Seeking growth under financial volatility

This volume deals with macroeconomic issues and their relationship to growth in emerging economies. Lack of economic growth has been a feature of Latin American economies since the 1980s. In this book the analysis is complemented by two studies focused in East Asia and South Africa. All country cases examined have exhibited low inflation but high instability of economic activity in the 1990s and early 2000s. These cases provide relevant theoretical implications for a broader understanding of real macroeconomic policies in economies vulnerable to the globalization of financial volatility.…

Inserción laboral, mercados de trabajo y protección social

Reseña Este documento fue preparado por Víctor Tokman, Consultor de la Unidad de Estudios Especiales de CEPAL, bajo el componente de Macroeconomía, equidad y seguridad social, del proyecto CEPAL/GTZ: Policy Strategies for Sustainable Development in Latin America and the Caribbean: Promotion of a Socially Sustainable Economic Policy (GER/01/31); , que contó con el el apoyo de la Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Zusammenarbeit (GTZ);. El autor agradece la colaboración de E. Fajynzilber y E. Espíndola y los comentarios de A. Uthoff, D. Titelman, J. Weller todos ellos funcionarios de CEPAL.El …

Inserción laboral, mercados de trabajo y protección social

Reseña Este documento fue preparado por Víctor Tokman, Consultor de la Unidad de Estudios Especiales de CEPAL, bajo el componente de Macroeconomía, equidad y seguridad social, del proyecto CEPAL/GTZ: Policy Strategies for Sustainable Development in Latin America and the Caribbean: Promotion of a Socially Sustainable Economic Policy (GER/01/31) , que contó con el el apoyo de la Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Zusammenarbeit (GTZ). El autor agradece la colaboración de E. Fajynzilber y E. Espíndola y los comentarios de A. Uthoff, D. Titelman, J. Weller todos ellos funcionarios de CEPAL.El au…

La reforma de salud en Nicaragua

Reseña Este documento fue preparado por Adolfo Rodríguez Herrera, Consultor de la Unidad de Estudios Especiales de CEPAL, bajo el componente de Macroeconomía, equidad y seguridad social, del proyecto CEPAL/GTZ: Policy Strategies for Sustainable Development in Latin America and the Caribbean: Promotion of a Socially Sustainable Economic Policy (GER/01/31); , que contó con el apoyo de la Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Zusammenarbeit (GTZ);. Preparado como apoyo al documento La protección social de cara al futuro: Acceso, financiamiento y solidaridad presentado en el XXXI Per…

Non-contributory pensions: Bolivia and Antigua in an international context

Abstract The author examines the pension systems of Bolivia and Antigua in the context of non-contributory pensions around the world, concluding with policy lessons. Universal pensions available to everyone of eligible age, regardless of income, assets or employment history, have many advantages over targeted pensions. If targeting is desired, it is best done with ex post recovery from other income rather than ex ante means tests. For reasons that are unclear, governments almost always prefer ex ante tests to ex post controls for noncontributory pensions, even though the reverse is tr…

Fiscal policy and social protection

The inadequacies of social protection in Latin America and the Caribbean reveal a clear need for more active fiscal policies in this area. Although economic growth and decent employment are indispensable preconditions for social progress, the need for financing from public expenditure is ineluctable in the medium term. The present article examines three ways of achieving this objective. The first is to close the tax gap, since the fiscal burden is low in most Latin American and Caribbean countries. The second is to construct budgeting systems capable of removing rigidities and reallocating pub…

The Regional Coordination Mechanism for the Implementation of the Mauritius Strategy

Public policy for pensions, health and sickness insurance: potential lessons from Sweden for Latin America

Abstract This paper discusses the rationale of social insurance and social insurance institutions as they have emerged and developed in economically mature nations. The aim of the paper is to present discuss experience in a perspective that can be useful for discussions in Latin America. Key issues in system and institution design are identified and discussed, and examined with reference to experience from Sweden. The paper contains three major sections and concludes with some final remarks. The first of these discusses the case for publicly mandated insurance. The second discusses mo…