This paper focuses primarily on proposals to liberalize trade of Environmental Goods, characterizing the trade of these products in Latin America and the Caribbean. The objective is to help identify trends, risks and opportunities for exporters as well as for importers, in a context of increased global competition in manufactured products from Asia and China in particular. For Latin America and the Caribbean, implementing policies aimed at both lowering trade barriers to environmental goods and services and greening the region's export basket will result in gains both for the …
Over the last two decades, new information and communications technologies (ICT) have been incorporated into education systems around the world, as a way of enhancing the learning experience. Latin American countries have over this time made great efforts not to be left behind in this global trend. The first school-oriented ICT policies and programmes began to emerge in the late 1980s and early 1990s. This process has been guided by the notion that ICT have the potential to alter the scenario in which they are introduced, and that they can facilitate the review and reformulation of prevaili…
This paper focuses on the recent trends of private and unilateral efforts to account for the carbon emissions of traded goods, with the objective of identifying possible risks and opportunities for Latin American and Caribbean exporters. It presents a description of the ongoing initiatives, standards and proposed legislation that are relevant to the discussion. It follows this by identifying the shortfalls and challenges of carbon footprinting, and the implications for Latin American and Caribbean export competitiveness. Finally it provides policy suggestions for the region, assuming the growi…
La posibilidad de compartir experiencias referidas al desempeño de los reguladores en sectores de infraestructura (agua potable y saneamiento, transporte y telecomunicaciones), ofrece la oportunidad de mejorar los esquemas y modelos regulatorios, de modo de incrementar la eficiencia, calidad y cobertura de la prestación de los servicios públicos. La regulación de estas industrias juega un papel fundamental en el equilibrio entre el crecimiento económico, desarrollo social y la preservación ambiental, objetivos cruciales para América Latina y el Caribe. El presente documento recoge las ideas ce…
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…
(13 September 2011) The Fifteenth meeting of the Monitoring Committee of the Caribbean Development and Cooperation Committee (CDCC) concluded on Monday 12 September 2011 in Port of Spain, with a call for greater coordination of the different players in development to promote dialogue and cooperation between the Caribbean and Latin America.
The meeting was convened by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) and discussed the progress made on the implementation of the 2010-2011 programme of work of the Subregional Headquarters for the Caribbean. Over the course …
The Barbados Programme of Action (BPoA) for Small Island Developing States (SIDS) identifies energy management as a critical issue in achieving sustainability. Like many of the small islands states, Jamaica is economically vulnerable to external factors such as fluctuations in energy prices, a consequence of an over dependence on imported oil. Securing supplies of affordable and reliable energy is an essential element of economic and social development. In Jamaica however, energy systems and energy use are inefficient and expensive and add to national economic vulnerability.Jamaica is endowed …
The present paper seeks to contribute to the growing discussion on social protection through an assessment of the status of social health protection systems for the elderly within the English-speaking Caribbean, and a review of the systems in Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago. It was prepared as a background document for the Expert Group Meeting on Social Health Protection for Vulnerable Populations which was held in Port of Spain on 31 October 2011. Against the backdrop of demographic changes underway in the Caribbean, the paper analyses the schemes and mechanisms that have been instituted by M…
This book is motivated by the emerging rehabilitation of industrial policies as a tool for supporting economic transformation and high rates of growth in developing countries. It argues that underperforming disciples of the Washington Consensus 'market fundamentalism' should learn and practice the art of systemic industrial policies, which requires a medium-long term strategic perspective and intelligent proactive state interventions in markets. However, it also stresses that rehabilitation requires that industrial policies be developed and implemented in a context of home- grown pub…
This report explores the status of the knowledge economy in the Caribbean. Initiatives that have shaped the development of Information and Communications Technology for Development (ICT4D) and the knowledge economy are reviewed. The regional situation is then analysed with regard to measurement of the knowledge economy and the development of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) policy and strategy in the region. These policies and strategies are analysed in the context of the World Summit of the Information Society (WSIS) lines of action. The World Bank Knowledge Assessment Methodol…
La UIT, la UNESCO, UNCTAD y el PNUD organizan el Foro 2011 de la Cumbre Mundial de la Sociedad de la información (CMSI) que se levará a cabo entre el 16 y el 20 de mayo de 2011 en Ginebra, Suiza. Este evento da continuidad a las reuniones anuales de la CMSI que se desarrollan tradicionalmente en el mes de mayo, y su formato y los temas a tratar son el resultado de un proceso consultivo abierto que involucró a todos quienes participan de la CMSI.
El encuentro ofrecerá oportunidades de debate a todos los sectores sociales (empresas, gobiernos y sociedad) interesados en algunos de los temas que a…
La producción de estadísticas oficiales es una actividad que demanda responsabilidad y compromiso por parte de los organismos encargados; de esta forma, la credibilidad en las estadísticas y, por ende, en las oficinas nacionales de estadística y demás miembros del sistema estadístico nacional se convierte en un activo fundamental, en la medida en que permite el diseño, la formulación, el seguimiento y la evaluación de planes y programas gubernamentales.Dicha credibilidad es un valor que se afianza con el tiempo, mediante la generación de estadísticas de calidad que cumplen con es…
El Foro Internacional sobre “Empleo, Juventud y Gobernabilidad Democrática” convocado por la OIT, concluyó hoy tras dos días de deliberaciones en las cuales participaron altos representantes de BID, CAF, CEPAL, FMI, OEA y OIJ, académicos, ministros, delegados gubernamentales y miembros de las organizaciones de empleadores y trabajadores de América Latina y el Caribe.
“Este es el inicio de un proceso amplio de reflexión sobre la forma en que vamos a enfrentar el desafío del empleo juvenil”, dijo la Directora Regional de la OIT para América Latina y el Caribe, Elizabeth Tinoco, en un acto de cla…
(11 de agosto, 2011) El presidente de Haití, Michel Martelly, visitó hoy la sede de la Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL) en Santiago, Chile, donde se reunió con la Secretaria Ejecutiva del organismo, Alicia Bárcena.
Acompañado de un grupo de colaboradores, el Presidente Martelly detalló las prioridades de su gobierno, entre ellas, garantizar el acceso a la educación a toda la población haitiana, dar soluciones habitacionales a las familias afectadas por el devastador terremoto que azotó a la isla el 12 de enero de 2010, lograr autosuficiencia en el campo de la segurida…
(14 de abril, 2011) La ex canciller colombiana y actual Secretaria General de la Unión de Naciones Suramericanas (UNASUR), María Emma Mejía, visitó este jueves la sede de la Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL) en Santiago, Chile, donde fue recibida por Alicia Bárcena, Secretaria Ejecutiva del organismo.
Mejía también se reunió con directores y expertos en temas de pobreza, desarrollo social y estadística de la CEPAL.
Durante la visita, la Secretaría de la UNASUR y la CEPAL, institución dedicada a promover el desarrollo económico y social de América Latina y el Car…
(14 July 2011) The new Director-General elect of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), José Graziano da Silva, visited the headquarters of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) today.
He met with Alicia Bárcena, Executive Secretary of the Commission, who congratulated Graziano da Silva on his recent appointment at the head of FAO and assured him of her willingness to continue working together on joint issues in the remit of the two institutions in Latin America and the Caribbean. &nb…
(11 August 2011) Today, the President of Haiti, Michel Martelly, visited the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) headquarters in Santiago, Chile, where he met with the Executive Secretary of the Organization, Alicia Bárcena.
Accompanied by a group of co-workers, President Martelly gave an account of his government's priorities, which include, guaranteeing universal access to education for the population of Haiti, providing housing solutions to the families affected by the devastating earthquake which struck the island on 12 January 2010, achieving self-reliance in t…