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…
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…
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…
Dynamic export growth has been a distinctive feature of the Chilean economy over the last quarter of a century.This strong performance,however,has been accompanied by only modest average growth in GDP.Whilst export volumes rose by 10%a year between 1974 and 2001,GDP growth was only 4.3%.Furthermore,whereas export growth was steady, GDP fluctuated greatly,with several episodes of 8%to 10% growth but also deep recessions of 14%or 15%.Here we shall look at the similarities and differences among three episodes (1973-1982,1983-1989 and 1990-1999);,analyse the interrelationship among export quality,…
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…
Resumen
Colombia emprendió en 1993 una ambiciosa reforma de su sistema de seguridad social en pensiones, salud y protección contra riesgos profesionales. Entre las razones para ello y dentro de los objetivos de dicha reforma, se contemplaron las limitaciones de cobertura de los sistemas anteriores de seguridad social y de salud pública. Recientemente, la economía colombiana ha sufrido una recesión nunca antes experimentada en su historia contemporánea, que aumentó la tasa de desempleo y afectó la cobertura de la seguridad social. Es necesario por lo tanto advertir que los avances logrados tant…
Summary
This document is intended to provide a frame of reference for the design and implementation of a system of indicators for use in following up on the goals agreed upon at the International Conference on Population and Development and set forth in the Latin American and Caribbean Regional Plan of Action on Population and Development.
One of the elements taken into consideration in this proposal is the sociodemographic diversity existing in the countries of the region, which makes it difficult to design a uniform system for monitoring progress towards the objectives of the Plan of Action.…
Transport planning necessarily takes into account more than just the immediate time-frame. In the case of urban transport, planning needs to come up with solutions in regard to infrastructure which is expensive and may have a useful life extending over several decades. Therefore, planning must take note of economic, technological, social and demographic changes that influence trips undertaken.The purpose of this article is to explore some of the trends that may well be observed in upcoming decades. The article arrives at the conclusion that, in a period of considerable change and uncertainty, …
La planificación del transporte, intrínsecamente, toma en cuenta un período más que instantáneo. En el caso particular del transporte urbano, la infraestructura sobre la cual la planificación tiene que llegar a determinaciones, es cara, y puede tener una vida útil de varias décadas. Por esto, la planificación debería contemplar las tendencias, económicas, tecnológicas, sociales y demográficas, que influyen sobre los viajes que se hacen. El presente artículo tiene como propósito presentar algunas de las tendencias factibles de observarse durante las próximas décadas. Se concluye que, estando f…
Resumen
La reproducción de la pobreza de un país no depende
exclusivamente de los indicadores económicos, ya que diversos mecanismos
socioculturales, con cierta autonomía relativa, influyen en el fenómeno. En
particular, cuando se analiza la pobreza de los hogares cobran importancia los
aspectos demográficos y culturales, en los que enmarca el ejercicio de la
paternidad.
Precisamente, la forma en que se vinculan los hombres con su
pareja y las relaciones que desarrollan con sus hijos e hijas determinan la
satisfacción de las necesidades de niños y niñas, la inserción de éstos en
la sociedad y …
Foreword In contrast to its situation during the lost decade , in the 1990s the Latin American and Caribbean region regained its access to international capital markets. Its return to these markets, in combination with a commitment to achieving basic macroeconomic equilibria, was manifested in smaller fiscal deficits and lower inflation, but the region has recovered only part of the ground it had lost in terms of its pace of economic growth. Thus, the region's economies have not been growing fast enough to strengthen their labour markets or to reduce poverty significantly. …