Resumen Este trabajo presenta un análisis comparado de las experiencias recientes de siete países de la región con políticas de apoyo y financiamiento de las empresas de menor tamaño. La muestra de países incluyó Brasil, Bolivia, Colombia, Costa Rica, Chile, Ecuador y México. El conjunto de estos trabajos se enmarca en las actividades que el Proyecto regional conjunto CEPAL/PNUD Políticas Financieras para el Desarrollo ha llevado adelante en 1993-1995. Los actuales enfoques de política hacia las empresas pequeñas tuvieron como antecedente a políticas calificadas ahora como tradicio…
Address delivered by H.E. Fernando Henrique Cardoso, President of the Federative Republic of Brazil, on the occasion of his visit to ECLAC Headquarters Santiago, Chile, 3 March 1995. Document is available for download.…
This article presents the issue in the context of the theoretical and empirical debate, started by Kuznets, on the possibility of achieving growth with equity. The conclusion is that there is no inevitable conflict between these two goals, provided that economic policy promotes the areas of complementarity between growth and equity. It therefore rejects the approaches which assume that there is an insoluble conflict between these objectives, such as the trickle-down theory (which stoically accepts that such a conflict exists and proposes that those affected should wait as long as i…
When reforming pension systems, the arguments used must be carefully studied, since changes may involve substantial economic, social and political costs. The reforms which are being carried out in the region reflect this dilemma and are the result of various compromises affecting the new system as regards: i); the degree to which the benefits provided by the system and the administration of its reserve funds are isolated from the political process; ii); the necessary regulation and supervision of the markets with which the system interacts in order to effect the financial intermediation of its…
Among the East and Southeast Asian economies often regarded as the most successful showcases, the People's Republic of China (PRC); occupies an outstanding place. This economy has one of the fastest growing GNPs in the world, and its outward orientation in the post-Mao Zedong era has made the country a significant world trade partner, so that the question of whether or not the economy stays on its sustained growth path will affect the welfare of the world economy in its entirety, including Latin America. The deepening of the ongoing economic reforms, coupled with prudent macro policies, s…
This study examines South-South economic relations in the context of regionalism. It covers three Latin American countries and eight high-performing Asian developing economies. Although the level of trade and investment between these two groups is currently very low, trade is growing fast and there are indications that the potential for continued growth exists. Although regionalism is advancing in both these parts of the world, it has so far not affected the ties between the two groups of countries, and in fact inter-regional trade growth has recently been exceeding intra-regional …
Two opposing trends are currently shaping relations between the European Union and Latin America. On the one hand, political signals in both regions are positive and point the way to closer ties in the future; on the other hand, the situation with regard to the Union's trade with Latin America has worsened appreciably, with the region's trade surplus giving way to a deficit for the first time in four decades. This trend may jeopardize the progress made thus far. If we do not act now, trade-related tensions, the reduction of development assistance and the appearance of social or envir…
This article analyses the main manifestations of the globalization process and its implications in terms of the restructuring of energy markets. The reforms now being undertaken by the countries of the region are being pursued within the context of an economic paradigm with ramifications at the international level which assigns high priority to the liberalization and/or privatization of public utilities, and this, in turn, can be expected to engender new savigs/investment strategies based on the relatively more stable nature of income flows from energy activities. The introduction of competiti…
Competitiveness has become one of the main standards governing the ever-changing interplay of interests at the international level. Trade liberalization, structural adjustments, the retooling of production, intelligent coexistence with our natural resources, the struggle to eliminate poverty --all are viewed, in one way or another, through the prism of competitiveness. This has transformed competitiveness into some sort of compulsory principle by which international status is measured and which influences the formulation and implementation of business strategies and national polici…
Latin America has kept in step with the worldwide trend towards the privatization of public utilities. Its motivation for doing so stems from a number of factors: an economic philosophy, its quest for greater efficiency, macroeconomic situations, debt-equity swaps, decisions to bring private capital into the management of public utilities during times of economic crisis, and others. This article analyses the characteristics and components of public utilities, the differences existing between one utility and another (particularly in terms of their capital/revenue ratio);, the rigidity of supply…
The technology employed by Latin America's educational systems was developed by the countries which are now industrialized. This technology is labour-intensive, with expenditures being concentrated in the salaries of teaching staff and administrative personnel, and its effective utilization -as it is applied in the industrialized countries- entails a high level of expenditure per student. In line with recommendations made by international agencies, many Governments in the region have voiced their intention to raise the amount they spend on education to between 6% and 8% of the gross domes…
Discurso del Excmo. Sr. Fernando Henrique Cardoso, Presidente de la República Federativa del Brasil, en la Sede de la CEPAL, Santiago de Chile, 3 de marzo de 1995…
