Enormous differences in health within and between countries intertwine closely with degrees of social disadvantage, and when People's health is at the mercy of their individual situations, health-care inequalities can entail dramatic individual risks and costs. Promoting health equity can also be defended on the grounds that it simultaneously fosters economic development, since investments in health and its determinants contribute to economic growth, productivity and prosperity. On the other hand, economic growth by itself without appropriate policies to ensure reasonable fairness in the …
ResumenAunque no es un tema totalmente nuevo, recién en las dos últimas décadas la migración internacional se ha convertido en un tópico relevante de la agenda pública en Costa Rica. Es este el contexto en el que se desarrolla este estudio, que aborda numerosas dimensiones de este fenómeno social en el país, desde la caracterización demográfica y socioeconómica de los migrantes —a partir de dos fuentes principales: el censo de población de 2000 y la Encuesta de Hogares de Propósitos Múltiples de 2007— hasta el marco jurídico que lo norma.El primer capítulo se ocupa de la percepción política de…
This article analyses the various dimensions of the new poverty which emerged during the 1980s and 1990s. It begins with a review ofthe definitions of the term in Europe, the United States and several LatinAmerican countries. The case of Argentina is then examined, paying closeattention to the pauperization of the middle class in that country at severalpoints between the mid-1970s and the crisis of 2001. Structural poverty-an older phenomenon- is used as a point of reference to describethe characteristics of the new impoverishment, the adaptation strategiesevolved to address it usin…
Este trabajo analiza el problema de crecimiento económico lentode México. Descompone el aumento del producto por el lado de lademanda e ilustra la incidencia fundamental de la atonía de la inversión.Sostiene, con respaldo econométrico, que esa atonía se explica en partepor la apreciación real del peso durante la desinflación y su efectoadverso en la rentabilidad de la inversión. Por último, muestra que elproblema se ha complicado por una merma a largo plazo de la razónPIB/capital.…
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…
El propósito de este documento es contribuir a adecuar los procedimientos de caracterización de la pobreza en los países latinoamericanos para el análisis del progreso hacia la primera meta del Milenio. Esta adecuación se refiere a un examen de los avances en la reducción de la indigencia en distintos subgrupos de la población, especialmente de los más rezagados. La idea principal es que el análisis a nivel nacional del progreso hacia el cumplimiento de dicha meta es insuficiente para una evaluación adecuada de las posibilidades de que los países logren reducir a la mitad la incidencia de la i…
La elaboración de este documento se llevó a cabo en el marco del proyecto de cooperación técnica PAN/07/002 entre la Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL) y el Ministerio de Economía y Finanzas (MEF) de Panamá.SINTESISEn el período 1996-2007 la economía panameña mostró, en líneas generales, un buen desempeño ya que el producto interno bruto (PIB) creció a una tasa de 5,4% anual. El dinamismo fue mayor en el cuatrienio 2004-2007, en que el aumento del PIB llegó al 8,7%, con un 11,2% en el 2007. Así, el producto por habitante se incrementó a una tasa media anual del 3,5% dur…
Per capita GDP has grown more in 2003-2007 than at any other time since the 1970s. ECLAC projections indicate that this trend will continue in 2008, which will thus be the fifth year in a row in which per capita GDP has risen at over 3% per annum. This increase has made further progress in poverty reduction possible, together with a decline in unemployment. Some countries have seen improvements in income distribution as well. A number of problems persist, however, and Latin America continues to lag behind other regions in various areas. Levels of social and economic inequality remain extremely…
The corporate world has changed remarkably in the past 10 years.New multinationals are appearing in countries with emerging marketssuch as Brazil, India, China, South Africa and Mexico, which are not onlytop recipients of foreign capital, but have fast become major investorsthemselves. An important part of the remarkable story of emergingmultinationals has been the eruption of world-class Latin multinationals(or multilatinas); from Mexico and Brazil, in particular, following the pathtaken by their Spanish counterparts in the 1990s. In all these cases,classical push and pull factors have been d…
El mundo empresarial cambió notablemente en los últimosdiez años. Han surgido nuevas empresas multinacionales en países demercados emergentes como Brasil, India, China, Sudáfrica y México,los que no solo son grandes receptores de capital extranjero sino queahora también invierten fuertemente en el exterior. En la notable historiade las nuevas multinacionales destaca la aparición de empresas quellamaremos multinacionales latinas (o multilatinas);, en particular deMéxico y Brasil, que tuvieron como precedente aquellas de España enlos años 1990. Las multilatinas surgieron merced a los clásicos fa…
This paper analyses the effects of gender discrimination on povertyin Brazil between 1992 and 2001, using data obtained from the NationalHousehold Survey. A counterfactual distribution of per capita householdincome was estimated, based on a hypothetical scenario in which thelabour market pays equal wages to men and women in accordance withtheir qualifi cations. The results show that, when gender discrimination iseliminated, the percentage of poor persons tends to decline by an average of10%. Results were even more striking among the most vulnerable segmentsof the population, such as members of…
Este trabajo analiza los efectos de la discriminación por génerosobre la pobreza brasileña entre 1992-2001, con datos tomados de laEncuesta nacional de hogares. Se estimó una distribución contrafactualdel ingreso familiar per cápita bajo la hipótesis de que el mercado detrabajo paga iguales salarios a hombres y mujeres según sus atributosproductivos. Los resultados muestran que al eliminar la discriminaciónde género en el mercado de trabajo, el porcentaje de personas pobrestiende a disminuir, en promedio, un 10%. Este impacto es aún mássignificativo entre los grupos poblacionales más vulnerabl…
This discussion paper seeks to contribute to the body of knowledge on crime and violence through an exploration of the possible policy linkages between poverty, crime and violence, using data from Jamaica, Saint Lucia and Trinidad and Tobago. It does so against the backdrop of increasing concern for the impact of violence on the social and economic development and human welfare of Caribbean societies. In addition to the primary objective of exploring the policy and programming linkages between poverty reduction programming and that aimed at reducing crime and violence, the study includes an ov…
In November 2007, a three-day regional seminar to strengthen the competitiveness of CARICOM SMEs took place in Barbados with the aim of encouraging companies to incorporate CSR practices into their business strategy. The participants represented over 25 SMEs from Barbados, Jamaica, Guyana, St. Lucia and Trinidad and Tobago. During the workshop, the participants were introduced to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) tools and resources, as well as local case studies. On the last day of the workshop, the pilot survey was conducted using a draft of the CSR questionnaire applied here, in order t…
In Latin America, around 36,000 children under 15 have HIV, and in the Caribbean estimates are of 11,000 children living with the virus. Although some progress has been made in the region in the care and treatment of adults that is not the case with children. This issue number 7 of Challenges is devoted to the latest information on the vertical transmission (mother-to-child) of HIV in Latin America and the Caribbean, and how children are accessing life-saving treatment in the region.…