA. As the content of that work made a
great impact on academic and political circles in the
region and came to be considered one of the basic p…
30 Nov 2001, 00:00 - 14 Oct 2025, 18:04
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Caribbean governments have been reacting to the phenomenon that is the Information Age with a variety of policy initiatives. Initially governments trained most of their efforts at facilitating the development of an informatics industry, drawn there by the promise of jobs and foreign exchange earnings. However, the motives for these policy interventions have evolved over time and as a consequence, policy has matured. This paper, which is descriptive rather than analytical, draws heavily on statements made by government decision makers. It attempts to provide an overview of some of the maj…
1 Nov 2001, 00:00 - 14 Oct 2025, 18:09
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Summary
This document analyses the results of a survey conducted by the Latin American and Caribbean Demographic Centre (CELADE); - Population Division of ECLAC in the framework of activities underway to develop systems of indicators for follow-up to the Programme of Action on Population and Development established at the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD); of 1994, and to the Latin American and Caribbean Regional Plan of Action on Population and Development, which was approved in its final form in 1996. The data from this survey, which was conducted in late 2000, wa…
Abstract
The Caribbean countries have for decades been described as being data poor . The inability of the countries to provide, in a number of areas, data on certain issues of national or world importance has its roots in the poor information infrastructure that characterizes the Caribbean countries.
The national accounts are designed to provide information on almost every aspect of national life that must be of interest to the administration and citizenry alike. This paper looks at the countries' implementation of the United Nations System of National Accounts (SNA); from th…
Introduction The social agenda is long-term in nature, in the sense that poverty alleviation along with a better distribution of income, wealth and opportunities are long-term goals. A sound macroeconomic policy, on the other hand, has to do largely with the consistent management of short-term policy instruments pursuing a sustainable and predictable pace for aggregate economic variables and major prices (wages, inflation, interest rates and exchange rates). In spite of the different arena and rationale in which they play, there are strong links between the two. First and most obvious,…
Introduction (first paragraph);
When Raúl Prebisch died in 1986 his ideas were out of fashion in Ronald Reagan's Washington and Latin American capitals, dismissed by most Western economists as passé -or even dangerously misguided in the new crusade for globalization. Only United Nations circles and a narrowing band of supporters insisted on his permanent contribution. It was as if his life had merely reflected the turbulence of the short, violent century (as Hobsbawn termed it);; now that it was over, with the Cold War consigned to history, so too (it appeared); was Prebisch&#…
Foreword The Ibero-American Summit of Heads of State and Government,which met in Panama in November 2000, devoted a good part of its deliberations to the subject o children and youth.It recognized the importance of their rights,as clearly enshrined in the Convention on the Rights of the Child,which all the Ibero-American countries have signed.It also identified the most urgent problems acing boys,girls and adolescents and,in the Panama Declaration 2000,set forth the strategies for resolving them. As these priorities were established,it became clear that there was a ne…
18 Jun 2001, 00:00 - 14 Oct 2025, 18:09
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Introduction Biodiversity, as the name implies, is the term used to describe the differences that exist between and among the various species of organisms on the planet earth. Biodiversity can be measured on a worldwide basis, on a regional basis, on a national basis, as well as on a zonal basis. The interactions of these various species provide the basis for sustaining life, human life in particular. On that basis then, it is of utmost importance that the biodiversity of any area be preserved and this can only be done by a proper understanding of the organisms, their relative positions and in…
1 Abr 2001, 00:00 - 14 Oct 2025, 18:09
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The view that pervasive economic insecurity threatens political support for the ongoing market-oriented reforms has become one of the most common refrains in current discussions on Latin American affairs. Dealing with economic insecurity would thus appear to be a key part of the unfinished agenda of Latin America's reforms. The author argues that economic insecurity in Latin America is multifaceted and has many sources that feed on each other. Some of the insecurity arises from the decline in employment protection and increased volatility of household outcomes. Some of it is the result of…
30 Ene 2001, 00:00 - 14 Oct 2025, 17:59
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The need to devise an appropriate mechanism for the meaningful participation of smaller economies in the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA); has been recognized since the beginning of the process of integration in the Americas and was articulated in the Plan of Action and Declaration of the Summit of the Americas, held in Miami in December 1995 (1); . Since then, the San Jose Declaration (2); reiterated the commitment of the countries of the hemisphere to ensure the full participation of the smaller economies in the FTAA and increase their level of development.
The declaration states that …
Abstract Quality of Life: A compendium of selected social statistics of five Caribbean countries (1995-2001), is the second in a series on social statistics to be published by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean/Caribbean Development and Cooperation Committee (ECLAC/CDCC) secretariat. The first was published in December 1995, entitled Selected demographic and social statistics, 1960- 1994, and was based on the population census data. This compendium of selected social statistics of five Caribbean countries is the first output of the fully searchable subregional…
30 Nov 2001, 00:00 - 14 Oct 2025, 18:09
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Introduction With the failure of the import-substituting industrialisation policies of the post-war period, Caribbean countries shifted to an export-promotion strategy in the 1980s. Export promotion inevitably demanded a shifting of the relative price and productivity of tradable goods and services. To provide the necessary incentives for export promotion, countries pursued a mixture of reforms and restructuring to attract investment and to promote the competitiveness of production and exchange. The period also coincided with a shift in the development paradigm of the developed countri…
1 Nov 2001, 00:00 - 14 Oct 2025, 17:59
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Abstract In the relatively short history of Mercosur, the countries of the region have gone through wide macroeconomic fluctuations. Macroeconomic turbulence is not a novelty for Argentina, Brazil and their partners, but it has shown different features in recent years, particularly concerning the strength and nature of regional spillovers. Despite the asymmetries in size among the economies of the area and the low starting levels of trade, the rapid growth of intra-regional commerce until the last few years, and the feeling that there was a 'mercosur component' in the intern…
This document posits conceptual frameworks for a reading of gender mechanisms that seeks to analyze them as part of the broader process of which they are an expression: the legitimization and institutionalization of the new challenges facing society and the state. These processes are evident at the national and international levels, in civil society and in international organizations. They include the construction of new concepts of gender relations in various societies, the inclusion of inequality-related problems on public agendas, and the institutionalization of the issue within the State. …
1 Ago 2001, 00:00 - 14 Oct 2025, 18:09
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This article analyses the main determinants of private-sector investment in Brazil during the period 1956-1996, using an empirical model employed in the most recent studies on developing countries. The econometric procedures followed not only take into account the non-stationarity of the data series examined, but allow for the possible difficulties involved in treating the conditioning variables as exogenous ones or as policy instruments. The findings -both the long-term equations and the short-term models- reveal the positive impact of the output, public investment and financial credit variab…
1 Jun 2001, 00:00 - 14 Oct 2025, 18:09
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CONTENTS I.Notes on NAFTA’s Environmental Implications II. US-Mexican transboundary water issues: public and private sector entities participate in round tableIII.Colloquium on Regulatory Expropriations in International LawIV. Great Lakes: Donors pledge US $140 million for Nile basin projects, 29 June 2001V. Toronto newspaper concerned about U.S. interest in Canadian water VI. Debate on piping Canadian water to the American SouthwestVII. Mexican water debt coming due VIII.India: Water release into Pakistan rivers IX. UK Water Industry Says: 'Climate Change Threat Urgent' X.…
6 Feb 2001, 00:00 - 14 Oct 2025, 18:09
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The concern with a gender dimension of macroeconomic policy stems from the mandate of the Beijing conference to review and implement policies aimed at achieving equitable access to economic resources. This paper examines some of the macroeconomic policies pursued in the Caribbean within the context of economic adjustment in order to understand the rationale for these polices to see whether and how gender analysis could contribute to a more equitable outcome. The aims and goals of macroeconomic policy are explained, against the background of the economic problems faced by the region since 1970.…
24 Oct 2001, 00:00 - 14 Oct 2025, 18:09
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Introduction
At the twentieth meeting of the Standing Committee of Ministers Responsible for Agriculture under the heading 'Technology Generation, Validation and Transfer', the discussions centered around the formation of yet another institution Â- PROCICARIBE - to 'integrate and coordinate all the
agricultural research and development organizations throughout the Caribbean involved in technology development, export market development and the garnering of funds in support thereof.' It is interesting to note that the above in total or parts were already the mandate of the Ca…
1 Abr 2001, 00:00 - 14 Oct 2025, 18:04
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This article analyses the relations between the international specialization pattern and growth. For this purpose, it adopts as its analytical framework the recent literature emphasizing the importance of initial conditions and public policies, and not only factor endowment. It also analyses the empirical and economic policy implications of this approach. After an introduction (section I);, section II presents the analytical framework: a model with two internationally tradeable goods sectors and a non-tradeable inputs sector, with increasing returns to scale and dynamic pecuniary externalities…