Welcome to new Heads of the Gender Department

In this issue of Gender Dialogue, we wish to congratulate Ms. Ingrid Charles- Gumbs, St. Kitts and Nevis; Ms. Miriam Roache, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Ms. Lera Pascal, Saint Lucia, on the assumption of the positions of heads of the national machineries in those countries. One of the purposes of this newsletter is networking and we are therefore providing some information on these three new officers, in our ‘Profiles of the new Heads of the national machineries for women’. We have also invited some of the “older hands” to share some of their experiences as head of national machineri…

Sociodemographic vulnerability in the Caribbean: an examination of the social and demographic impediments to equitable development with participatory citizenship in the Caribbean at the dawn of the twenty-first century

Abstract This study identifies and discusses sociodemographic structures, processes and trends that entail risks for individuals, households and communities in the small island developing States of the Caribbean, on the basis of the analysis of the environmental, geographical, economic and institutional vulnerability of these States conducted by ECLAC in the document Equity, development and citizenship, which was presented at the twenty-eighth session of the Commission. The analysis focuses on three sociodemographic issues. First, fertility, which continues to occur early and at high rates am…

The transformation of collective action in Latin America

We are witnessing the disappearance of the traditional paradigm that viewed the structural position as the determining factor in shaping collective action and social actors. Because of the structural and cultural changes that have occurred in the world and the region -the transformation of Latin America's weak national Statecentred industrial society and the break-up of the traditional relationships between State and society- collective action is tending to take shape mainly along four axes: political democratization; social democratization or the struggle against exclusion and for citize…

The role of institutions in local contexts

This article looks at some methodological issues that confront development research when local institutions are studied.It considers ways of formulating working concepts that are useful for obtaining information on institutions and their dynamic processes in relation to the economic activities of rural households.It presents and evaluates some quantitative and qualitative methods on the basis of case studies in Mexico and India,and considers the scope and limitations of these.The conclusion is that a flexible, multidisciplinary conceptual and methodological framework is needed to understand th…

The strategies of multinational companies in 1990s Argentina

In the 1990s,Argentina received large amounts of foreign direct investment and the participation of multinational companies in the country's economy increased significantly. As during the import substitution industrialization period, the basic goal of multinationals is still to exploit the domestic market.Two differences from that period can be observed, however:access to the Brazilian market allows for greater economies of scale and specialization,and increased competition in many tradable sectors is forcing subsidiaries to bring their operations closer to international best practice. Th…

Investment and financial volatility in Latin America

Financial liberalization and the lifting of capital market restrictions have brought in foreign investment and made more financing available for investment projects,but at the same time have made it easier for financial crises originating in Latin America or elsewhere to spread.Such crises became more frequent in the 1990s,and as a result a more careful study was made of the impact of capital flow instability on investment.Hypotheses derived from theoretical procedures were checked against econometric exercises showing that capital flows have a positive impact,but that negative consequences ar…

The idea of citizenship in the Latin American debate

This article looks at some of the most significant contributions to the contemporary Latin American debate on citizenship. The subject has taken on central importance in the justification of public policy throughout the continent, chiefly because it allows the approach taken to the social question to be based on active integration of economic, social and cultural phenomena, and makes it possible to address aspects of life in society -such as gender, ethnic and environmental conflicts- that pose major challenges for political regimes and for economic stability. Following an introductory section…

Labour markets and pension systems

Latin America is going through a simultaneous process of population ageing and growing predominance of precarious employment conditions which poses a challenge for contributory pension systems. The solvency of the basic pillars of the unfunded system is being affected by the long-standing decline in the number of active persons whose contributions finance the benefits of retirees. The benefits of the individually funded systems are sensitive to the density of contributions needed to accumulate capital and finance pensions for members with increasingly long life expectancies. This study describ…

Professor Joseph Stiglitz: Winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics to Lecture at ECLAC

(22 August 2002) Next Monday 26 August Professor Joseph Stiglitz, Nobel Laureate in Economics, 2001, will visit the headquarters of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), to give a Magisterial Lecture entitled: Whither Reforms? Towards a New Agenda for Latin America, on the occasion of the Second Raúl Prebisch Chair Magisterial Lecture. The lecture will take place at 11:00 am in the Raúl Prebisch Room at ECLAC (Av. Dag Hammarskjöld s/n, Vitacura, Santiago) and will be chaired by the Executive Secretary of this Regional …

Profesor Joseph Stiglitz: Premio Nobel de Economía dicta cátedra en la CEPAL

(22 de agosto de 2002) El próximo lunes 26 de agosto visitará la sede de la Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL) el Profesor Joseph Stiglitz, Premio Nobel de Economía 2001, quien dictará la Conferencia Magistral titulada ¿Hacia dónde van las reformas? En busca de una agenda para América Latina, con ocasión de la Segunda Cátedra Raúl Prebisch. La conferencia tendrá lugar a las 11:00 horas en la Sala Raúl Prebisch de la CEPAL (Av. Dag Hammarskjöld s/n, Vitacura, Santiago) y estará presidida por el Secretario Ejecutivo de esta Com…

Anuario Estadístico de América Latina y el Caribe 2001 = Statistical Yearbook for Latin America and the Caribbean 2001

La edición 2001 del Anuario estadístico de América Latina y el Caribe contiene una selección actualizada a comienzos de diciembre de las principales series estadísticas disponibles sobre la evolución económica y social de los países de la región. Representa un sistemático esfuerzo de la División de Estadística y Proyecciones de la CEPAL, orientado a homogeneizar las cifras y a hacerlas internacionalmente comparables. La primera parte comprende indicadores socioeconómicos derivados (tasas de crecimiento, proporciones o coeficientes), que representan una visión resumida de cada área de interés y…

Socio-demographic vulnerability: old and new risks for communities, households and individuals

Vulnerability is an emerging issue that has been raised repeatedly in sociological analyses at the dawn of the twenty-first century and in debates on public policies aimed at alleviating poverty, promoting upward social mobility and empowering citizens. If this issue has been so topical, it is because a variety of factors, some highly controversial and others difficult to measure accurately, have contributed to the phenomenon. They include: the increasingly unstable macroeconomic context; the frequency with which households lapse into and emerge from poverty, a trend seen even among tradi…

Making infrastructure reform in Latin America work for the poor

Ten years of infrastructure reform in Latin America can teach us a lot about how to make privatization work for the poor. There are macroeconomic and microeconomic transmission mechanisms through which such reform may affect those sectors. This paper discusses policy instruments to increase their access to services and make the latter more affordable for them. The advantages and disadvantages of each instrument are evaluated and examples are given. The ways in which policy-makers should go about setting social priorities in infrastructure reform and choosing the most appropriate policy instrum…

Globalizing talent and human capital: implications for developing countries

Abstract Human capital flows can take several forms and include the international circulation of scientists, information technology experts, intellectuals, artists and entrepreneurs. The evidence shows that traditional brain drain , say a permanent and irreversible outflow of human capital, co-exists also with cycles of emigration and return of national talent ( brain circulation ). Thus, for developing countries, the emigration of domestic talent need not be always a permanent loss. However, although return rates vary from country to country, poor economies suffer particularly…

A standardized methodology for the measurement of defence spending

Presentation The technical study described in this report was undertaken by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC);, in response to a request by the Governments of Argentina and Chile for it to propose a common standardized methodology for the measurement of defence spending. The study, which was carried out between the fourth quarter of 1999 and August 2001 was funded by the two Governments concerned. The first chapter of this report describes the background to the initiative and the processes carried out by the parties involved. It also briefly acknowledges the t…

Challenges for secondary education in Latin America

In recent years, most Latin American countries have committed themselves, implicitly or explicitly, to achieving universal provision of a good-quality basic secondary education. Despite the diversity of the situations to be found in the region, it is possible to see that what this commitment means for each of these countries is having to cope simultaneously with educational deficiencies inherited from the past -primarily, incomplete coverage that leaves some adolescents outside the system- and the new challenges raised by the exigencies of change in the organization of work, culture and citize…

Food Security Issues for Caribbean