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In this paper, we explore the role of trade in the evolution of labor share in Latin American countries (LAC). We use trade agreements with large economies (US, EU, and China) to capture the effect of sharp changes in trade. During the last two decades, the countries that signed these trade agreements experienced a negative trend in labor share, while in the remaining countries there is an average increase in this share, generating a gap of 7 percentage points. We apply synthetic control methods, combined with regression analysis, to estimate the average causal impact of trade agreements on labor share. While effects are heterogeneous in our eight case studies, the average impact is negative between 2 to 4 percentage points of GDP four years after the entry into force of the trade agreements. This result is robust to the specification used and to the set of countries in the donor pool. We find that trade agreements with more labor-abundant counterparts affect labor share more, in line with traditional Heckscher–Ohlin forces. We also find that, after trade agreements, exports of manufactured goods and the share of industry to GDP increase on average, most notably in the case studies where negative effects on labor share are significant, a fact compatible with enhanced participation in Global Value Chains. Finally, a decomposition shows that all the reduction in labor share is explained by a negative impact on real wages. • Since 1994 Latin American countries signed trade agreements with US, EU, and China • We use Synthetic Control to identify the effects of trade agreements on labor share • After implementing trade agreements, there is a reduction in labor share • We show that the fall in average real wages explains all the effect • Effect relates to counterpart's factor abundance, and rising manufacturing exports [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A contemporary challenge is inequality. This paper illustrates why ideas matter, and how they can change over time. Inequalities are reinforced when they are taken for granted. But this can be disrupted when marginalised people gain self-esteem; challenge hitherto unquestioned inequalities; and gain confidence in the possibility of social change. Slowly and incrementally, social mobilisation can catalyse greater government commitment to socially inclusive economic growth. This is illustrated with ethnographic research from Latin America, where income inequality has recently declined. Clearly, however, no single paper can provide a comprehensive account of political change in an incredibly diverse region. By highlighting some ways in which ideas matter (and the limitations of alternative hypotheses about increased fiscal space and democratisation), this paper merely seeks to persuade political economists to go beyond ‘incentives’. Future efforts to tackle inequality might harness the power of ideas: tackling ‘norm perceptions’ (beliefs about what others think and do); publicising positive deviance; and strengthening social movements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary This paper examines the impact of the program Seguro de Capacitación y Empleo (SCE) implemented to provide support in skills upgrading, job seeking, and job placement to eligible beneficiaries of the Argentinian conditional cash transfer program Plan Jefes . The SCE is an example of a growing trend observed in Latin America, where labor activation components have been increasingly included into cash transfers programs to support beneficiaries in finding more stable income opportunities. Despite this growing trend, not enough is known regarding the effectiveness of these components, especially on job quality. In this context, this paper sheds light on whether the provision of a comprehensive package of active labor market measures contributes to a successful labor market integration of cash transfers beneficiaries. Taking advantage of the panel structure of the Permanent Household Survey and exploiting the time variation in the assignment of the program as identification strategy, we apply difference-in-difference estimators to measure the impact on a number of labor market indicators. We find that the program affects positively the job quality of participants by increasing the probability of having a formal job and raising hourly wages. Moreover, the intervention is associated with a lower probability of having a low-paid job and working an excessive number of hours. These effects are, however, not homogeneous across all groups of participants. While the program is more successful among the younger beneficiaries, it does not contribute to an improvement in the labor market conditions of female beneficiaries, who in fact are the majority of SCE participants. Our results suggest that reducing dependency on monetary transfers through programs, such as the SCE, that are rich in activation components is beneficial for participants’ labor market trajectories and therefore, it constitutes a satisfactory exit strategy to more universal cash transfer programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Gender-based violence movements are "tangential" to drug violence, protesting its root causes without targeting perpetrators. • Feminist movements work to reduce interpersonal violence, protest impunity, strengthen democracy, and resist inequality. • In Juárez, Caracas and Medellín, vibrant feminist anti-violence movements are indirectly mobilizing against drug violence. • Policymakers should support feminist anti-violence activism as a long-term approach for reducing drug violence. • Social movement scholars should consider the impact of tangential movements on high-risk social issues. In the last fifty years, Latin America witnessed both a stark rise in violence between drug trafficking organizations and militarized police forces, as well as a significant expansion of social movements. Few movements, however, have explicitly mobilized against drug violence due to the extreme dangers of speaking out against armed and corrupt actors. In this paper, we extend our understanding of social movements and drug violence by analyzing the relationship between feminist movements against gender-based violence—or feminist anti-violence (FAV)—and drug violence. We conceive FAV as a "tangential movement" to drug-related violence, mobilizing around its root causes and consequences without directly targeting its perpetrators. The paper examines case studies of feminist anti-violence movements in three cities: Ciudad Juárez, Mexico; Caracas, Venezuela; and Medellín, Colombia. We show that as feminist movements mobilize against gender-based violence, they provide an alternative, and safer, avenue for citizens to mobilize against drug-related violence by working to (a) curb intimate forms of abuse and trauma that create intergenerational cycles of violence; (b) decrease impunity by demanding the state hold perpetrators of violence accountable; (c) strengthen government institutions and their relations with civic organizations, thereby helping enforce democracy and human rights; (d) challenge patriarchal notions of violent masculinity; and (e) organize against structural inequality that bolsters participation in the drug trade. By considering how feminist anti-violence movements help address the underlying causes of drug violence, we can identify new pathways for organizing around human security in contexts where direct channels of confrontation are too risky. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary This paper studies the impact of mining activity on socioeconomic outcomes in local communities in Peru. In the 1990s and 2000s, the value of Peruvian mining exports grew by 15 times; and since the early 2000s, one-half of fiscal revenues from mining have been devolved to local governments. Has this boom benefitted people in local communities? Using the district-level “poverty map” of 2007 (the latest available with accurate data on consumption, poverty, and inequality) together with district-level data on mining production and fiscal transfers to local governments, we present some evidence to answer this question. We find that mining districts have larger average consumption per capita and lower poverty rates than otherwise similar districts. These positive impacts, however, decrease drastically with administrative and geographic distance from mining centers. Moreover, consumption inequality within mining districts is higher than in comparable nonproducing districts. This dual effect of mining is accounted for by, first, the better educated immigrants required and attracted by mining activity and, second, the jobs that some community natives obtain in industries and services related to mining. The inequalizing impact of mining, both across and within districts, may help explain the social discontent with mining in Peru, despite its enormous revenues. An area for future research highlighted in the paper regards the usefulness of fiscal transfers to local governments (the Mining Canon ), a key component of the fiscal decentralization reform of 2002. We find neither a detrimental nor a beneficial effect from the Mining Canon in Peru. Whether this is explained by our early measurement of results (5 years into the decentralization program) or by the lack of implementation capacity of local governments remains to be answered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Problematizes conventional arguments of state absence as a key problem for rural communities affected by illicit economies. • Traces how illicit and licit economies intertwine and contribute to state formation processes, including in historically marginalized areas. • Highlights the importance of ethnographic and mixed methods research for studying the illicit. • Proposes that broader transformations in policy, politics, and dominant economic narratives are required to enable rural development. Illicit economies have become a major driver of socio-environmental change in Latin America's rural spaces. The arrival of transnational drug trade networks in rural communities has significantly altered the economic, political, and social dynamics of entire regions. The drug trade has particularly affected the ancestral territories of Indigenous and Afro-descendent peoples, which coincide with significant areas of forests and high biodiversity, increasingly making trafficking an issue of racial and environmental justice as well. Furthermore, the decades-long drug wars, sponsored in large part by the United States Government, have fundamentally altered economic, social, environmental, and political conditions in areas of production and transshipment. The convergence of competing claims on rural spaces coupled with the violence provoked by the drug trade and state reactions to it enable and constrain possibilities for transformative action on the part of rural communities, and for development and governance projects. In this introduction to the Special Issue, we provide an overview of cross-cutting insights and key conceptual and methodological themes from the nine included papers. These findings challenge normative narratives of how illicit economies negatively affect political stability and economic development, problematizing especially the role of the state and market economies in this nexus. These papers also make clear the importance of mixed methods and ethnographic research that attends to questions of power to describe, explain, and transform illicit economies' roles in this dynamic region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary What accounts for variation in human development levels across similar communities? Why, for example, have some equally poor, indigenous, highland communities in Guatemala made advances in health and education while others have stagnated or regressed? This paper argues that, contrary to an emerging recognition of the role of “ordinary citizens” in peacebuilding or crime reduction, human development requires the complementarity of non-state leaders and government resources. Results are demonstrated through a quantitative analysis of all of Guatemala’s 334 municipalities, combined with a qualitative analysis, including over 250 key informant interviews and focus group participants from four paired communities throughout the Western Highlands, which effectively traces the implementation of a widely acclaimed government anti-hunger program. This paper underscores the variability in local governance present across short distances in Guatemala, with dramatic influence on local development outcomes. In most communities, the role of traditional leaders and other non-state actors is increasingly crowded out by political conflicts exacerbated by growing, and shifting political party and religious affiliations. In these instances, development governance has broken down and development resources are distributed along locally derived lines of patronage versus need. Elsewhere, however, where state actors have identified and incorporated the legitimacy, informal authority, and networks of traditional leaders at the village level, the implementation of the anti-hunger program is visibly more effective. The role of local, informal leaders is pivotal in legitimizing the program, mobilizing citizen participation, and overseeing more equitable distribution of key resources. The paper concludes with an exploration of what explains variation in the quality of local governance across space and its implications for development practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary This paper analyzes the impact of conditional cash transfers on the amount and type of child labor in poor households. It first develops a simple theoretical model where child labor and training are chosen to maximize inter-temporal household income, given constraints to social, household, and child endowments. Then, it conducts an empirical analysis using the randomized trial data collected to evaluate the 2006 Nicaragua conditional cash transfer (CCT) program. This social program transferred wealth to poor families in rural areas of the country conditional on children’s school attendance and health check-ups. One-third of the beneficiaries received, in addition, a wealth transfer to begin a non-agricultural business. The paper finds that the CCT program had a selective impact on the volume and quality of child labor, reducing it in the aggregate and steering it toward skill-forming activities. Specifically, the program appears to have reduced child labor for household chores and traditional farming while increasing it for non-traditional activities related to commerce and retail. These require the child to develop basic skills in reading and writing, arithmetic, and interpersonal relationships. Moreover, the paper finds that the source behind the increase in the better-quality type of child labor is not the basic component of the program but distinctively its business-grant intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper compares the innovativeness of group-affiliated firms (GAFs) and standalone firms (SAFs), and it investigates how country-specific institutional factors affect the group–innovation relationship. The paper analyzes the contrasting predictions of two competing views: the institutional voids and the organizational resilience theses. The empirical analysis focuses on a large sample of firms in Latin America. In line with the organizational resilience thesis, the results point out that the superior innovation performance of GAFs is stronger for national economies with more efficient financial, legal, and labor market institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• This paper performs a meta-analysis of the finance-growth nexus in Latin America and the Caribbean. • Results demonstrates that financial development and liberalization are likely to enhance economic growth in the region, and these policy measures have the potential to have a meaningful impact on the real economy. • It is also confirmed that the existing literature contains genuine empirical evidence of the growth-promoting effect of finance in the region. This paper performs a meta-analysis of the effect of financial development and liberalization on macroeconomic growth in Latin America and the Caribbean using a total of 233 estimates collected from 21 previous works. Meta-synthesis of the collected estimates demonstrates that it is probable that financial development and liberalization enhance economic growth in the region, and these policy measures have the potential to have a meaningful impact on the real economy. The synthesis results also reveal that the choice of financial variables significantly affects reported estimates in the literature. Meta-regression analysis of literature heterogeneity and test for publication selection bias produce findings that are compatible with the synthesis results. The test results of publication selection bias also confirm that the existing literature contains genuine empirical evidence of the growth-promoting effect of finance in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Buffer stock savings theories predict that more vulnerable households build up liquid savings in order to cope with income variability. Using data from 1801 marginalized Mexican households, this paper examines how household liquidity levels vary by income level and use of banking. The paper finds strong evidence of buffer stock savings in poor and vulnerable households. It also shows that membership in a financial cooperative is a determinant of higher household liquidity levels. Financial instruments are used more to confront idiosyncratic shocks than systemic shocks. Idiosyncratic shocks and remittances are important determinants of liquidity levels in unbanked households. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: This paper assesses the importance of agriculture poverty reduction, largely through its impact on overall economic growth, drawing on evidence from Latin America and other developing regions. The econometric evidence strongly suggests that the sector contributes to growth more than its share of GDP, certainly in Latin America but also elsewhere. Cross-country studies show that, on average in the developing world, agriculture tends to have an impact on both national growth and poverty reduction that is greater than its simple share of national GDP. The results reinforce the argument against taxing agriculture relative to other sectors and that in assigning government expenditures to public goods one should take into account the historical relationship between agricultural growth and the subsequent non-agricultural growth. The paper also considers approaches to stimulate the rural economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: This paper is an introduction to nine papers on the impact of globalization on inequality and poverty in Latin America, arising out of a conference organized in Rio under the auspices of a large-scale UNU-WIDER research project. Focusing on different manifestations of globalization and channels through which globalization affects poverty and inequality, the case studies in the present volume cover the spectrum from broad macroeconomic regional and country analyses to more micro-oriented studies in different settings in Central and South America. The case studies illustrate that the impact of globalization on poverty and inequality is extremely context specific. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Summary: The present paper considers a sometimes contentious process of land reform presently occurring in Brazil. This process, referred to in the paper as Direct Action Land Reform (DALR), involves organizations such as the Landless Rural Workers Movement (Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra, or MST) and more spontaneous actions of individuals desiring a piece of land for their own. Results of a survey covering 751 households engaged in such land reform actions in the Brazilian Amazon are presented, in order to describe participants and land reform processes. Evidently, social movement organizations provide for a modest degree of wealth accumulation, a welfare improvement that must be set against potential environmental costs. The paper concludes by calling attention to the challenge DALR may ultimately pose to the Brazilian state. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Summary: This special section brings together 4 of the 12 studies conducted within a research program analyzing the relationships among social mobilization, governance, and rural development in contemporary Latin America. The introduction gives an overview of the contemporary significance of social movements for rural development dynamics in the region, and of the principal insights of the section papers and the broader research program of which they were a part. This significance varies as an effect of two distinct and uneven geographies: the geography of social movements themselves and the geography of the rural political economy. The effects that movements have on the political economy of rural development also depend significantly on internal characteristics of these movements. The paper identifies several such characteristics. The general pattern is that movements have had far more effect on widening the political inclusiveness of rural development than they have on improving its economic inclusiveness and dynamism. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

During the past decade, diverse developing countries have introduced radical reforms in their collection of taxes. In more than 15 countries traditional tax departments have been granted the status of semi-autonomous revenue authorities (ARAs). This paper investigates the design and impact of ARAs in Latin America, arguing that politicians create ARAs in order to signal a credible commitment to taxpayers that tax administration will be more effective, fair, and competent. Using survey data from corporate taxpayers and tax professionals in Bolivia, Mexico, Peru, and Venezuela, the paper presents econometric analyses and performance indicators that support the hypothesis that there is a link between perceptions of credibility, performance, and agency autonomy. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The paper clarifies the "meso-economy" concept by defining it as comprising both the market mechanisms and administrative procedures through which policy decisions and market signals trickle down to the household level. Three main bodies of literature are reviewed: the policyoriented literature in which the meso-economy was initially considered; the transaction cost approach analyzing market and policy failures, and the "micro-economy" level of agricultural household models. The paper develops a synthesis of macro-, meso- and micro-economic perspectives, which focuses on the roles played by three levels of filters intervening along the policy chain. Implications for policy and research are drawn. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Analysis of employment across 10 occupations in 27 industries in Latin America show high level of gender segregation. • From 1990 to 2018, women's share of good jobs has increased, yet gender gap in access to good jobs remains substantial. • Public social spending is positively and significantly correlated with women's access to good jobs relative to men's. • Industrial upgrading benefits only men. • There is a non-linear relationship between technological advances in industrial sector and the quality of women's employment. Latin America has seen vast improvements in gender educational and health equality. Favorable supply-side conditions, however, have not translated into greater gender economic equality, a process that also depends on structural economic change and global macroeconomic conditions. In this paper, we assess the role of a variety of macro-level policies and structures in influencing trends in women's access to high-quality jobs for a sample of 15 countries in Latin America over the period 1990–2018. Using micro-level data, we first evaluate women's relative share of good jobs, defined in terms of women's weekly earnings in an industry or occupation relative to the national median wage. Further, we econometrically estimate the association between a variety of macro-level variables and the relative quality of women's jobs. Results indicate that the most significant and robust positive correlate of women's relative access to good jobs is public social spending as a share of GDP. Other important macro-covariates include measures of labor market regulation, monetary and fiscal policy, and macroeconomic structure and global orientation, including financial openness. The results suggest that macro-level structures and policies related to globalization that hamper the achievement of greater gender equality can be offset by appropriately targeted government policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We assess how the adoption of a common-law style model affects crime rates, pretrial detention, and judicial efficiency. • There was an increase of 7.05 homicides for every 100000 inhabitants in treated municipalities associated with the reform. • The effect was nonetheless much greater in municipalities that had an established organized crime presence before the reform. • There is a reduction of 16% in the use of pretrial detention for property crimes, but not for homicides. • Our results suggest that most of the negative effects are related to organized crime. This paper assesses how the adoption of a common-law style model affects crime rates, pretrial detention, and judicial efficiency measures. We do this in the context of Mexico, where a judicial reform was fully implemented by 2016, both on the state and federal levels. Using a generalized synthetic control group approach (Xu, 2017) and municipality-level administrative data for the years 1997–2012, we find that the reform increased the homicide rate and was accompanied by a reduction in the use of pretrial detention for property crimes in the early implementer municipalities. The increase in the homicide rate was, nonetheless, much greater in the municipalities with established organized crime presence, where we also observed a greater reduction in the capacity to effectively prosecute homicides. Our results describe the difficulties in implementing this kind of reform in developing countries experiencing security crises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The study of vote-buying has generally focused on the distributive strategies of political parties at the expense of assessing its effectiveness. • We study the correlation between electoral handouts and voting behavior using surveys from 37 elections in Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America. • The distribution of election handouts and voting preferences show little correlation, especially in sub-Saharan African elections. Vote-buying—or the pre-electoral distribution of private goods in exchange for support at the ballot box—is often blamed for the poor economic performance of many developing countries. By pressuring individuals to vote against their own interest, vote-buying may undermine accountability and the implementation of sound development policies. Yet, these effects depend on it leading to electoral outcomes that would not have occurred otherwise. In this paper we use survey data from 17 sub-Saharan African elections between 2000 and 2005 and 20 Latin American elections between 2005 and 2010 to show that, despite its widespread prevalence, vote-buying has a limited electoral impact on average: in only 11 of 37 elections are gifts-for-votes practices correlated with higher turnout; yet, in only very few elections could have these gifts translated into visible electoral advantages for a particular party. This contrasts with common perceptions about the effectiveness of electoral handouts and the quality of the elections in these regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary Participatory approaches have proven effective at producing more inclusive and democratic forms of development, in which marginalized groups are given increased recognition. However, these approaches can also reinforce social hierarchies and political exclusion if they are not developed and implemented carefully. In particular, participatory approaches can be problematic if they too simplistically conceptualize democratic engagement as the folding of individuals into pre-existing governance structures. Utilizing a combination of feminist and postcolonial theories, this paper argues that practitioners of participatory methods must extend their thinking to the ways in which their projects foster engagement across multiple social and epistemological perspectives. Participatory geographic information systems (PGIS) methodologies are particularly effective at enabling these cross-perspectival engagements—geospatial technologies have unique capabilities for storing and visualizing knowledge from different types of knowledge systems. These different forms of knowledge can not only be visualized as multi-facetted and multi-scalar layers, but they can be directly placed in conversation with one another within the space of the map. In this way, they can be used to fundamentally transform historically unjust governance practices, rather than simply folding new subjects into unjust political structures. The authors examine these claims in the context of a case study with the Maijuna indigenous group of the northeastern Peruvian Amazon. The authors collaborated with the Maijuna to create and use a digital, spatial database to influence policy decisions about land tenure and environmental management. We show that geospatial technologies were uniquely capable of encouraging dialog and integration across indigenous, Western scientific, and state-based perspectives of the Amazon. These technologies are particularly effective at empowering traditionally marginalized perspectives within governance processes. This project therefore offers lessons about the benefits and dangers of geospatial technologies and methodologies for improving the democratic potential of development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The common notion that extreme poverty is the "natural" condition of humanity and only declined with the rise of capitalism rests on income data that do not adequately capture access to essential goods. • Data on real wages suggests that, historically, extreme poverty was uncommon and arose primarily during periods of severe social and economic dislocation, particularly under colonialism. • The rise of capitalism from the long 16th century onward is associated with a decline in wages to below subsistence, a deterioration in human stature, and an upturn in premature mortality. • In parts of South Asia, sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America, wages and/or height have still not recovered. • Where progress has occurred, significant improvements in human welfare began only around the 20th century. These gains coincide with the rise of anti-colonial and socialist political movements. This paper assesses claims that, prior to the 19th century, around 90% of the human population lived in extreme poverty (defined as the inability to access essential goods), and that global human welfare only began to improve with the rise of capitalism. These claims rely on national accounts and PPP exchange rates that do not adequately capture changes in people's access to essential goods. We assess this narrative against extant data on three empirical indicators of human welfare: real wages (with respect to a subsistence basket), human height, and mortality. We ask whether these indicators improved or deteriorated with the rise of capitalism in five world regions - Europe, Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia and China – using the chronology put forward by world-systems theorists. The evidence we review here points to three conclusions. (1) It is unlikely that 90% of the human population lived in extreme poverty prior to the 19th century. Historically, unskilled urban labourers in all regions tended to have wages high enough to support a family of four above the poverty line by working 250 days or 12 months a year, except during periods of severe social dislocation, such as famines, wars, and institutionalized dispossession – particularly under colonialism. (2) The rise of capitalism caused a dramatic deterioration of human welfare. In all regions studied here, incorporation into the capitalist world-system was associated with a decline in wages to below subsistence, a deterioration in human stature, and an upturn in premature mortality. In parts of South Asia, sub-Saharan Africa, and Latin America, key welfare metrics have still not recovered. (3) Where progress has occurred, significant improvements in human welfare began several centuries after the rise of capitalism. In the core regions of Northwest Europe, progress began in the 1880s, while in the periphery and semi-periphery it began in the mid-20th century, a period characterized by the rise of anti-colonial and socialist political movements that redistributed incomes and established public provisioning systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• This paper measures the Quality of Employment (QoE) from a multidimensional perspective in nine Latin American countries. • The index includes three dimensions: income, job security and employment conditions. • Using the Alkire/Foster method, it constructs a synthetic indicator of the QoE that identifies the most vulnerable workers. • This paper highlights important differences between the QoE in different Latin American countries. • While Chile has the best results in the region, Paraguay has the worst, followed by Mexico, Bolivia and Peru. This paper proposes a methodology for measuring the quality of employment from a multidimensional and public policy perspective in Latin American developing countries (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay) using household and labour force survey data from 2015. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that the QoE can be measured using a multidimensional methodology that can inform policy makers about the state of their labour markets in a way that complements traditional variables such as participation or unemployment rates, which are not always good indicators of labour market performance in developing countries with large informal sectors. Building on the framework of the capability approach as well as on previous work on multidimensional poverty, we use the Alkire/Foster (AF) method to construct a synthetic indicator of the quality of employment (QoE) at an individual level. We select three dimensions that must be considered as both instrumentally and intrinsically important to workers and the functions and capabilities generated by their employment situation: income, job security and employment conditions. Job security is then divided into two sub-dimensions (occupational status and job tenure), as is employment conditions (social security affiliation and excessive working hours). A threshold is then established within each dimension and sub-dimension to determine whether a person is deprived or not within each dimension, before establishing an overall cut-off line and calculating composite levels of deprivation. The results generated by this indicator are, first, highly relevant to policy makers as they allow for the precise identification of groups of vulnerable workers as well as of dimensions and indicators, which contribute to deprivation in the labour market. Second, they extend the debate about employment in developing countries to variables not commonly considered by the literature as being critical to the well-being of workers and their dependents, such as occupational status and job tenure. Third, this paper highlights important difference between Latin American countries, both in terms of the overall QoE Index result as well as its component dimensions. While Chile presents the best results in the region, Paraguay presents the worst, followed by Mexico, Bolivia and Peru. However, Chile, Peru, Columbia and Brazil, for example, have the biggest problem with job rotation. Finally, the paper highlights that low rates of unemployment are not necessarily related to low rates of deprivation in terms of the QoE. In fact, in some countries analysed (e.g. Mexico) the opposite is true. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary This paper builds on the case study work into conflict between mining firms and nearby communities through a statistical analysis of the determinants of social conflict at the local level in the mining sector in Latin America. The analysis is based on an original dataset of 640 geo-located mining properties at the advanced exploration stage and above, which includes GIS information on environment and land-use patterns around the property, sub-national socio-economic characteristics of the population, firm and mining property characteristics, as well as information about known social conflicts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary This paper shows that workers who do not receive legally mandated benefits due to employer noncompliance take a negative perspective – not only toward the employer as it has been documented – but also against the state. They consider that the state did not protect their rights, and hence feel fewer obligations to comply with their duties as citizens. Using a list experiment, as well as household data from nine Latin American countries, we show that nonregistered workers are less likely to obey the law, pay taxes, and vote compared to registered workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary A growing number of extraterritorial private-sector actors, often in partnership with the state, are expanding the frontiers of extractive and primary export economies to new rural territories in Latin America. This paper analyzes the conditions that might drive meaningful efforts to address environmental problems in territories dominated by large, externally controlled natural resource-based activities. It studies three cases: salmon aquaculture in Chiloé (Chile), fruit growing in O’Higgins (Chile), and gas production in Tarija (Bolivia). We conclude that such efforts are unlikely to occur unless environmental problems directly threaten the short-term viability of the activities or social movements emerge to demand change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary Linkage to dynamic markets is a key factor in understanding why different rural territories in Latin America perform differently. This paper combines two conceptual frameworks (from the new economic geography and economic sociology) for an in-depth analysis of the mechanisms that operate in this linkage and to identify key factors that allow for inclusive economic development. This analysis considers three rural territories that exemplify market linkages frequently observed in Latin America, where, although high transaction costs and limited access to financial capital prevail, other types of capital (social, cultural, and human capital) available to rural dwellers can be mobilized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary This article is the introduction to a volume containing findings from a program conducted over five years in 11 Latin America countries, to answer three questions: (1) Are there rural territories that have experienced simultaneous economic growth, poverty reduction, and improved distribution of income?; (2) What factors determine these territorial dynamics?, and; (3) What can be done to stimulate and promote this kind of territorial dynamics? The article outlines the analytical and policy issues and the methodology, summarizes the remaining 10 papers in the collection, and presents a conceptual framework that itself is one of the results of the program. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary This paper explores the importance of processes in institutional change and the relationship between processes and patterns of change. Using an ongoing case of police reform in Rio de Janeiro, the police pacification units (Unidades de Polícia Pacificadora) as an illustration, we develop two claims. First, the concept of reflective planning, developed by urban planning scholars, may help development scholars understand processes of institutional change. Second, some patterns, such as the institutional bypass, when combined with particular processes, such as reflective planning, may reinforce each other and further the objectives of reform processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Income inequality in developing countries tended to decline during the 2000s. • This did not just apply to Latin America: inequality fell in many other countries. • The tendency was stronger in countries with higher initial levels of inequality. • It was also stronger in countries subject to larger increases in commodity prices. • We also find a role for more redistributive fiscal policy, but only in Latin America. Since the early 2000s, trends in income inequality in emerging and developing economies have undergone a noticeable shift. While inequality tended to increase during the 1980s and 1990s, it has tended to fall since the early 2000s. In this paper we analyse the correlates of declining income inequality among emerging and developing economies during the 2000s. We estimate country-specific trends in market and disposable income inequality for a large sample of over 100 countries, and then use econometric analysis to examine the correlates of those trends. We find that the tendency toward declining inequality in the 2000s was stronger in countries with higher initial levels of inequality and larger increases in relative agricultural productivity, country-specific primary commodity prices, and remittance inflows. We also find a role for increases in educational attainments, tax revenues and government social spending, and trade liberalisation, but only in Latin America. The results suggest that the challenge now facing many emerging and developing countries is how to sustain the reductions in inequality achieved since the early 2000s, given the decline in commodity prices since 2015, and the social and economic repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: How can policymakers circumvent obstacles to taxing economic elites? This question is critical for developing countries, especially in Latin America where strengthening tax capacity depends significantly on tapping under-taxed, highly-concentrated income and profits. Drawing on diverse literatures and extensive fieldwork, the paper identifies six strategies that facilitate enactment of modest tax increases by mobilizing popular support and/or tempering elite antagonism. Case studies from Chile, Argentina, and Bolivia illustrate the effect of these strategies on the fate of tax reform initiatives. The analysis builds theory on tax politics and yields implications for research on reform coalitions and gradual institutional change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: This paper challenges the idea that there exists a unique model of reform for infrastructure sectors which is equally applicable across regions and countries and expected to yield similar outcomes. We perform an empirical analysis of the impact of privatization of the fixed-line activity of the traditional telecommunications operator on network expansion, tariffs, and labor efficiency in a 1985–2007 data set on a selection of 108 countries that we split into regional sub-samples. We find that the performance of privatization depends to a large extent on regional factors related to market profitability, wealth, and geography. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: This paper documents and compares the redistributive performance of Latin American and Western European fiscal systems. Three main conclusions emerge: (i) taxes and transfers widen the difference in income inequality between the two country groups, because (ii) the redistributive impact of the fiscal system is very large in Europe and very small in Latin America; and (iii) where fiscal redistribution is significant, it is achieved mostly through transfers rather than taxes. While the priorities of pro-equity fiscal reforms vary across Latin American countries, overall the prospects for major fiscal redistribution lie mainly in raising the volume of resources available for transfers, and improving their targeting, rather than increasing the progressivity of Latin America’s tax systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: This paper examines how agricultural modernization and tradition interact among small-scale commercially-oriented maize farmers by studying shifts in area and number of farmers planting hybrids and landraces. Results show substantial yield increases but reductions in production and area planted, associated with widespread hybrid adoption and landrace abandonment. Agricultural government programs have played an important role fostering commercialization and hybrid adoption. Cultural preferences, and possibly an anti-poverty program coupled with women’s empowerment, have fostered landrace retention. Hybrids and landraces have overlapping functions in farmers’ livelihoods influenced by interdependent production and consumption decisions, cultural preferences, and imperfect markets even under agricultural modernization. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Summary: This paper queries the common assumption that market linkages contribute to the loss of agricultural biodiversity, thereby threatening long-term food security. Drawing upon empirical data collected from two villages in the Guatemalan highlands, it documents how various types of market engagements are related to the on-farm conservation of maize diversity. While some market activities are associated with lower measures of diversity, most forms of market provisioning—including the allocation of resources to market production—are not. The quantity of land controlled by farmers is positively correlated with maize diversity and is an important determinant of their participation in the market economy. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Summary: In this paper, we use unique data from firm level surveys among foreign-owned and domestic producer firms as well as domestic suppliers to obtain novel direct empirical evidence on the level, supportive nature, and impact of input–output linkages in Monterrey, Mexico. Our main empirical findings are threefold. First, FDI firms and Mexican firms do not differ in their level of use of local suppliers of material inputs and production services. Second, we find evidence of a variety of types of support that producer firms transmit to their local suppliers. Importantly, FDI firms are significantly more supportive than Mexican firms. This applies in particular to types of support that are linked closely to improving the production processes of suppliers. We also find that several other producer firm characteristics are associated with the use of local suppliers or the provision of support. Third, we find significant differences between maquiladora firms of different generations regarding the scale and nature of their impact among local suppliers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: The Mexican PROGRESA/Oportunidades anti-poverty and human resource conditional cash transfer (CCT) program has influenced considerably policies in many countries. The Mexican government engaged the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) to undertake the initial evaluation of PROGRESA/Oportunidades. This paper considers: [(1)] Was the PROGRESA program design influenced by prior IFPRI research? [(2)] Why was IFPRI chosen to undertake the initial impact evaluation of PROGRESA? [(3)] How did the IFPRI evaluation of PROGRESA contribute to the program? [(4)] Were there spillovers of the IFPRI evaluation of PROGRESA? It concludes that estimated benefit–cost ratios of IFPRI’s evaluation of PROGESA considerably exceed one. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Despite two decades of rapid growth, indigenous Chileans are reported to face high poverty rates. However, non-representative surveys provide imprecise estimates of income, so quantifying poverty and inequality has been difficult. This paper estimates poverty and inequality using poverty mapping. In contrast to the previous studies, however, we use ethnicity rather than geography as a basis for disaggregation. We find that indigenous Chileans are indeed poorer, although we also find significant heterogeneity among ethnic groups. In addition, income inequality is generally lower for indigenous groups. These reliable estimates of poverty and inequality may improve the antipoverty targeting criteria used in Chile. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Summary: This paper focuses on measuring the extent to which publicly subsidized transfers in Latin America and the Caribbean redistribute income. The redistributive power of 56 transfers in eight countries is measured by their simulated impacts on poverty and inequality, and by their distributional characteristic. Our findings suggest that public transfers can be effective instruments to redistribute income to the poor. Despite coverage and distributional patterns that favor the poor, small unit subsidies limit the redistributive, poverty and inequality impacts of even the most targeted social assistance programs. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Summary: Although the ultimate success of labor regulation in many economic sectors depends on a combination of state and private actors, to date, researchers have not studied the interaction between state and private regulation. What happens when these forms of regulation meet on the factory floor? Based on a case study of labor inspection and code of conduct implementation in the Dominican Republic, this paper argues that the comparative advantages of state and private actors can drive complementary state–private regulation. These findings suggest that private-voluntary initiatives can reinforce, rather than displace, state regulation. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Summary: Biofortification is increasingly seen as an additional tool to combat micronutrient malnutrition. This paper estimates the costs and potential benefits of biofortification of globally important staple food crops with provitamin A, iron, and zinc for twelve countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Using a modification of the Disability-Adjusted Life Years framework we conclude that overall, the intervention can make a significant impact on the burden of micronutrient deficiencies in the developing world in a highly cost-effective manner. Results differ by crop, micronutrient, and country; and major reasons underlying these differences are identified to inform policy. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Summary: This paper links employment dynamics to the business cycle in Argentina and examines the self-employed sector. We evaluate whether this sector resembles the industrialized countries view, where it is characterized as being creative and dynamic, or the dualistic view, where it is seen as stagnant and unproductive. We study transition patterns from salaried positions and unemployment, and the evolution of the sector in the period of analysis. We found a clear segmentation. Own-account workers (accounting for over two-thirds of the self-employed) show characteristics similar to what is predicted by the dualistic view; while self-employed with employees resembles the industrialized countries view. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Summary: This paper examines the relationship between the employment of children and their mothers, with the aim of informing discussion on efforts to reduce child labor in Brazil. The analysis builds on the largely separate literatures on children’s time use and mothers’ work in two ways—by examining characteristics of employment which are often not available in survey data, and by modeling both children’s work and mothers’ employment. The results suggest that the relationship between children’s and mothers’ work is complex, with substantial evidence of positive correlation. The findings are consistent with the argument that anti-poverty programs that target women’s employment could result in increased child labor. This possibility warrants further analysis in order to better inform policy regarding child labor. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Summary: More than half of those who emigrate from developing countries move to other developing countries, yet there have been few studies of the impact of this South–South migration. In this paper, we examine the impact of migration from one developing country, Nicaragua, on the labor market in another developing country, Costa Rica. We find little evidence to support the hypothesis that Nicaraguan migration to Costa Rica was an important factor contributing to falling earnings, increased inequality or stagnating poverty in Costa Rica. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Summary: Today unemployment rates in several Latin American countries are similar or even higher than the highest unemployment rates among OECD economies. Open unemployment has become, for the first time in the region’s history, a major dimension of the employment problem. This paper examines the role of the real exchange rate (RER) in the recent unemployment performance of Latin America. It presents a model of the determinants of unemployment, the channels through which the RER influences unemployment performance, as well as the stylized facts and empirical results about this relationship giving special attention to the cases of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Mexico. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Why do emigration rates vary across Latin America? Since more than three-quarters of Latin America’s emigrants go to the United States, the paper estimates a model of emigration to the United States to isolate the fundamentals driving Latin American emigration. The model is estimated separately for all sending countries and for Latin America, asking whether migrants from the two respond differently to fundamentals. They do not. The estimates are then used to identify the sources of Latin American emigration since the early 1970s and compares them with those of Africa and Asia. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The paper draws on recent evidence––economic, sociological and anthropological––from Latin America to forward a view of the informal sector in developing countries primarily as an unregulated microentrepreneurial sector and not as a disadvantaged residual of segmented labor markets. It offers alternative explanations for many of the characteristics of the sector customarily regarded as evidence of its inferiority. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper addresses the hypothesis that higher labor standards––in particular freedom of association and collective bargaining rights––and higher wages in the formal sector reduce employment in that sector and thereby contribute to the informalization of employment. This issue is explored using panel data on specific categories of formal and informal employment for 14 Latin American countries in the 1990s, evaluating both crosscountry and time-series variation. Our most robust finding is that countries with higher labor standards tend to have higher shares of formal employment and lower shares of informal employment. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper explores some of the main elements behind poor productivity performance in Latin America under neoliberal reforms. I argue that free market reforms addressed only some of the elements shaping productivity growth, while neglecting others that are complementary and necessary for increases in productivity. A means comparison of different indicators for Latin America and a comparison income group shows that Latin American countries demonstrate, on average, poorer performance in technological capabilities, secondary enrollment rates and infrastructure. More activist government policies need to address these issues, if productivity is to rise in the future. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]