For most developing countries, open regionalism has emerged as quite a sensible response to the undergoing turbulent and asymmetric process of economic globalization. Moreover, the successful experience of the countries which are now part of the European Union, has made regional integration an increasingly attractive option for the developing world. Whenever regional integration is intended to go beyond merely a free trade agreement, macroeconomic coordination becomes a key issue. Theoretically, the underlying idea of the macroeconomic coordination is the interdependency between econo…
The recovery of the economies of MERCOSUR, and the disturbances that the recent crises generated in the region have motivated reconsideration of the medium term prospects of the integration project. This paper tries to contribute to this activity with a brief analysis of regional macroeconomic interactions, and a discussion in broad terms of incentives and restrictions for macroeconomic cooperation in the specific conditions of the region. The themes that play through the discussion are that (i) the lack of a shared concrete perspective about the role of MERCOSUR for the growth of the nationa…
Green coffee growers, most of whom are smallholders, have suffered from the significant volatility and fall in the international price of this commodity over the past decade. It is therefore crucial to understand the factors that drive price volatility, which has been studied extensively for other commodities but not for coffee. This study looks into the determinants of the conditional volatility of green coffee prices in three different markets: spot, futures and physical.…
The report provides an overview of the economic performance for 2017 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 2018. Data were collected from a review of reports from subregional institutions as well as national governments and interviews with government officials in each of the countries examined.…
The survey provides an overview of the economic performance for 2014 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 2015. Data were collected from a review of reports from national governments and through interviews with government officials in each of the countries analyzed.…
Abstract This paper presents an overview of current developments in macroeconomic modelling for forecasting and policy analysis in Latin America, based on material presented at a REDIMA project meeting at the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, Santiago de Chile, in September 2007. Some particular issues that arise in modeling emerging economies are described, in the context of recent developments in modeling developed economies.…
The current survey provides an overview of the economic performance for 2011 and the outlook for 2012 of the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Guyana, Jamaica, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago, and of the eight member countries of the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union (ECCU), namely Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Anguilla and Montserrat. The introduction summarizes the economic performance of the Caribbean in 2011 and the growth outcomes for 2012. Section A examines the current global economic difficulties and the challenges p…
This survey provides an overview of the economic performance of the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Guyana, Jamaica, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago, together with the eight member countries of the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union (ECCU) countries for 2010 and their outlook for 2011. The first section is a summary of the main issues raised in the report including an assessment of the economic prospects for 2011. Chapter II analyses the impact of the global economy on the subregion then provides a comparative analysis of the GDP and sectoral growth performance. This is followed by the subsection on…
The mission was made at the request of the Jamaican Government, undertaken with the UNDP
with a group of multi-sectoral, inter-institutional group of experts and consultants that assessed
the damage following ECLAC's methodology for the evaluation of the socio-economic and
environmental impact of disasters 2 and prepared a report with the assistance of the Planning
Institute of Jamaica. The report was presented on 19 October 2004 to the Minister of Finance for
their consideration in organizing the reconstruction process, establish additional resources needed
for the country and adopt miti…
This survey provides an overview of the macroeconomic performance of countries of the Caribbean Development and Cooperation Committee (CDCC) for the year 2006 and their outlook for 2007. The report consists of three chapters. The first one provides a regional analysis of the main economic indicators from a comparative perspective. The second chapter deals with two selected topics of particular relevance for the economic development of Caribbean countries, namely remittances and migration, and natural resources dependency. The last chapter presents country briefs with the main macroeconomic dev…
Introduction
With its programme of assistance to the Caribbean, the Economic Commission for Latin
America and the Caribbean (ECLAC); Subregional Headquarters for the Caribbean has prepared
these economic profiles for 26 independent and non-independent countries of the Caribbean
subregion. These countries are: Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, the Bahamas,
Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Cuba, Dominica,
Dominican Republic, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Haiti, Montserrat, Netherlands Antilles,
Puerto Rico, St. Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, St. Vincent and the G…
The U.S labor market is tight and is expected to return to full employment in 2017. However, productivity has risen less than 1% for six consecutive years. Sluggish productivity has implications for wage growth, which has been low by historical standards during this economic recovery. Wage growth seems to be already picking up, though, as the economy continues to advance. Average hourly earnings for private-sector workers rose 2.9% in December 2016 from a year earlier. That was the strongest growth of the current expansion.
Inflation has been low for the past four years. However, as the expans…
(17 May 2012) The Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) Alicia Bárcena concluded her official visit to the Republic of Korea on Wednesday, during which she met with authorities of this Asian country and participated in the 2012 High-Level Forum on Korea-Latin American and Caribbean Partnership.
The United Nations high-level official held a meeting with Keun Ho Jang, Director-General for Latin American and Caribbean Affairs Bureau of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Korea, as well as with other authorities, with whom she reaffirme…
(21 May 2011) The new commodity price hike seen in recent months, especially for agricultural, mineral and energy goods, is generating uncertainty and stands in the way of investment and the sustained accumulation of technological and productive capacity in Latin American and Caribbean countries, according to the Executive Secretary of ECLAC, Alicia Bárcena, who was speaking during a two-day visit to Buenos Aires, Argentina, which ended yesterday.
Ms. Bárcena was the main speaker at the second day of the G-20 workshop on commodities that was being held in the Argentine capital and attend…
The distinguished US Economics Professor and Director of the Behavioral Sciences Program at the Santa Fe Institute (in Santa Fe, New Mexico), Samuel Bowles, will give a keynote lecture at the headquarters of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) in Santiago, Chile, next Tuesday, March 13.
In the framework of a visit to Chile, Professor Bowles will offer a talk entitled “The Origins and Future of Economic Inequality: Institutions, Technology and Politics” at 11 a.m. in ECLAC’s Raúl Prebisch conference room. He will be welcomed by the Executive Secretary of the Unit…
On an official visit to Chile, the Speaker of the Swedish Parliament Urban Ahlin participated on Monday, March 7 in a round table at the headquarters of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) in Santiago, in which they addressed the region’s economic, social and environmental challenges.
The senior official and his delegation, formed by Kiefer Jakob, Sweden’s Ambassador to Chile and other representatives of the Swedish Parliament, the Embassy of Sweden in Chile and the Chilean-Swedish Institute of Culture, were received by ECLAC’s Deputy Executive Secretary, Antoni…
This publication is a contribution by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) to the analysis of trade and investment relations between the United States of America and Latin America and the Caribbean, on the occasion of the visit of President Barack Obama to Brazil, Chile and El Salvador in March 2011. The early years of this new decade have brought good news for Latin America and the Caribbean. The region weathered the international crisis with unprecedented resilience and emerged from it sooner and more strongly than the developed economies. It grew by 6%…
Bangkok (ESCAP News) – Developing economies in the Asia-Pacific region continue to fare well in comparison to the rest of the world, but structural weaknesses constrain growth prospects, the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) said in its latest regional macroeconomic outlook report released today, emphasizing that more inclusive economic growth is key to ensuring sustainable prosperity for all.
Growth in the region’s developing nations will increase only slightly, to 5.9 per cent in 2015 from 5.8 per cent last year, with no significant change expecte…
The Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), Alicia Bárcena, will present on Tuesday, August 31 the Economic Survey of Latin America and the Caribbean 2021: Labour dynamics and employment policies for sustainable and inclusive recovery beyond the COVID-19 crisis, one of the institution’s most important flagship annual reports, which takes stock of the region’s economies in the last year, especially regarding the impact of the COVID-19 crisis, and provides outlooks for 2021 and 2022.
The latest iteration of this document – which has been publis…
The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) will present on Thursday, December 17 its Preliminary Overview of the Economies of Latin America and the Caribbean 2015, in which it will provide the latest growth estimates for the region’s countries in 2015 and projections for next year.
Alicia Bárcena, ECLAC’s Executive Secretary, will give a press conference to present the report at the Commission’s headquarters in Santiago, Chile, at 11:00 a.m. local time. The event will also be broadcast live on the Internet via the institution’s Web site.
The Preliminary Overview of the…