Search

This paper investigates the cumulative production of knowledge about the development of Latin America, in general, and Argentina, in particular, from the case of Economic Development, in the period 1958-1975. The author proposes, through a conceptual theoretical analysis, that the accumulation of knowledge is evidenced by gradually posing new analysis variables and questions. Between 1958 and 1959, a central problem was the transformation of an agrarian productive structure into an industrial one. Between 1961 and 1969, the above is assumed, and includes social and political aspects of Latin American underdevelopment. Between 1970 and 1975, the magazine publishes discussions on dependency and on some specific experiences of underdevelopment, condensing problematizations and findings from the two previous periods. [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]

The objectives of the paper are to identify the types of State that propose the main economic approaches that were designed after the perfect competition model, and to make approximations to the size of the identified States. The analysis method is composed of two steps: selection of the key functions that are required for the implementation of economic processes, and definition of the degree of State intervention in these functions. The results indicate that the minimum States are diverse and that the planning States are different. Of the approaches that base the coordination of economic processes in the market, the ultra-minimal versions of the State are those designed by the perfect competition model and Pareto welfare economics, while the most extensive exposures are those drawn by development economics and Latin American structuralism with the welfare State and the developmental State, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Performance Audits are among the competences of many Supreme Audit Institutions (sais), both in developed and developing countries. However, the level of real implementation of this technique in Latin America is underexplored. This paper aims to contribute to the analysis of the implementation of performance audits in Latin-American countries. This paper analyzed the situation of performance auditing in Latin America through a comparative study based on the evidence obtained from the websites of the sais and on a questionnaire sent to them. Results show a common rhetoric with respect to the importance of this technique but variations in practice. These variations can be explained by three reasons: rhetorical implementation, lack of fit between this technique and the problems facing Latin American countries and different levels of political and economic development. Access to information is quite difficult, fears to answer the questionnaire and lack of accessibility to the reports makes having a full picture a daunting task. Latin American sais should reevaluate the type of performance audit that suits their aims and adapt rather than adopt the tools developed in countries with different problems in public management. This paper offers a broad view of performance audit in Latin America. It reflects the effort of international organization and the limitations that performance audits confront in certain settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper offers an empirical analysis of how US unconventional monetary policy has affected Latin American countries. First, we estimate the effects of US monetary policy announcements on sovereign bond interest rates, exchange rates, and stock market indices for a set of emerging countries, including five Latin American economies. We found that QE announcements in 2008/2009 and the tapering talk in 2013 generated sizable sovereign yield and exchange rate fluctuations. We further find, just in a few cases, some excessive response of asset prices in Latin American countries. In the second part of the paper, we estimate a simple model that measures the influence of country-specific macroeconomic fundamentals on the transmission of US financial disturbances. An estimated model including the inflation rate, the CDS spread, the ratio of official reserves and market capitalization explains some of the observed cross-country heterogeneity of spillovers from US monetary policy announcements. Under this model, a greater impact from the normalization of US monetary policy can be expected in Latin America relative to other emerging economies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the convergence hypothesis and the impact of social policy on the economic growth of the six largest countries in Latin America between 1980 and 2010. Results suggest that social public policies have positively influenced growth in these economies. Particularly, there are non-observed variables (fixed effects) that positively affect the economic growth in Venezuela and Chile; however, there are other non-observed variables that may be negatively affecting growth in Brazil and Mexico. Regarding the convergence hypothesis, results reveal that the speed of convergence diminishes as real income rises, implying that these countries might be converging to their stable states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the universe of literature on franchises, several studies have examined the impact of franchising on economic growth, tending to focus on growth rather than development, although the empirical research has already concluded that franchising does have an influence on economic growth. Likewise, some articles have underscored the importance and influence of franchising on development, but have failed to provide empirical proof of its true sway. With that in mind, this paper provides empirical evidence demonstrating the relationship between franchising and development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the explaining factors of the presence of the middle income trap (and slow economic growth trap). It also incorporates the criteria to measure whether any economy falls within those categories. Additionally, it evaluate a sample of 18 Latin American economies and the regional average between 1870 and 2014 under different methodologies for incorporated these in the tipology. It is concluded that most of the economies of the region and the whole are in the middle income trap or slow economic growth conditions and that the probability of reaching the status of high-income economy would be very reduced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper revives Fernando Fajnzylber's methodology, used to characterize Latin America's development pattern from the nineteen-sixties to the nineteen-eighties, leading him to describe it as a non-equitable growth pattern, which he termed the empty box. This time around, we analyze the last thirty years, aiming to reveal how the development pattern in the region has fundamentally changed, if it has changed at all, and find evidence as to whether the empty box, pursuant to its original definition, persists or not. Implicitly, the task is to propose a critical analysis of Latin American economic development in line with a classic structuralist work, as Fajnyzylber's research is. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The international financial crisis of 2008-09 exposed the strengths and weaknesses of the current paradigm of development in Latina America, a paradigm based on liberalized capital accounts and significantly improved macroeconomic conditions. This paper presents lessons derived from the crisis, not only for the region it self, but also for other developing countries that might seek economic growth in the context of greater integration to the international capital markets. Some of the lessons are not new but have been reinforced by the crisis, such as Latin America's imperative need for export diversification (not only in products but in partners). Other lessons break with longstanding myths about the region, such as its inability to undertake counter-cyclical policies -at least on the monetary side. Yet other lessons reflect new developments in the current growth paradigm, such as a renewed assessment of (1) the relative roles of foreign and domestic banks in shielding the financial system against external shocks and (2) the potential costs of adopting blanket international financial regulations that do not account for a country's degree of development. Taken together, the lessons in this paper bring a new sense of optimism for growth in Latin America. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to provide a basis for rethinking the approach of development in Latin America through the changes linked to the crisis of industrial capitalism and the ongoing transition toward a "cognitive capitalism". The analysis is organised in three parts. The first one sketches the structural crisis of the industrialist paradigm inherited from development theories during the period 1950-1980. The second part stresses the constraints and challenges implied by the new shape of international division of labour based on cognitive principles and on the strengthening of intellectual property rights' systems. Finally, the third part tries to identify certain features of a post-industrial development strategy for Latin American countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses some of the challenges related to integration and cooperation in Latin America: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, a clear platform that involves every country in the region, as well as various actors, and trade negotiations in the twenty-first century, in particular, mega-regional agreements whose scopes are limited to a few countries. Latin America is currently exploring the possibilities of convergence and cooperation in a context of diverse geopolitical interests. This will require adopting a flexible and inclusive approach. The experiences of Asia and Africa in this arena will undoubtedly be relevant. Achieving convergence will be crucial to fostering cooperation and coordinating policies to respond to the challenges of globalization. The region will also have to find new resources and models for national and international funding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the early sixties the term 'marginalisation' began to be used in Latin America in the social sciences to refer to the heterogeneous and inequitable effects of the processes of industrialisation and development. The term began to be used in the front-line between two paradigms in conflict, allowing for two different forms of interpretation: the notion of social or cultural marginalisation developed within modernisation theory, and the notion of economic marginalisation developed by dependence theory. This paper aims to review the characteristics that the concept of marginalisation acquired within each of these conceptual frameworks, focusing on works by Gino Germani, José Nun and Miguel Murmis. Last of all, the paper outlines the main arguments included in the contemporary form of the concept and its potential applicability to current circumstances in Latin America. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Latin America has been dominated by growth expansions that, more often than not, have ended in crises and protracted periods of stagnation. This has led to poor growth performance during most of the past century. This paper reviews Latin American growth experiences and discusses some particular areas that help to explain why sustainable growth has been so elusive in the region. In particular, it discusses the role of openness and intraregional trade, the role of institutions, macroeconomic stability and inequality, all factors that are central to resume and maintain growth. The paper also discusses more general issues related to growth, such as the importance of protecting property rights and having an adequate structure of rewards to effort, which includes equal opportunities. Finally, a brief overview on current macroeconomic developments is presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the hypothesis of regional convergence in Latin America through a non-linear growth model for the time period 1950-2010. The methodology combines three approaches: the threshold autoregressive model (tar), panel data unit root tests and calculating critical values with a bootstrapping simulation. The results of the tests applied to the per capita gross domestic product (gdp) of two groups of countries in Latin America (the wealthiest and then all nations in the region) suggest that the linear model is superior to the non-linear model and show no evidence of partial or absolute convergence. We did not identify a group of countries in the region with higher per capita income that would behave as a leading economy. Our results cast doubt on other studies conducted with linear tests that did find conditional convergence in some countries in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The World Bank is an important external funder of health aid to developing countries. However, many accounts of health sector change and reform do not account for the role that international financial institutions may play in these policy changes. In this paper, I review the World Bank's health policies since 1975, discussing its changing role and policies for developing countries' health policies. I then summarize the existing empirical evidence for the effect of the World Bank in developing countries' health sectors, focusing on Latin American countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ODA has proved a useful tool for the advancement of societies the world's neediest, including Latin America. This paper will analyze first the historical context in which it arose this dependence and the role they are playing donor countries, especially Spain and Portugal. Subsequently, we analyze the consistency of cooperation policies to see how it affects the geographic areas and sectors neediest in Latin America. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we focus on the evolution of the strategies of autonomy, which have characterized foreign policies implemented in Latin America since the decade of the seventies. Taking the international relations theory debate, that ranges from rationalist positions to reflectivism, as a starting point, we adopt some contributions of the realistic and transnational approaches, the dependency theories that characterize the Latin American debate, and the contributions of the constructivist approach. We consider that this evolution has three distinct stages: a traditional autonomy, from the decade of the seventies, a relational autonomy --worked further by Tokatlian and Russell (2000)--, and, currently, a process of rethinking the strategies of autonomy due to the transformations in the development models and the political regimes of some countries and the consequent changes in foreign policy interests. These changes are caused by a post-neoliberal agenda that favors regional armonization, based on the constructivist approach, over the relations with the United States, with a meaning that is different from prior periods but that preserves the contents of the sociopolitical agenda on the economic and commercial agreements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the importance of integration and identity as country strategies to promote better ways to market their products and sales of services to those involved in partnerships for generating complementary methods in common markets. Countries, especially those with weaknesses in meeting needs have sought ways associative integration, through the simple bilateral agreements, to the formation of economic communities, characterized by monetary integration, fiscal, labor, tariff, etc. In Latin America it is common to find a number of economic agreements signed between countries, such as the Andean Community of Nations (CAN), Group of three (Colombia, Mexico and Venezuela), CARICOM, which is a common trade agreement Caribbean. All these arrangements are designed to facilitate exchanges that make them viable complementary processes for generating default tariff markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

El objetivo central del siguiente trabajo es reflexionar acerca de los efectos observados por la crisis subprime en los Objetivos del Mileno en América Latina. La hipótesis que guía esta investigación es que la crisis global de 2008 frenó el cumplimiento de los Objetivos del Mileno, contuvo los niveles de crecimiento en América Latina, precarizó las condiciones laborales y aumentó los índices de pobreza regional. The main goal of the following paper is to reflect on the effects of subprime crisis on the Objectives of the Millennium in Latin America. As the hypothesis leading this research it can be said that the world crisis in 2008 stopped the levels of economical growth in Latin America, turned labor conditions unstable and increased regional poverty indicators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper examines the relationship between the performance of Latin American stock markets with their real economies, applying seven econometric models for the cases of Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Mexico. The relationship between stock market yields in these countries and their respective GDPS is examined and compared, applying to the series for each country unit root tests, cointegration analysis, error correction model analysis, Granger causality modeling, self-regression vector analysis, stimulus and response functions, and variance decomposition analysis. The series comprise the following stock markets: Argentina's MERVAL, Brazil's BOVESPA, Chile's IGPA, and Mexico's IPC, as compiled by Economática. The GDP series were obtained from the Cepalstat data base. The series are monthly and are for the period 1993-2005. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two of the solutions that governments propose in order to foster economic and social development are economic growth and international commerce. In this context, a greater understanding of the influence of international commerce and economic growth in undernutrition in Latin America would be necessary; this is the objective of this paper, that we achieve thanks to the bibliography available. Concerning the fight to undernutrition, both solutions separately are not enough, and the improvement of undernutrition indexes in Latin America should be accompanied with measures that allow the deprived people to benefit from commerce and growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper a study on the impact of Foreign Direct Investment on Economic Growth in 14 Latin American countries is presented. With this purpose the relationship of Foreign Direct Investment per capita with Gross Domestic Production per capita variation (as a proxy for Economic Growth) and Private Capital per capita variation during the period 1996-2003 were analyzed. A model with two simultaneous equations that are solved using fixed-effects panel for both analysis of countries and the study of the time effect. The results allows concluding that for those countries studied the Foreign Direct Investment boosts both the Private Capital per capita accumulation and the Income per capita growth. The Institutional Quality, mainly that related to private property rights protection and individual freedom, are determining factors for Growth. It was finally found that Public Investment also boosts Growth and the countries considered in the analysis show conditional convergence, which is consistent with the mainstream literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies how the socialpolitical and judicial factors have affected private investment in Venezuela and Latin America for the period 1995- 2003 by means of panel data analysis. In the case of Venezuela, there is evidence that the fall in the investment rate in Venezuela has been caused by these factors. In this way, it is necessary that not only the Venezuelan government but also the other Latin American governments begin working on the creation and strengthening of institutions so that risks are reduced and stability is enhanced. In this way, it is possible to endorse a sustained economic growth and better standards of living for Latin American citizens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents some reflections about the possibilities which the development offers as a theoritical-pratical concept, capable of allowing the Latin American people to think of themselves, in an environment- of neoliberal globalization- hostile to their interests and finding out the ways that could take them to overcome the actual facet of transition characterised by the tough questionings to the postures of "consensus of Washington" and forges others of different content. The hypothesis which guided the elaboration of the work was that the theorisations of the Latin American thinkers that always have responded to the necessity of finding out the ways of social transformation. Since then, the development- understood sometimes as progress, sometimes like modernisation, some other times like social change and lastly, like merely economic growth-, can be considered one of the articulating concepts of Latin American thought. Consequently, there are some other reflections about the way that the Latin Americans have tried to understand their reality and up to which extent they have brought up their transformation. Above all, the reconceptualisation of development must be done considering the actual facet of capitalism; it is to say, under the conditions of neoliberal globalization and overcoming the slanted visions which consider its economic front only, putting sideways the social dimensions implied in the development. It is, thus, about rethinking and conceptualising the development submitting economic reason to the social reason. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's rapid economic growth and increased openness has been one of the most significant developments in the global economy over the past 25 years. This paper analyses Chinas impacts on the Latin American economies, and in particular the challenges that China poses for the region. It discusses both the direct impacts arising from bilateral trade and investment flows between China and Latin America, the indirect impacts associated with Chinese competition in export markets and for foreign direct investment, and the positive terms of trade effects resulting from Chinas increased demand for raw materials. Challenges identified include the recent rapid increase of competition from Chinese imports in the Latin American market, the concentration of exports to China in a narrow range of primary products and the uneven distribution of profits from trade with China within Latin America. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper analyzes how Banco Santander has grown in Latin America. Introducing competition, contributing technology and innovation, training the human and managerial capital, and investing in solidarity. Helping to outline what will be the bank system on the one that will rest the growth of Latin America in this decade and the following one. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Current theories of the State would benefit from a new look at the economic role of the State in the work of the great economists of the 19th and 20th Centuries. Schumpeter's emphasis on the role of technological innovation in long-term economic growth makes his work particularly interesting for development economics. However, Schumpeter's rejection of the State's role in income redistribution is too simplistic and contradictory. Structural change may enhance the prospects for long-term growth, but also creates social and economic disruptions. This paper explores this basic contradiction and briefly discusses the application of Schumpeter's theory of the State to new industrialized countries in East Asia and Latin America. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]