Fiscal adjustment and social spending

The external and internal imbalances that appeared in the early 1980s, together with the adjustment and stabilization policies applied throughout that decade in Latin America, juxtaposed the need to reduce the fiscal deficit with the need to make up for the loss of income sustained by the most vulnerable groups of the population as a consequence of the external debt crisis. This article examines patterns of social expenditure in a number of countries in the region, in an effort to determine how these policies affected the level and composition of social spending and, hence, influenced social p…

The strategies of multinational companies in 1990s Argentina

In the 1990s,Argentina received large amounts of foreign direct investment and the participation of multinational companies in the country's economy increased significantly. As during the import substitution industrialization period, the basic goal of multinationals is still to exploit the domestic market.Two differences from that period can be observed, however:access to the Brazilian market allows for greater economies of scale and specialization,and increased competition in many tradable sectors is forcing subsidiaries to bring their operations closer to international best practice. Th…

Automatic fiscal stabilizers

In this article, indicators of fiscal discretionality are estimated using a simple methodology, and in this way the cyclical component of the public accounts balance (i.e., the amounts of income and expenditure associated with transitory movements of the level of activity); is identified for a number of Latin American countries in the 1990s. The difference gives a measure of the discretional balance, which represents a medium-term indicator of the state of the public accounts. Budgetary rules which take account of these mechanisms not only ensure sustainability over time but also reduce the cy…

Military expenditure and development in Latin America

Public military expenditure (PME); has been analysed very little in the region, mainly for political reasons, which also limit access to the relevant information. Because of various events, however, it is beginning to be the subject of economic analysis both by governments and by multilateral bodies, especially with regard to its most appropriate level (how much is enough?);, its opportunity cost (what are its direct and indirect economic impacts?);, and its cost-effectiveness as a system of acquiring arms (what is its effect per monetary unit?);. According to the most conservative estimate, b…

The Latin American social agenda in the year 2000

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…

The role of insurance in social protection

Social protection systems have to cope with large discrepancies between the financing needed to cover demand and the resources actually available. For this reason, it is necessary for any reform proposal to include elements of cost restraint as well as measures to increase the population coverage of systems. Efficiency and solidarity must improve together if progress is to be made towards universality of benefits. Any reform strategy needs to consider not only the financial constraints imposed by the macroeconomy, but also the heavy drain on financial resources and the effects on the fiscal ac…

The equity gap: a second assessment

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…

Equity in the public budget

This article aims to make a walk-through in the virtual reality of budgetary and fiscal matters in order to identify the possible degrees of freedom to achieve a higher level of convergence between the public discourse on equity and the real content of public policies aimed at that goal. To this end, the author explores possible answers to four questions: what is the current meaning of the concept of equity; how much leeway is there in the field of taxation for expanding resources and improving vertical equity; what means are there for giving priority to the objective of equity in managing pub…

Fiscal policy and social protection

The inadequacies of social protection in Latin America and the Caribbean reveal a clear need for more active fiscal policies in this area. Although economic growth and decent employment are indispensable preconditions for social progress, the need for financing from public expenditure is ineluctable in the medium term. The present article examines three ways of achieving this objective. The first is to close the tax gap, since the fiscal burden is low in most Latin American and Caribbean countries. The second is to construct budgeting systems capable of removing rigidities and reallocating pub…

Governance, competitiveness and social integration

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 …

Secretario Ejecutivo de la CEPAL se reunió con el Presidente de Guatemala, Bernardo Arévalo de León

En el marco de su visita oficial al país, el Secretario Ejecutivo de la Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL), José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs, se reunió hoy en Ciudad de Guatemala con el Presidente de la República de Guatemala, Bernardo Arévalo de León, encuentro en el que dialogaron sobre la agenda actual de cooperación entre el Gobierno y el organismo regional de las Naciones Unidas y exploraron áreas de colaboración para el desarrollo de esta nación centroamericana. La CEPAL ha enfatizado la importancia de que los países de América Latina y el Caribe dinamicen su crecimi…

O Secretário Executivo da CEPAL se reuniu com o Presidente da Guatemala, Bernardo Arévalo de León

No contexto de sua visita oficial ao país, o Secretário Executivo da Comissão Econômica para a América Latina e o Caribe (CEPAL), José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs, se reuniu hoje na Cidade da Guatemala com o Presidente da República da Guatemala, Bernardo Arévalo de León; nesse encontro dialogaram sobre a agenda atual de cooperação entre o governo e o organismo regional das Nações Unidas e exploraram áreas de colaboração para o desenvolvimento dessa nação centro-americana. A CEPAL enfatizou a importância de que os países da América Latina e do Caribe dinamizem seu crescimento e o tornem mais inclu…

ECLAC’s Executive Secretary Met with Guatemalan President Bernardo Arévalo de León

In the framework of his official visit to the country, the Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs, met today in Guatemala City with the President of the Republic of Guatemala, Bernardo Arévalo de León, where they discussed the current cooperation agenda between the Government and the United Nations regional organization and explored areas of collaboration for the Central American nation’s development. ECLAC has stressed the importance of Latin American and Caribbean countries invigorating their growth and making…

Bases metodológicas y operativas para la administración de la inversión pública = Methodological and operational bases for public investment management

Presenta un análisis de la estructura de la inversión pública, empleando, dada la complejidad del tema, un enfoque de sistemas.…

Methodological bases for the programming and efficient management of public investment

Institutions and public policies for rural development in Guatemala

This article reviews the formal institutional framework forimplementing rural development policies in Guatemala, which originatedin the State modernization process promoted through the Peace Accords.The main thesis is that rural development policies will be more efficientif they are based on the institutional framework that the Peace Accordsprovided, which distinguishes between three levels of government: central,deconcentrated and decentralized. While the two sub-national levelsexecute 43% of total public investment, central government needs to targetthe budget on poor zones, cut subsidies to…

Virtues and limitations of census maps for identifying critical deficiencies

Critical deficiency maps, conceived as objective, uniformly applicable technical tools that could be employed to make social expenditure more efficient and effective, constitute the most ambitious and successful method devised to date for using census data for social planning in Latin America and the Caribbean. Nevertheless, while their importance and potential as a policy tool have gained increasing recognition, questions have arisen concerning their virtues and limitations and on how they could be made to serve the need for more complex social information or to reveal the changing forms that…

Social protection for the poor in Latin America

Confronted with recurrent macroeconomic shocks, governments in Latin America and the Caribbean have increasingly been concerned about establishing or strengthening systems of social protection and safety net programmes. The goal of these programmes is to help mitigate the impact of shocks on the poor before they occur, and to help the poor cope with the shocks once they have occurred. In this paper, we focus on publicly funded or mandated safety nets functioning as risk-coping mechanisms. The paper reviews the characteristics of a good safety net, in comparison with the main types of safety ne…

Methodological and operational bases for public investment management