Caribbean Outlook 3: Economic recovery and repositioning in the era of COVID-19. Policy Brief

The economies of the subregion were hard hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly those dependent on tourism. As a result, the Caribbean has seen a reversal of the hard-won gains achieved in growing their economies and reducing unemployment and inequality. The inflation stemming from pandemic supply chain disruption, which has been exacerbated by the war in Ukraine, has made the sustained uptick in economic performance beyond pre-pandemic levels unlikely, notwithstanding strong growth estimates for 2021 and 2022. The last two years have taught the region that continued ‘business as usual’ is…

Structural change and productivity growth 20 years later: old problems, new opportunities. Summary

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…

Structural change and productivity growth, 20 years later: old problems, new opportunities

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…

Innovation and internationalization of Latin American services

Innovation and internationalization in services are key drivers of structural transformation, productivity growth and overall economic performance in Latin America. The services sector accounts for two thirds of the region’s GDP and provides over 60% of its employment. These shares are higher than in other developing regions, but still lower than in countries with higher levels of per capita income. The spread of information and communication technologies in Latin America over the past three decades has vastly enhanced both the tradability of services and the sector’s propensity to innovate. L…

ICT in Latin America: a microdata analysis

This book is the final report of the ECLAC-IDRC project Observatory for the Information Society in Latin American and the Caribbean OSILAC, which aims at understanding the dynamics of the ICT evolution and revolution and producing evidence on its potential to promote socio-economic development. As such, microdata analysis drawn from National Household Surveys and National Innovation Surveys in Latin America were used in the framework of the project in the attempt to reach those objectives. Both statistical information sources provide attractive potentialities in order to investigate not only d…

Trade in services in Latin America and the Caribbean: an analysis of recent trends

This paper compares the dynamism of the Latin American and Caribbean region's services trade with that of Asia, evaluates the determinants of these trade flows, and proposes measures for improving the region's performance. The focus of this study is on other services , which includes all services except transport and travel services (mainly tourism). Other services include many modern service inputs (including communications, financial and information technology services and business services), that play an increasingly vital role in determining many businesses&…

Problems relating to technology transfer mechanisms in the Caribbean

Notes the existence of private technology transfer or transactions but examines in some detail the efforts of UNDP/TCDC; OAS; the Commonwealth Fund for Technical Cooperation; USAID; the Peace Corps and the International Development Research Centre, noting that they have been particularly important in both the promotion and implementation of the concept of technology transfer. Examines in detail the types and methods of technology transfer which range from agricultural extensions to seminars and workshops.…

Exploring knowledge spillover through labour mobility from multinationals to domestic firms in the information technology sector in Costa Rica

This study uses wage premiums to explore knowledge spillovers through labour mobility from multinational companies (MNCs) to domestic firms in the information and communications technology (ICT) sector in Costa Rica. To this end, the authors use a novel employer-employee matched database for 2001–2012 and various fixed-effects models.…

Representantes de América Latina y Europa debatirán políticas de inclusión digital y oportunidades de cooperación

(11 de marzo de 2010) Delegaciones ministeriales de América Latina y el Caribe y de la Unión Europea se reunirán en el V Foro Ministerial ALC-UE sobre Sociedad de la Información para debatir sobre las necesidades y prioridades de futuras agendas digitales entre ambas regiones. El encuentro tendrá lugar en La Granja de San Ildefonso (Segovia, España), el 14 y 15 de marzo de 2010. Bajo el lema "Contenidos Digitales para una Sociedad Digital", los delegados de gobierno discutirán cómo adecuar las futuras agendas digitales a las especificidades de cada región, para que así contribuyan a redu…

CEPAL: la coyuntura actual es una oportunidad para cambiar el paradigma de integración de América Latina y el Caribe

La Secretaria Ejecutiva de la Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL), Alicia Bárcena, subrayó la oportunidad que plantea el actual contexto actual para fortalecer la integración regional y destacó que ésta debe promoverse en áreas específicas más allá del comercio, durante la reunión del Foro Económico Mundial sobre América Latina 2017 que finalizó este viernes en Buenos Aires, Argentina. En el marco del evento, Bárcena fue la oradora principal de un panel sobre el grupo de estrategia regional sobre integración, en la cual participaron también autoridades de gobierno y repr…

Competitividad, sostenibilidad e inclusión social en la agricultura: nuevas direcciones en el diseño de políticas en América Latina y el Caribe

En el presente libro se intenta encontrar respuestas a preguntas referidas al desarrollo agrícola que se repiten, con variaciones, en investigaciones y foros de políticas; por ejemplo, ¿cómo incrementar la competitividad de las agriculturas regionales, disminuyendo al mismo tiempo la inequidad social y la pobreza? ¿Cómo hacer más sostenible este proceso de desarrollo de la agricultura? ¿Cuáles son los esquemas institucionales más apropiados para impulsar el desarrollo agropecuario y del mundo rural? ¿Cuál es el rol de los actores sociales en las nuevas estructuras de gobernanza? Para responder…

Regional Digital Trade Integration Index (Version 1): A Guide

The regional digital trade integration index (RDTII) results from cooperation among several United Nations Regional Commissions. This guide is based on the methodology and indicators of RDTII Version 1.0. It provides essential explanations of the structure and rationale of RDTII 1.0 and guidance on data collection and sources. It is expected to give a guideline to those involved in collecting regulatory data to analyze the digital trade regulatory environment based on the RDTII 1.0 framework. It is useful also for those who will use the index and related indicators for policy analysis and draf…

Digital and sustainable trade facilitation in Latin America and the Caribbean: Regional Report 2019

The Latin American and Caribbean region faces considerable challenges in terms of reducing the non-tariff costs and the time associated with foreign trade operations. The Global Survey on Digital and Sustainable Trade Facilitation 2019, a joint initiative of the five United Nations regional commissions, seeks to gauge how far countries have advanced with regard to the baseline provided by the previous versions of the Survey in 2015 and 2017. This report summarizes the results of the Global Survey 2019 for the 18 participating countries from Latin America and the Caribbean, which account for 93…

ECLAC Executive Secretary opens High Level Meeting in Trinidad and Tobago

“There is no question that the Caribbean is shouldering an unsustainable debt burden which compromises the capacity of the economies for sustained growth and restricts the options available to governments to introduce important social and welfare programmes” the Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), Alicia Bárcena, said via video conference in opening the 17th meeting of the Monitoring Committee of the Caribbean Development and Cooperation Committee (CDCC) on 26 June, during which Ministers and high-level Government representatives from the…

Report of the twenty-ninth session of the Caribbean Development and Cooperation Committee of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean

Towards an information society measurement instrument for Latin America and the Caribbean: getting started with census, household and business surveys

This document is part of an effort to take inventory of the current state of ICT (Information and Communications Technologies) statistics in Latin American and Caribbean countries, particularly in National Statistic Offices (NSOs). In this study fifteen countries are investigated regarding three sources of information: Internet research, e-mails and phone calls and through the meta-data questionnaire Status of information society statistics in National Statistic Offices, applied to NSOs of Latin America and the Caribbean during August 2004 in the frame of OSILAC. The effort concluded with a wo…

Operational aspects of support programmes for the digital transformation of exporting small and medium-sized enterprises in the Republic of Korea

Because international trade is essential for the Republic of Korea’s economic growth and development, the government actively promotes exports by large companies and especially by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Several programmes support participation by SMEs in cross-border e-commerce, which may have contributed to their rapidly rising exports through this channel. This report reviews selected programmes implemented by the Korea SMEs and Startups Agency (KOSME) and the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA). To maximize the programmes’ impact, KOSME and KOTRA apply a circ…

IT enabled services in the post-pandemic economy new opportunities for relations between India and Latin America

During the last few decades, India’s trade with the Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) countries has grown substantially, especially in the area of Information Technology (IT) services. The definition of IT services now includes a plethora of IT-enabled services (ITeS) directed to specific sectors, including Agri-tech, Fin-tech, Health-tech, manufacturing and mining-based services, as well as e-commerce. This sector has attracted significant Indian investment in the region. Over the last decade, the share of the IT sector in total Indian Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the region has nearly…

E-commerce environment and trade promotion for Latin America: policy implications from East Asian and advanced economies' experiences

In the late of 1990s, when use of the Internet began to spread to almost all of the activities undertaken by people and businesses around the world, Internet-based electronic commerce was expected to introduce revolutionary innovations in businesses, management and international trade. In particular, information-sharing with clients and the clients of clients, and coordination of business activities with trade partners based on shared information, or the so-called supply chain management (SCM), were expected to be introduced by firms in order to dramatically reduce business costs and establish…

E-commerce and export promotion policies for small- and medium-sized enterprises: East Asian and Latin American experiences

Abstract As in other parts of the world, small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Latin America are important generators of employment while contributing to establishing certain social as well as regional 'equilibria' in the development process within the country. However, SMEs in Latin America are much less 'export-oriented'than their East Asian counterparts. SMEs in Latin America tend to produce import substitutes and non tradables while manufactured exports are still produced by large firms in relativelycapital-intensive ways. In contrast, many East Asian SMEs are…