The top 20 multinationals in Chile in 2010: retail, forestry and transport lead the international expansion

This report presents the results of a survey of multinational enterprises (MNEs) from Chile, carried out by the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) and the Vale Columbia Center on Sustainable International Investment (VCC), a joint undertaking of Columbia Law School and The Earth Institute at Columbia University in New York. The survey, conducted in 2011, covers the period 2009-2010 and was undertaken in the framework of the Emerging Markets Global Players (EMGP) project, an initiative of the VCC that brings together researchers from leading instituti…

Growth versus development: different patterns of industrial growth in Latin America during the 'boom' years

Between 2003 and 2008 Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) experienced its most remarkable expansionary period since the 1970s. Yet, LAC countries' productivity gaps widened during this period vis-à-vis industrialized countries (here represented by the United States' manufacturing sector) as revealed in CEPAL (2010). The paper splits up this process and examines the different outcomes observed at the national level for the cases of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Mexico during these boom years. It examines the composition of productivity divergence in terms of sec…

National innovation surveys in Latin America: empirical evidence and policy implications

The following articles provide the results of the analysis of innovation surveys in 5 Latin American countries: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico and Uruguay. Those countries account for the 80% of total regional manufacturing value added and offer a good proxy of regional manufacturing performance. The diversity and the heterogeneity of these countries allow to grasp eventual asymmetries in innovative conducts and National Innovation Systems between small and big size economies, different specialization patterns, low and medium income economies and to take into account potential differences be…

Autoridades aprobarán nuevo plan de acción en Conferencia sobre la Sociedad de la Información

(15 de noviembre, 2010) Autoridades ministeriales, representantes de organismos internacionales y de la sociedad civil se reunirán del 21 al 23 de noviembre en Lima, Perú, para celebrar la Tercera Conferencia Ministerial sobre la Sociedad de la Información de América Latina y el Caribe. En este foro los países miembros de la CEPAL aprobarán un nuevo plan de acción regional, denominado eLAC2015, que concibe a las tecnologías de la información y de las comunicaciones (TIC) como instrumentos para el logro de un desarrollo con más innovación e igualdad. La conferencia será inaugurada el lune…

CEPAL y OCDE analizan caminos de cooperación

(4 de abril, 2011) El Secretario General de la Organización para la Cooperación y el Desarrollo Económico (OCDE), Ángel Gurría, visitó el lunes 4 de abril la sede de la Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL) en Santiago, Chile, donde sostuvo una reunión de trabajo con los directores de la institución para tratar temas de la coyuntura económica actual y el papel de América Latina y el Caribe. Gurría fue recibido por la Secretaria Ejecutiva de la CEPAL, Alicia Bárcena, con quien discutió la posibilidad de ampliar los espacios de cooperación entre ambos organismos. La agenda d…

Seminario Internacional de UNASUR "De la Integración Política a la Integración Económica y Financiera". Panel: América Latina, la institucionalidad regional y los foros internacionales: la UNASUR, el G-20, el G-24, el G-77, el G-192

The Outlook for Agriculture and Rural Development in the Americas: A Perspective on Latin America and the Caribbean 2011-2012

Just as the world economy was showing signs of a recovery, a new global recession and a financial crisis in Europe are looming on the horizon. The economies of the great majority of countries grew in 2010, albeit at different speeds. While growth in the most developed countries was sluggish and in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) averaged a little over 4%, the production of the developing economies rose by more than 6.5%, with China and India, the new engines of the world economy, leading the way. Paradoxically, the specter of recession has appeared when the global economy is also showing…

Productivity growth in Latin American manufacturing: what role for international trade intensities?

This paper analyzes the relationship between the intensity of international trade flows and labor productivity for 28 industries in the five main economies in the region (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Mexico) using the Arellano-Bond generalized method of moments (GMM) estimator. The results show that international trade flows contributed through various channels to labor productivity growth in the period 1990 to 2008. These channels, which have been developed in the theoretical literature, are export intensity (share of production exported), import penetration (share of domestic deman…

Why is the Debate on Commodities so Crucial for Latin America?