This document takes up a number of the points raised in the 2005 report by ECLAC and other UN agencies on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in Latin America and the Caribbean. It provides further discussion on the type of problems and challenges facing the region in five areas that are either included in the MDGs or closely related to them (poverty, hunger and child malnutrition, education, health and children). The document makes recommendations for the region's governments and countries in these five areas.…
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…
What is poverty, how to measure it and how to tackle it, are the three questions to which this document responds, on the basis of the theoretical framework of gender studies.
The harmonization of policies for economic growth, social equity and gender equity is a challenge that can no longer be ignored.
Poverty is considered as the result of power relations that first of all affect men and women in a different way, but then also indigenous and Afro-descendent women, older adults and the inhabitants of certain areas. The multidimensional nature of this phenomenon is shown, as well as the virtues…
The objective of this paper is to explore the effects of globalization on the labour market and social stratification. It is generally held that globalization will bring about progress for nations and people. This, however, is far from clear, since the experience of almost two decades has been raising increasing doubts about the potential net gains and, particularly, the distribution of such gains. Clearly, there are winners and losers among both countries and people. We will concentrate on the effects upon people within countries and refer only to one region: Latin America. Our aim is to iden…
This paper provides empirical evidence to assess the impact of socioeconomic and political variables on different measures of income inequality based on the 27 units of the Brazilian federation in the period from 1999 to 2008. The Brazilian experience is a good example for understanding the income inequality policies in developing countries. The findings suggest that the improvement observed along the period under analysis is a result of the combination of increased trade openness, technological and financial development, a reduction in the unemployment rate, the adoption of social policies th…
This study investigates the relationship between individual and household characteristics and income inequality in Central America, the Dominican Republic and Mexico from 1990 to 2002. A Theil decomposition exercise of individual and household income inequality is used to determine factors important for the level of inequality. In addition, the use of a novel semi-parametric simulation methodology from DiNardo, Fortin and Lemieux (1996) provides counterfactual income distributions of individuals and households to assess the importance of changes in their demographic, education and labo…
(8 de mayo, 2015) La igualdad debe ser el motor del crecimiento económico y el desarrollo sostenible en América Latina y el Caribe, planteó Alicia Bárcena, Secretaria Ejecutiva de la Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL), en la décima reunión sobre América Latina del Foro Económico Mundial (WEF, según sus siglas en inglés), que finaliza hoy en Cancún, México.
La máxima representante de la CEPAL fue una de las expositoras en el panel From Poverty to Prosperity (De la pobreza a la prosperidad) realizado el jueves durante el evento que reúne a más de 750 líderes de gobierno, …
Now that the 1990s have ended and a new millennium is dawning, the low rate of economic growth, the region's vulnerability to international financial instability and the limited progress made in terms of equity oblige us to reflect on the social agenda for the future. An important role in that agenda will continue to be played by the efforts to overcome poverty and indigence, conditioned to a large extent by the region's capacity for economic change and its dynamism in creating large numbers of jobs of higher quality in terms of productivity and income. At the same time, in view of t…
Second regional conference in follow-up to the World Summit for Social Development. Santiago, Chile, 15-17 May 2000 Summary The courses of action recommended at the World Summit for Social Development coincide with the general thrust of the action taken by the Governments of the region in the economic and social spheres during the 1990s. The objective of this document is to weigh the positive and negative aspects of the situation in Latin America and the Caribbean with regard to poverty reduction, productive job creation and social integration within the wider context of economic changes and s…
Abstract This paper presents a methodology for adjusting measures of income and poverty for the risk faced by a household. The approach draws on the standard economic concept of risk aversion, and it is based on the intuition that households will prefer a steady stream of income to a variable one with the same mean. Relying on a Constant Relative Risk Aversion utility function, we use panel data for Argentina to compute risk-adjusted income and poverty measures. At the aggregate level, we find that taking risk into account substantially increases the poverty headcount. Moreover, a regression …
This article seeks to set forth the grounds for an approach integrating political governance, economic competitiveness and social integration as interdependent variables. To this end, it looks at the possibilities for Latin American society to simultaneously increase its capacity for democratic self-government, improve its economic competitiveness and tackle the main problems of social exclusion and poverty, since if this is not done the region will find it more difficult to take its place in the concert of modern democratic nations. In order to analyse the evolution of those variables from a …
(17 December 2012) Why is Latin America and the Caribbean still the world's most unequal region, despite the fact that most of its countries are experiencing steady economic growth? The persistent inequality in the region and the apparent lack of specific policies aimed at reducing the income distribution gap are some of the issues tackled in the latest issue of the CEPAL Review, which is available online from today.
This issue (Nº 108) of the main academic publication of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) includes 10 articles on various economic and social top…
The 2015 edition of Social Panorama of Latin America analyses poverty trends, as measured by ECLAC. It also examines changes in income distribution and in other aspects of inequality. With a view to contributing to the development of public policies to overcome poverty and socioeconomic inequality, this edition examines the latest trends in social
spending and the challenges posed by demographic change, and provides in-depth analysis of persistent gaps in the labour market, of the challenges facing policies and programmes that foster inclusion in the labour market and production, and of social…
This article analyses the behaviour of the Colombian labour market and the changes it underwent during the 1990s. It begins by outlining the reforms carried out in that country and summarizing macroeconomic developments and changes in the production structure in the 1990s. Then it uses data available from household surveys to analyse the dynamic of the labour market by economic sector, educational level and occupational position. After briefly describing the latest advances in research into income distribution in Colombia, it then shows the results of simulation exercises carried out to determ…
El Anuario Estadístico de América Latina y el Caribe presenta un conjunto de estadísticas básicas que caracterizan la situación económica, sociodemográfica y ambiental de la región referidas a un período en particular. Esta información forma parte del conjunto de estadísticas disponibles en CEPALSTAT, el portal de bases de datos y publicaciones estadísticas de la CEPAL. [en línea] http://estadisticas.cepal.org/cepalstat/
Publicación bilingüe (español e inglés), aparece por primera vez en 1973 en sustitución del Boletín estadístico para América Latina y el Caribe, que se publicaba dos veces al …
En la presente edición del Anuario estadístico de América
Latina y el Caribe 2006 se mantienen los cambios de
contenido y de diseño introducidos en el año 2005. El
propósito es responder a las nuevas exigencias de los
investigadores que analizan la situación económica y
social de la región e incorporar los avances tecnológicos
que modifi can la difusión y el uso de la información
estadística.
El Anuario cuenta con cuatro capítulos. En el primer
capítulo se presentan los indicadores demográfi cos y
sociales, que refl ejan el esfuerzo especial realizado para
incluir la dimensión de género en la…
En el Anuario Estadístico de América Latina y el Caribe de la CEPAL se presenta un conjunto de estadísticas básicas que caracterizan la situación económica, sociodemográfica y ambiental de la región referidas a un período en particular. Esta información es parte del conjunto de estadísticas disponibles en CEPALSTAT, el portal de bases de datos y publicaciones estadísticas de la CEPAL.
La presente edición del Anuario contiene datos que se encontraban disponibles hasta mediados de diciembre de 2013. Como novedad se han incluido perfiles regionales a modo de resumen para cada una de las áreas, a …
La edición 2003 del Anuario estadístico de América
Latina y el Caribe contiene una selección actualizada a
comienzos de diciembre de las principales series
estadísticas disponibles sobre la evolución económica y
social de los países de la región. Representa un
sistemático esfuerzo de la División de Estadística y
Proyecciones de la CEPAL, orientado a homogeneizar
las cifras y a hacerlas internacionalmente comparables. La primera parte comprende indicadores socioeconómicos
derivados (tasas de crecimiento, proporciones
o coeficientes), que representan una visión resumida de
cada área de interés y…
The paper reviews the extent of the income inequality decline which has taken place in Latin America
over 2002-2010 which reduced the regional Gini index to the level of the early 1980s. The paper then
focuses on the factors which may explain such decline. These include a drop in the skill premium
following an expansion of secondary education, the adoption of a new development model by a growing
number of progressive governments which adopted prudent but more equitable macroeconomic, tax,
social assistance and labor policies. For the region as a whole, gains in terms of trade, remittances, FDI…
(19 de mayo, 2014) El Secretario General de la Organización para la Cooperación y el Desarrollo Económicos (OCDE), Ángel Gurría, abrirá el Segundo Foro Económico Europa-América Latina el día 20 de mayo en París. Estará acompañado en la inauguración por la Secretaria Ejecutiva de CEPAL, Alicia Bárcena, y por el Director de la Escuela de Economía de París, Pierre-Yves Geoffard.
La reunión, que durará dos días, está coorganizada por la Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL) y por la Escuela de Economía de París (PSE por sus siglas en inglés) y pretende impulsar el diálogo acer…