This paper explores the usefulness of data deriving from Population and Housing Censuses in Latin America and the Caribbean, in the 2000 Round, in order to describe the patterns of penetration of ICT goods in the households of the countries in the region. With this purpose in mind, the report approaches the following issues: The availability of information on ICTs in the 2000 Census Round. Characteristics of the instruments used for registering and measuring the ownership of ICT goods. The penetration of the various kinds of ICT goods. Profile description of households with greatest connectivi…
IntroductionNearly 20 years ago, ECLAC put forward a proposal for structural change and productivity growth with social equity. At the time, the countries of the region were emerging from the severe crisis of the 1980s, with all its associated difficulties in terms of internal stabilization and external adjustment, and heading into a decade of structural reform which heeded the call of the Washington Consensus. In the midst of perplexity and pessimism regarding the region's prospects, ECLAC espoused a view of the situation that ran counter to the orthodox line of thought that marked econo…
Across the centuries, the international division of labor has included a variety of translocal circuits for the mobility of labor and capital (Wallerstein 1974; Froebel et al. 1980; Potts 1990; Silver 2003; Koo 2001; Aneesh 2006; Khotari 2006; Smith and Favell 2006). These circuits have varied considerably across time and space, shaped at least partly by the specific constitution of labor and capital.Many of these older circuits continue to exist today. But there are often new dynamics that feed them. And there are new types of circuits as well. One outcome is the emergence of novel global geo…
At the thirteenth meeting of the Monitoring Committee of the CDCC held in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago on 23-24 August 2007, delegates agreed to the establishment of a working group to explore ways of improving the effectiveness, visibility and relevance of the CDCC.
The need for the establishment of the working group arose out of the recognition that the CDCC has been handicapped by the following: (a) a loss of its original vision and mission as a result of its changing operational context; (b) institutional overload in the regional institutional architecture as a result of the deepenin…
The biotechnology movement in the Caribbean is a fledgling industry that has
tremendous potential for development. It focuses on the use of fermentation and enzyme
technologies, tissue culture and recombinant DNA (rDNA) technology and is more greatly
applied to plant varieties rather than animal species. Tissue culture is by far the most developed
type of technology but increasing attention is being paid to rDNA technology. Main areas
include application in the agriculture sector but the use in medicine and biology are also being
promoted.
In its purest form, the term biotechnology …
This article analyses the costs in terms of income distribution of the crisis and adjustments of the 1980s, as well as the effects of the subsequent recovery and resumption of sustained growth patterns. This analysis is based on comparable pairs of estimates of income distribution and poverty prepared by ECLAC for the ten largest and predominantly urban countries of the region. The method of analysis consists, on the one hand, of comparing the changes in distribution and in the macroeconomic and labour market variables during similar macroeconomic phases in the course of the adjustment process…
Over the past decade, a growing number of companies have recognized the business benefits of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) policies and practices. Their experiences are bolstered by a growing body of empirical studies that demonstrates that CSR has a positive impact on business economic performance and is not detrimental to shareholder value. Maximization of profits is perhaps the most important element for ensuring the continuity of the business over the time. However, value creation is also related to social issues such as health and safety, equality and environmental protection, und…
Given the increasing difficulty of ensuring the supply of crude oil and oil products, and the sharp increase in their prices, biofuels programmes in the developed countries-particularly the United States and the European Union-represent a series of opportunities, challenges and risks for the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean. Thus, if biofuels production is to create economic growth without jeopardising our natural capital and social equity, it must be developed in the framework of well thought-out national policy.Biofuels public policy cannot ignore national objectives, which invol…
The Cotonou Agreement which succeeded the Lomé IV Agreement and was signed in
Cotonou in June 2000 established a comprehensive framework to govern social, economic and
political relations between the Africa, Caribbean, Pacific (ACP) grouping and the European Union
(EU). At the centre of the partnership are objectives relating to economic development, the
reduction and eventual eradication of poverty, and the smooth and gradual integration of ACP
States into the world economy. In order to accomplish these objectives, the Cotonou Agreement
provides for the conclusion between the ACP and the EU o…
Ibero-America is living through promising times in terms of the relation between youth and development. The signs are well known, and this report provides an unprecedented compilation of evidence confirming them. The region's youth today have more years of education on average than adults, and the gap is even more favourable for youth in terms of access to new communication technologies, information and knowledge. The population dynamic indicates that the coming years will see a reduction in the proportion of young people in the overall population in most Ibero-American countries, and thi…
This discussion paper seeks to contribute to the body of knowledge on crime and violence through an exploration of the possible policy linkages between poverty, crime and violence, using data from Jamaica, Saint Lucia and Trinidad and Tobago. It does so against the backdrop of increasing concern for the impact of violence on the social and economic development and human welfare of Caribbean societies. In addition to the primary objective of exploring the policy and programming linkages between poverty reduction programming and that aimed at reducing crime and violence, the study includes an ov…
In the midst of broad global market turmoil and mounting fears of a recession in the U.S., emerging markets have shown strong growth and economic resilience. For the first time in recent history, the external meltdown has not sparked capital flight from Latin America. Quite the contrary, Latin American markets have been seen by investors as a safe haven from the supbprime woes afflicting the U.S. economyDespite showing significant resilience, Latin American debt spreads widened in the first quarter of 2008, and after reaching record lows in May 2007, they are now re-approaching pre-Asian crisi…
IntroductionNearly 20 years ago, ECLAC put forward a proposal for structural change and productivity growth with social equity. At the time, the countries of the region were emerging from the severe crisis of the 1980s, with all its associated difficulties in terms of internal stabilization and external adjustment, and headed into a decade of structural reform which heeded the call of the Washington Consensus. In the midst of perplexity and pessimism regarding the region's prospects, ECLAC espoused a view of the situation that ran counter to the extremely orthodox line of thought that mar…
One of the drivers of economic growth is innovation, which raisesproductivity by creating new production methods, technologies, productsand firms. This article examines an instrument that supports this process,venture capital, and highlights the need for a financing system coveringeach phase of innovation. It starts by illustrating Latin America's innovationdeficit. It then proceeds to a general analysis of the difficulties affecting thefinancing of innovation and the provision of venture capital to overcomethese. It goes on to examine the form taken by these obstacles in theregion and, c…
The external environment has deteriorated sharply as a result of the spiraling financial turmoil, and has led to a weakening in commodity prices and fears of a worldwide recession. Latin America and the Caribbean's fastest expansion in 40 years may be threatened as the global credit crunch makes financing scarce and squeezes demand for the region's commodities. This time around the region is better positioned to weather the crisis than in the past, given improvements in macroeconomic and financial policies as well as a reduced net dependency on external capital inflows. However, Lati…
This paper develops and tests a model of growth that emphasizesthe introduction of new exports as the main source of growth in countriesthat are well within the global technology frontier and depend for growthon adapting existing products to their economic environment. It seeks tocapture the stylized facts behind growth in countries as different as theRepublic of Korea, Taiwan Province of China, Mauritius, Finland, Chinaand Chile, all of which have relied on export diversification. The wideningof comparative advantage is thus seen as the main driver of economicgrowth. The export diversificatio…
Stable, higher income democracies often have both a strong middle class and relatively low levels of inequality. In contrast, lower and middle income countries with highly unequal patterns of income distribution and stratified social structures often have a weak middle class, more social conflict and a tendency to populist and/or authoritarian politics. This paper investigates, for a sample of more than 120 countries, some empirical correlations between the size of the middle class and the following set of variables: the level (mean); of per capita income and wealth, the degree of inequality (…
Regional trade agreements have had a significant presence in the design of international and productive policies in Latin American and Caribbean countries since the early 1950s. Fifty years later, the region has not reached the degree of economic inter-relation found, for instance, in Western Europe, but the concern with promoting regional integration has been a tradition in an impressive amount of speeches and declarations by policy makers in the last decades.
The weakening of multilateral negotiations and the multiplicity of bilateral agreements with countries in other regions might affect r…
Rasgos generales de la evolución reciente En 2007, la economía cubana registró una expansión de 7,3%. Como el crecimiento demográfico fue nulo, el producto interno bruto (PIB) por habitante aumentó proporcionalmente con el PIB. El déficit fiscal global se incrementó ligeramente, de 3% del PIB en 2006 a 3,1% en 2007, mientras que la tasa de inflación varió 2,8%, la mitad que el año anterior (5,7%). Por último, la cuenta corriente de la balanza de pagos ascendió a un superávit equivalente a 0,8% del PIB. Cuba: Economic evolution during 2007 and Outlook for 2008 Abstract: General fea…
El presente estudio se elaboró a solicitud del Ministerio de Planificación del Desarrollo (MPD) de Bolivia formulada a la Secretaría Ejecutiva de la Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL). Esta cooperación se realiza en el marco del apoyo a evaluaciones nacionales de desastres del Global Facility for Disaster Risk Reduction, GFDRR (Unidad global para la reducción de riesgos de desastres), del Banco Mundial. La evaluación no habría sido posible sin la colaboración muy valiosa de distintas entidades, viceministerios y ministerios, fondos de desarrollo y otras agencias…