In order to give decision makers in this Hemisphere a consensual reference document,the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), the UnitedNations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and the Inter-American Institutefor Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) decided to join forces to prepare this report ontrends in the agricultural sector and rural areas. It is based on a common data base and aseries of indicators available to all interested parties at www.agriruralc.org.These three institutions intend to make this document the first of a regular series ofpublications, w…
En este libro se presenta un análisis comparativo de las respuestas de política de los países en desarrollo de África, Asia y América Latina y el Caribe a los retos que una mayor apertura financiera externa y la flexibilidad de los precios y el tipo de cambio plantean a la estabilidad económica. La mayor apertura externa ha reducido considerablemente el margen normativo de las economías en desarrollo y, al mismo tiempo, ha aumentado el potencial de fragilidad e inestabilidad financieras. Estos retos, que han pasado a un primer plano desde la crisis financiera mundial de 2008-2009, también se m…
We are pleased to present the second edition of _e Outlook for Agriculture and Rural Development in the Americas: a Perspective on Latin America and the Caribbean, jointly prepared by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA). The purpose of the report is to contribute information and analysis to the complex decision-making process regarding agriculture and rural development in Latin America and the Caribbean. The last two years have been…
Summary Following the World Summit for Social Development steps were taken by the entire United Nations system to support national governments in their efforts to implement the agenda of the Summit. This document assesses developments in health, education, crime and violence, drugs and migration five years after the Summit.…
La publicación del sexagésimo primer Estudio económico de América Latina y el Caribe, correspondiente al bienio 2008-2009, tiene lugar en un momento crítico del desarrollo económico de América Latina y el Caribe. Se interrumpió una fase de crecimiento de duración y características inéditas en la historia reciente y la región sufre una contracción de su producto, con efectos negativos en el bienestar de la población que inevitablemente se reflejarán en retrocesos de las variables sociales. Dos características diferencian la situación actual de los muchos episodios de crisis que afectaron a la r…
Summary An examination of first semester performance provided scant hope for a prosperous 1997. Preliminary indications suggested that output did not increase as quickly across the Caribbean as it did in the first semester of 1996. Fiscal deficits increased in most countries, mainly because of buoyant public spending.…
The emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic has not only been sudden but has required significant re-adjustment on the part of world economies with far-reaching effects anticipated in the short to medium term. For vulnerable Caribbean economies already challenged by high debt service payments, external support is needed to fill the resource gap.
The objective of this report is to assess the impact of the pandemic imposed restrictions across six critical sectors and to provide policy recommendations to ensure a swift recovery and make a case for greater external concessional financial support to the…
The Third Caribbean Development Roundtable (23-24 April 2014) was held under the theme “Exploring strategies for sustainable growth and development in Caribbean Small Island Developing States (SIDS)”. The Roundtable focused on challenges faced in stimulating growth and creating a capacity for resilience among the Caribbean SIDS. The conference examined the continuing challenge of igniting robust growth in Caribbean Small States, and at the same time, mitigating structural and cyclical risks and uncertainty.
The presentations made at the Roundtable can be placed under six themes which comprise …
The social partnership process is acknowledged by most independent observers as an important cornerstone underpinning the rapid economic growth of Ireland. It is seen as a virtuous circle in the economy between government, employers, labor, farmers and voluntary groups encompassing pay, profitability, investment, employment and tax reform. It means that all groups in Irish society have a stakeholding in economic and social progress and in the strengthening of social cohesion. The real secret behind the success of the Irish social partnership model can be summarized in one phrase - a shared u…
The Finish case of industrial renewal from essentially natural-resource- based industries toward machinery, engineering, electronics, and ICT is of particular relevance for Latin-American countries. The study explains the crucial role of the finish innovation system and the long-term public-private partnership in the industrial transformation towards a higher knowledge intensity and value added economy. The report recognizes the importance of innovation investments, but estimates as equal essential consistent long term strategies on facilitating conditions to build up, cooperative, confidentia…
The Macroeconomics for development blue print for Latin America and the Caribbean is articulated around two issues: an active strategy of productive development and a counter cyclical policy stance. Macroeconomic counter cyclicality refers to the management of the level of aggregate demand to dampen the fluctuations and volatility of real and nominal variables around their long-term trends. This paper argues that cycle and trend are interdependent and that, as a result, counter cyclical policies (i.e., aggregate demand policies) are not neutral to the long-run behaviour of economies.…
The second Caribbean Development Roundtable hosted by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, was held in Guyana, in May 30, 2012. The theme of the meeting was “Macroeconomic Policy for Structural Transformation and Social Protection in Small Sates.”
The participants included the Ministers of Finance of Guyana and of Trinidad and Tobago, the Honourable Ashni Singh and the Honourable Winston Dookeran, and high level policy-makers and regional and international experts. Special guests were a delegation from Brazil.…
Abstract This paper uses a political economy approach to examine the nature and social impact of Ireland's economic 'miracle', namely the period of high economic growth known as the 'Celtic Tiger', which lasted from 1995 until 2000. Its principal purpose is to offer a broad and multifaceted reading of this period of Irish development, paying particular attention to the links between macroeconomic success and social vulnerability, in order to draw policy lessons for Latin America. The examination of the Celtic Tiger is prefaced by a brief introduction to some of the sa…
The current survey provides an overview of the economic performance for 2013 of the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Guyana, Jamaica, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago plus the eight member states of the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union (ECCU) and the outlook for 2014 and 2015. Data were collected from a review of reports from national governments and through interviews with government officials in each of the countries analyzed.…
(*) This document was prepared by André A. Hofman of the Economic Projections Center of the Statistics Division, and Heriberto Tapia research assistant in the office of the Executive Secretary of ECLAC. The views expressed in this document, which has been reproduced without formal editing, are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Organization.. Abstract Potential output estimates are becoming increasingly important in policy design in Latin America (ECLAC, 2002) and the objective of this paper is to make a methodological contribution to this field of work…
Hubert Escaith is Director of Statistics and Economic Projections Division, ECLAC. The views expressed in this document, which has been reproduced without formal editing, are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Organization.. This paper was prepared for the REDIMA workshop on Modeling Macroeconomic Coordination in the Andean Community, Santiago, Chile 22 October 2003. Introduction The early 1990s opened a new era for the analysis of economic interactions between Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) countries. Two channels, real and financial, conveyed th…
Foreword In contrast to its situation during the lost decade , in the 1990s the Latin American and Caribbean region regained its access to international capital markets. Its return to these markets, in combination with a commitment to achieving basic macroeconomic equilibria, was manifested in smaller fiscal deficits and lower inflation, but the region has recovered only part of the ground it had lost in terms of its pace of economic growth. Thus, the region's economies have not been growing fast enough to strengthen their labour markets or to reduce poverty significantly. …
Abstract:
The global financial crisis that emerged in developed countries' markets revealed the shortcomings of an economic policy approach which believed in the self-regulation of markets and minimized the role of the State. The post-crisis reality demands a reformulation of the role of the State. Latin America and the Caribbean countries face this challenge in a context of ongoing changes in the world production structure that threaten its position in the global economy. Although many Latin American and Caribbean countries were successful in overcoming the crisis, four key areas of policymak…
This article puts forth a hypothesis and a challenge.
The hypothesis: structural change in the international economy and in the management of public policy has brought about changes in economic performance, affected employment,
poverty, and equity and resulted in greater insecurity and
uncertainty. The challenge: coping with this insecurity and
uncertainty despite public policy's abandonment of its
historical role and the lack of success thus far of the new
approaches. This study points to the greater vulnerability
today stemming from the labour market as well as
asymmetries in trends in …