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This paper shows how the homo oeconomicus has evolved from utility at work to consumption and then to the mystification of profit in a context of financialization and long-term crisis. Thus, a semantic slippage occurs, which distorts the achievements of capitalism, such as individualism and self-interest, for a libertarian belief -alien to liberalism, to Bentham's utilitarianism and marginalism- in which it is not possible to define social utility, nor the connection between the "rationality" of individual decisions and social choices. Usefulness is confused with profit in the primacy of today's business mentality and is often reflected in individual behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), Mexico experienced a rapid expansion in highly industrialized food and beverage products. This has transformed supply and distribution structures and led to changes in dietary patterns. The objective of this paper is to explain how these transformations led to the configuration of a hybrid distribution and consumption scheme that affected the expenditure, frequency and quantities of ultra-processed and fast foods consumed in Mexican households during the period 2000-2020. This hybrid model is associated with an increase in diseases such as obesity and chronic degenerative diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Argentina, there is a clear consensus between neoliberals and neodevelopmentalists regarding the increase of exports as the first step towards development, consolidating the political and economic power held by the exporting business elite and, at the same time, creating an unsustainable development path in socio-environmental terms. A labyrinth with no way out. This paper has set out to retrace this labyrinth, building bridges between different currents of economic heterodoxy that enable the construction of an exit. The powerful consolidation of neodevelopmentalism at the academic and political level in Argentina shows the relevance of this discussion, which transcends national boundaries to become a global development problem due to the elements at stake. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Covid-19 pandemic caused an unusual population mortality rate. This paper aims to determine a causal relationship and its incidence between the Technical Efficiency (TE) of health systems and the Covid-19 mortality rate. Using the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) methodology and the OLS, GLS and 2SLS adjustment methods, in 108 countries grouped according to per capita health expenditure, it was found that a 1% increase in the TE of the health systems of the analyzed countries reduces the number of deaths from Covid-19 by between 61 and 127 per hundred thousand inhabitants, concluding that the efficiency of expenditure was transcendental in the prevention of mortality caused by the pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to analyze the behavior of Ecuadorian private banking during the period 2000-2021, using aggregate information on trends in the banking sector and accounting data for the main banks. Based on a heterodox theoreticalhistorical approach, we highlight the link between the neoliberal structural reforms, the banking crisis, dollarization and the transformations of the banking sector. The results highlight the fact that the operation of the Ecuadorian banking system under formal dollarization not only recreates well-known elements of former financial fragility but also introduces new variables typical of the 21st-century banking universe that are a source of instability and hinder the financing objectives for the socio-economic development of the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to examine the determinants of the exchange rate based on the portfolio balance model. Using the Autoregressive Distributed Lag Model (ARDL), we empirically evaluate the effect of private net foreign assets and the traditional factors affecting the exchange rate dynamics in Mexico from 1990-2019. The main results suggest that: i) the portfolio approach constitutes a consistent system to explain the behavior of the exchange rate; ii) an increase in economic activity and interest rate differentials triggers an appreciation of the exchange rate; iii) an increase in the inflation gap and private net foreign assets causes a depreciation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper used a new source of information (ESRU-EMOVI NL) to estimate, for the first time, the lower limit of unequal opportunities in a federal state in Mexico. Using the former criterion concerning unequal opportunities, a lower threshold indicated 35% inequality in economic resources in the state. As at the national level, the main contributors to unequal opportunities in the state are unequal economic resources by origin and parental education. However, in contrast to what has been observed, for the country as a whole, inequalities associated with people's skin tone account for 5% of observed unequal opportunities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the impact of the automotive sector on the regional development of the Mexican lowlands region of Bajío. The staggered adoption of synthetic control methodology was used, considering the establishment of new automotive assembly plants in the states of the Bajío region between 2007 and 2014. It is estimated that for each new job created in automotive companies, an average of five additional jobs were created in the Bajío states, 78% outside the manufacturing sector. In addition, by promoting more significant economic opportunities, working poverty was reduced by an average of 10.5 percentage points. Finally, evidence was found that, in 2018, high school enrollment increased by 3%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The pandemic increased poverty worldwide. However, the mechanisms affecting its determining factors still need to be clarified. This paper studies this problem using a probabilistic model of poverty extended with pandemic incidence variables and applying logistic regression at the household level. For the case of Ecuador, we use the December rounds of the 2019 and 2020 National Survey for Employment, Underemployment and Unemployment (ENEMDU), the administrative record of the Covid-19 epidemiological report, and the administrative history of deaths. The results show that the pandemic’s impact on poverty was through the gender gap and labor market structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the effect of transfers from the General Participations System (SGP) on Colombian municipal development indicators during 2003-2017. A Municipal Development Index is proposed, considering indicators of educational achievement, health coverage, and crime rates. This index is studied in the municipal context using spatial autocorrelation techniques. A panel-type econometric model was estimated to evaluate the effect of transfers on the index. The results suggest that increases in education, health, culture, and recreation transfers generate positive, differential effects on the index. Transfers to the health sector have the most significant impact on the index. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As defined in economic theory, artificial intelligence (AI) can be considered an industry. In this context, two simultaneous processes are observed: concurrence and cooperation. The current dispute between China and the United States for world leadership in AI should be placed against this background. Thus, the description in this paper of concrete policies and measures that the Chinese regime pursued to promote its AI industry and identify its strategy to increase its influence on the standardization processes in the emerging industry is extremely important. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes local production systems by identifying their business structure, and the role played by the main sectors of economic activity in the territory of Cotopaxi-Ecuador as the basis for study. It highlights the Andean-Latin American approach to integral, territorial, and sustainable development, based on the triangulation of regional analysis techniques (specialization and location coefficients, cluster analysis, and Rasmussen’s method) to characterize the dynamics of the local production system and lines of improvement to strengthen the system. The results show the presence of two provincial clusters, a high degree of regional specialization in traditional activities that have little impact on the productivity of the province, and the presence of two key economic sectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to analyze the evolution of the trilateral trade relationship between Mexico, the United States and China, and its main characteristics, from 1993 to 2020, through the application of vector autoregressive (VAR) models at different points in time. More specifically, trade links between these economies have been transformed from a first phase of little significance to a second phase with profound interrelationships since 2001, and finally to a current consolidation stage, despite the current increasingly complex environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyzes the behavior of the Economic Fitness indicator as a measure of the international competitiveness of Latin American economies, as well as an indicator of their relationship with per capita income gaps and the Human Development Index (HDI). Positive correlations were found between per capita income gaps and the stagnation of the international competitiveness of Latin American economies, as well as between human development levels and the productive structure, suggesting a causal relationship between human development and competitiveness. This paper also finds that the Economic Fitness indicator fluctuates significantly when estimated using exports in domestic value-added, suggesting that the original estimate may over- or underestimate competitiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to analyze financialized peripheral neoliberalism (FPN) as a specific form of neoliberalism. After presenting four different forms FPN can take and criteria to delimit them, its general characteristics are examined. The paper highlights a common policy matrix, a similar model of production structures focused on financial accumulation, and a common formulation of international valorization processes. Comparing two countries that exemplify FPN (Argentina and Portugal), the above general characterization is corroborated. However, specificities in monetary regulation, international insertion and population regulation mechanisms are also observed, which give the model specific nuances important for analyzing crises and proposing alternatives for differently structured development policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines how effective education institutions improve educational achievement, regardless of students' socioeconomic backgrounds. The paper utilizes a multilevel model using data from the Third Regional Comparative and Explanatory Study (TERCE) for Ecuadorian students in reading and mathematics. Findings show that between 31 and 52% of the variation in test results is due to differences between schools, thus underlining the importance of the compensatory effect of schools in promoting equality of opportunity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increase of mining in certain historical periods can be attributed to the incidence of various factors, such as the price of metals, technological development, and economic and environmental policies. This paper reviews the most important periods of mining development in Mexico, examining in depth the most recent period: the implementation of automation. The majority of social analyses related to mining have focused on the concept of neo-extractivism and have emphasized economic policies and prices. This paper's contribution is a review of the data of the revolution in the mining sector's productive forces. This is an aspect that may be as important as metal prices and the sector's economic policies when seeking to understand the current situation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the aftermath of the financial crisis that broke out in 2008, new terms to talk about sustainable development started to emerge: the "green" economy and "green" growth. Some countries supported their usage and others did not. The literature witnessed the recrudescence of the debate on the relationship between economic activity and taking care of the environment, divided into three stances: degrowth advocates, "green" growth backers, and the growth-agnostics. This paper dives into the different "green" terms, paying special attention to the case of Argentina. Unlike in previous papers, which have analyzed country interventions in international forums, the methodology here was to search the web pages of the most relevant local players. The most traditional terms ("sustainable development") were strongly predominant, and the concepts of "green" economy or "green" growth were few and far between. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay explores the theoretical arguments regarding the existence of "smart" territories, a recently-developed concept based on notions related to the knowledge society and knowledge economy, sustainable development, and social inclusion. This paper examines the preconditions necessary to make it possible for this type of territorial space to emerge in relation to the economic development underpinning it, as well as the right type of social structure, qualities required for human agency, and the social innovations demanded for such purpose. Finally, as a case study, this paper provides an empirical analysis of such conditions on the Caribbean coast of Colombia, drawing some final conclusions and recommendations from it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The persistence of high poverty levels in Latin America, after a decade of retraction, brings the issue back to the center of the regional social agenda. This paper examines various factors that reproduce poverty, based on the Argentinian case. Using a quantitative design and multivariate techniques, this study explores the effects of structural heterogeneity of occupational systems in household economic reproduction under different political-economic phases. The results demonstrate the persistence of marked inequalities in occupational structure -even after a period of high growth- and the rigidity of the labor income distribution pattern. The heterogeneity of the occupational structure determines the reproductive capacities of households and causes selective processes of impoverishment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper delves into an analysis of illegality in migration, from a migrant perspective. To do this, established and assimilated historical practices in selected groups of Mexican migrants were analyzed according to immigration status and settlement area. The argument presented here is that illegality has a functional character for the reproduction of the migrant trajectory. This is demonstrated using a comparative analysis of the way migrants' decisions allow them to integrate their trajectories into two contexts which show unequal development. Such integration determines its functionality independently of the existence of restrictive migration policies in nation-state contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the results of the impact that a Scholarship Program in Mexico City has on perceptions that families have of their children's grade averages. The study uses a new database collected for the purpose of evaluating this conditional cash transfer program, which contains information for a random sample of a treatment group and control group. Through linear and ordered probit regression models, it was found that participation in the Scholarship Program increased the perception of high grade averages by 18.1%, and reduced 11.3 and 6.7% the perception of mid and low range grade averages, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper calculates the impact of family income on young people's school attendance in Mexico, in a longitudinal context. Based on the rotating panels of the National Occupation and Employment Survey (ENOE), a probit econometric model with fixed effects is used to determine the likelihood that a 14- to 18-year-old who lives with their parents and attends school will continue to attend in the following year; the model is controlled by the young person's characteristics, their family, the environment and various temporary changes. Evidence was found that the probability of a young person continuing to attend school increases with family income, and this positive effect is relatively more important in the first deciles of income. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper seeks to analyze regional dimensions of food security as a development issue, and its geographic imbalances in Mexico. Through the application of principal component analysis, an index was developed at the municipal and regional level. In addition to combining information for different variables which are consolidated into a single measurement, this index numerically synthesizes three of the four dimensions with which the problem is measured: access, availability and biological utilization. Meanwhile, the Dalenius-Hodges stratification method was used to establish food security ranges at different regional scales. The results show that the socioeconomic and geographic inequalities caused by the development models historically applied in Mexico affect the population's internal food security throughout its regional areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

International fragmentation of production and economic integration are two structural motors of change that have characterized the global economy for decades. However, an interest in analyzing these two processes together has recently intensified due to the neo-protectionist turn in trade and economic policy in the United States. This paper examines trade and productive relations between Mexico, the United States and Canada, demonstrating how the global value chains (GVCs) in which they participate obscure global tendencies (centrifugal forces) and regional countertendencies (centripetal forces) that provoke changes in the geography and composition of productive linkages. These processes have the result of restructuring, and to a certain extent disintegrating, the regional bloc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes sustainability-related factors of collective action around irrigation water management in the Moche and Virú valleys, located on the coast of Peru. Using a random effects panel model, this econometric analysis found that the variables which are relevant for the sustainability of collective action are different in each valley. The economic outcome can be measured by the effectiveness of collecting irrigation water tariffs, a capacity which is transferred from the State to User Boards. The importance of the Chavimochic irrigation project is also highlighted--a project which permanently widened water availability, and which simultaneously combats climate change, as well as the increase in water demand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social exclusion is a complex, multidimensional process which points to the persistence of a variety of deprivations in key dimensions of life, education among them. Working within this context, this paper studies determinants of exclusion in the educational dimension, specifically from its original degree (access), and seeks to evaluate whether they vary in relation to the socioeconomic conditions of the target population. To do this, logistic regression models were calculated using data from Argentina's Permanent Household Survey (PHS), in addition to information obtained from our own survey, performed in April of 2016 in three vulnerable communities of Bahía Blanca, Argentina. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within the framework of Latin American post-war structuralism, the global economy was the grounds of antagonism between a central (industrialized) pole and the periphery (providers of primary goods). This paper argues that addressing the specific way this antagonism is reproduced in the historical conditions of new capitalism requires considering the emergence of a chain-shaped structural logic, which differentiates activities of knowledge creation from those of knowledge reproduction within distinct productive sectors. This chain logic does not challenge the concept of structure, in terms of a sectoral differentiation in post-war capitalist production, but rather imposes it as a dominant norm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The signing of the Final Agreement between the Colombian National Government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) on November 24, 2016, created many expectations. However, key advances that were achieved during the subsequent months gave way to a period of stagnation and even actual backsliding in its implementation. This paper analyzes the difficulties of fulfilling the Final Agreement, in particular as concerns its first point regarding Comprehensive Rural Reform (CRR). The analysis is based on the argument that if the Agreement was focused on generating the conditions necessary to end armed conflict and reestablish democratic conditions in the country, it also contains structural factors which infringe upon the consolidation of peace. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes ecological distribution, with a focus on the socioeconomic and environmental conflicts generated by coal exploitation in the Sinifaná coalfield (SCF), in Antioquia, Colombia. The methodology incorporated a descriptive approach which focused on socioeconomic and environmental conflicts, and an analytical approach with a relational emphasis. The hypothesized relation between socioeconomic and environmental conflicts and the Sustainable Development Goals was corroborated. In conclusion, the main conflict present in the study area surrounds the environmental sustainability that derives from informal and illegal mining practices. This causes countless socioeconomic and environmental conflicts that are impacting the wellbeing of people living in the SCF. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Results from studies of the relationship between road infrastructure and regional economic growth have so far been inconclusive. This paper analyzes the effect of the availability of road infrastructure on regional production in Mexican municipalities. At a regional level, the extent of road availability in a municipality was determined using an Geographic Information System (gIS) and ordinary least squares analysis, which identified the existence of a positive relation between road density and production in municipal regions. It was shown that the most significant impact of roads on gross regional production is in the manufacturing and retail sectors, while roads have no significant impact on agriculture, livestock production, fishing, and mining. Toll-free roads in particular afford increased regional benefits in comparison to toll roads. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the feedback relation between inflation and inflation uncertainty in six Latin American economies during 1960-2018. Uncertainty was calculated using conditional volatility, estimated using GJR-GARCH-M models. The main conclusions are as follows: the majority of economies conformed to the Friedman-Ball hypothesis; the Cukierman-Meltzer hypothesis was corroborated in the cases of Bolivia, Mexico, Paraguay; positive shocks were found to have a significant impact on inflation uncertainty, and, thanks to the adoption of inflation targets (ITs) by governments, there was empirical evidence that volatility decreased in those economies which implemented ITs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using structural analysis techniques and methods, this paper analyzes the integration of Uruguay into Mercosur and the integration of Mexico into NAFTA during the period 1990-2016 and compares the two. This analysis is conducted in the context of the process of economic integration between the main economic blocs in the Americas. The evidence and results suggest a divergence between the trajectories of the blocs and those of smaller partners. Mercosur made no significant progress and remained only a loosely integrated bloc, while NAFTA fostered a deeper integration between its partners. In this context, the integration of junior partners such as Mexico and Uruguay into their respective agreements has been asymmetrical, and therefore their respective contributions have differed considerably. This is much more significant in the case of Mexico than in Uruguay. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper seeks to determine the factors which explain differing levels of innovation in Chile at the regional level. Data used in the study was obtained from the Tenth Inquiry into Innovation in Businesses 2016, published in 2018 by the National Institute of Statistics (INE). Binary logistic regressions (Logit) were developed for each region, identifying the specific explanatory factors which determine the greatest likelihood of innovation among local businesses. The study concludes that the heterogeneities detected call for an adjustment in public policies in accordance with regional dynamics, which should be understood as subnational spaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The periodic heavy flooding which Mexico experiences impacts negatively on its economic development. Adaptation and risk-management measures are predominantly based on cost evaluation, which therefore needs to be comprehensive. This paper evaluates the total economic cost of Hurricane Alex in the state of Nuevo León in 2010, which was the most devastating natural phenomenon recorded during the last 50 years. Therefore, for the first time in Mexico, a methodology was applied which factors in both direct costs (material damage) and indirect costs (productivity losses) in the affected region's economy (MIP). This methodology was based on the input-output model. The results suggest that total costs were $20.5 billion MXN, of which 29% (6 billion) were indirect costs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the accumulation model and hegemonic disputes that took place under the first administration of Cristina Fernández de Kirchner. First, this article examines some core structural elements that shaped transformations and tension at the model level: industrial performance, the energy crisis, changes in the world of finance, and the status of subordinated classes. Subsequently, this paper looks at three key moments in the political dynamics of the economic policy: tax withholdings and the agrarian conflict, the launch of the national plan to confront the global crisis, and the progressivist radicalization of public policy. The questions guiding this work are as follows: what are the characteristics of the accumulation model? How are the hegemonic disputes tied to the performance of the model in Argentina between 2008 and 2011?. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the conditions facing the oil refining industry in Mexico and the factors that shaped its overhaul in the context of the 2013 Energy Reform. To do so, the paper examines the main challenges that refining companies must tackle to stay in the market, evaluating the specific cases of the United States and Canada. Similarly, it offers a diagnosis of refining in Mexico, identifying its principal determinants in order to, finally, analyze its prospects, considering the role of private initiatives in the open market, as well as Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex), as a placeholder in those areas where private enterprises do not participate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Poverty can be reduced in two ways: via income generation or via increased access to public goods and services. The aim of this paper is to propose a methodology for quantifying the percentage of the population that live in double inclusion, namely, in productive and social inclusion in Ecuador during the 2009-2017 study period. The results obtained indicate an asymmetry between social and productive progress. The advances made in education, housing, and basic services stand in contrast to the challenge to secure dignified employment, a situation made worse in rural areas. In 2017, the national level of double inclusion was recorded at 35.3%, non-productive social inclusion at 31.8%, non-social productive inclusion at 6.8%, and exclusion at 26%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the enactment of a new regime regarding the promotion of electrical energy from renewable sources in 2015, Argentina took up the transition towards a more sustainable and diversified energy matrix. Since then, national energy policy has driven the creation of a competitive domestic market for Energy from Renewable Sources (ERS). Meanwhile, industrial policy has focused on promoting the transfer of technology and local industry. This paper analyzes the orientation of these policies, the coherence of their objectives, and the immediate results. Energy policy and industrial policies designed for ERS develop at different speeds and with little coordination, making it necessary for national industry to participate in its value chains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the income profile of Mexican households. In order to do so, a semi-parametric model was estimated using gender of the head of the household. The results indicate that, due to the age effect, the income profile of households with a female head of household forms a flat, inverted U, in contrast to the proposition put forth by the life-cycle hypothesis. Conversely, income patterns of male-headed households were consistent with the form established in the hypothesis. Unlike its female counterpart, this profile was unaffected by family structure. This confirms that income is lower in female-headed households throughout the life cycle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"Mining is the main engine of development", is one of the most commonly used arguments in support of the activity. This paper is the product of comprehensive interpretive research, which aims to test this hypothesis, using extractive mining in San Juan, a province in the center-west of Argentina, as a case study. One of the key findings of this study is that high foreign investment in mining is not synonymous with development. To the contrary, mining creates growth which is concentrated, exclusive and unsustainable, and which undermines external commercial apparatus, displaces traditional modes of production and triggers a process of socio-environmental conflicts, causing irreversible ecological damage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a multisectoral analysis of the increase in electricity prices in the Mexican economy, applying a pricing model and using the most recent input-output matrix. Increases in the manufacture of petroleum derivatives and coal, as electricity sources, are also analyzed. Additionally, increases in the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity are studied. The key findings obtained from this analysis show that a 40% increase has the most significant impact on sectors such as air transport (7.76%); land passenger transportation (6.04%) -except rail-, tourist transport (6.04%) and on the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity (5.58%). This increase in turn impacts all subsectors of the national economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Between 2011 and 2014, the Brazilian government granted generous fuel subsidies via Petrobras. This paper adopts a macroeconomic model to estimate the changes that would take place in the consumption and production of fuels and other goods present in the Brazilian economy if the fuel subsidy were removed. The results suggest that the reduction of fuel subsidies, if offset by a reduction in taxation on consumption, capital, or labor, would reduce fuel consumption and increase the consumption and production of other goods. If the withdrawal of the subsidy were offset by a reduction on fuel tax, the consumption of all goods would increase, thereby proving this measure to be the most beneficial course of action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the relationship between productivity and the rate of surplus value and seeks to establish if a higher rate of surplus value can be found in developed countries with higher productivity than in underdeveloped countries, a theory consistent with the Marxist conception of this relationship at international level. A methodology was used which incorporated contingency tables, multivariate analysis using clusters and econometric analysis of fixed-effect panel data. The econometric analysis made use of a wide range of databases, with data from studies ranging from the post-war period to the first decade of the 21st century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research paper analyzes the effects of employment in creative economic activities on urban wages in Mexico during recent years. The results indicate that wages in creative occupations and industries are higher than those in jobs related to non-creative economic activities. Likewise, quantile regressions show that creative employment has a heterogeneous effect throughout wage distribution, the greatest impact being in the upper end. Understanding this heterogeneous effect is fundamental to understanding urban wage inequality in Mexico. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper sets out to elucidate the variables driving higher or lower rates of microfinance borrowers defaulting on paying back their loans in a case study of Asociación Civil Avanzar. We analyze the database held by this Argentinean civil society organization, examining the most salient data on borrowers, including personal, household, and loan information, to explain their behavior with respect to paying their installments. Interesting conclusions emerged that could help make progress down the path toward solving reporting problems when institutions similar to those in this study are deciding whether to grant a loan or not. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces an empirical model drawing on data generated over a decade of analysis, aiming to explain the impact of intellectual property by using patent records as an indicator. The model moreover correlates patenting with economic development and growth in Mexico. The pattern that emerges is a positive tie between greater investment in research and development (R+D) on the one hand, and economic development and growth on the other, manifest in the rising volume of national patent applications. The development and implementation of public policies designed to augment intellectual capital and innovation could benefit an emerging economy like that of Mexico in countless ways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this paper is to expand the body of knowledge about the situation of and challenges facing the aerospace industry in the state of Sonora, Mexico. To do so, various interviews were conducted with company officials who shared results like the following: the industry has moved toward districts that offer the best conditions to operate; the march of technological flexibility in processes calls for a review of how institutions of higher education in the state are training human capital. Moreover, despite ranking in the country's top five states in aerospace production, the integration of productive value chains still leaves much to be desired, and is concentrated at Level 2 of the supply chains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the Mexico City Government's accountability with respect to public debt in the time period 1999-2015. The questions we pose are as follows: To which projects were resources emanating from public debt allocated? Did the accountability mechanisms make it possible to evaluate the projects funded with public debt? Although the laws stipulate that entities are bound to be transparent about their allocation of debt, there is clearly only partial accountability when it comes to all of the funding models, including: private banking, development banking, the stock market, and public-private partnerships (PPP). Moreover, the opacity is total where evaluating outcomes is concerned. Using a cointegration test for debt and public investment, we assert that total public debt has some effect on the behavior of public investment in Mexico City. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper identifies the similarities and differences among Latin American structuralism, dependency theory, and Thorstein Veblen's Imperial Germany (1915), exploring the connection on such as aspects as path dependency, technology, and economic policy. Imperial Germany is similar to many of the principal policy recommendations espoused by the structuralists and dependency theorists. Nevertheless, structuralism is closer to the ideas of the institutionalists and Veblen himself. In conclusions, the structuralists and Veblen's version in Imperial Germany agree that an industrial policy ought to be guided by the government, even though Veblen and the institutionalists clearly see social change through technological improvement, which is missing from structuralism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]