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Virtual reality's (VR) applications in education have been a topic of interest to the academia in recent years. Although literature expands significantly worldwide, the focus on education still presents a high number of opportunities to explore. In Latin America, the literature regarding the use of virtual reality is limited and not yet systematized. Therefore, the present study aims to provide an overview of Latin America's research publications regarding the use of VR in higher education. Using bibliometric measures and coding in Scopus and Web of Science (WoS) databases' outputs, we analyzed 126 papers, the majority of them from social sciences, followed by engineering, business, and medicine. Content tree analysis resulted in 5 dimensions: 'Functional aspects of using VR as a learning tool', 'Teaching strategies and methodologies using VR', 'Behavioral aspects of using VR as a learning tool', 'Outputs of VR use as an educational tool' and 'Competencies and readiness to use VR as a learning tool'. Most publications (74,6%) focus or present as one of the discussions the functional aspects of VR, such as access, viability, usefulness, virtual environment, the association with artificial intelligence, among others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we examine the factors influencing labor productivity and sales growth among micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) within a middle-income economy. Although MSMEs play a pivotal role in employment within middle-income countries, they often display a lower economic value-added, pointing to underlying challenges in labor productivity. Using a longitudinal dataset of firms and employing both quantile regressions and machine learning techniques, we find that SMEs led by older, male, and more seasoned managers tend to exhibit higher productivity. Similarly, companies with a larger proportion of highly educated employees, affiliation to business groups, and engagement in R&D activities demonstrate superior performance. Finally, to improve the performance of MSMEs in developing economies, our results suggest that implementing targeted, well-defined vertical public support programs would be an effective public policy approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• This paper examines the key determinants of early childhood stimulation provided by caregivers. • We focus on Chile, one of the most economically unequal countries in the world. • We use longitudinal survey data administered to a sample of 8251 infants. • The main predictors for less stimulation are low caregiver education and low-income. • Caregivers' personality traits are also highly relevant for early child stimulation. This paper examines the determinants of early childhood stimulation provided by caregivers using an ecological approach. The focus of our inquiry is on Chile, one of the most economically unequal countries in the world. We use data from the Longitudinal Early Childhood Survey conducted in 2010 and 2012, which contains information regarding infants aged 30 months on average (n = 8,251). Early childhood stimulation is examined using a multidimensional index that comprises three domains: caregivers' stimulation of cognitive-language, sensorimotor, and socio-emotional development. Our dynamic models show that the main factors that lead to less stimulation are low caregiver education, low-income households, and large families. Specifically, it was found that an additional child being born within a two-year period decreases stimulation, indicating possible competition between siblings due to time and resource restrictions in the household. Furthermore, caregivers' performance in personality (BFI) and linguistic intelligence (WAIS language) tests was found to be a more significant factor than operational memory. Taken together, these findings suggest the need for initiatives aimed at increasing equality in early childhood stimulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates greenhouse gas emissions convergence among nineteen Latin American countries, for the period 1970 to 2018. To that end, we use the Phillips–Sul methodology to examine whether these countries have followed an absolute convergence process, or whether there has been a club convergence process. Our results offer important insights into the greenhouse gas emissions catch-up exhibited by several countries, and do not support the hypothesis that all countries of the Latin American region, taken together, converge to a single equilibrium in greenhouse gas emissions intensity. We find strong evidence of subgroups that converge to different steady states. An iterative testing procedure reveals the existence of different patterns of behavior and shows that such emissions are not uniform across these countries. We also estimate an Ordered Logit Model to identify the forces underlying the creation of clubs and the likelihood that any given country will be a member of any convergence club. Estimates from an Ordered Logit Model reveal that income, population density, openness, natural resources rents, and – particularly – the level of corruption, play a crucial role in explaining the formation of convergence clubs. The existence of clubs means that the climate policies aimed at reducing emissions should consider the specific characteristics of the countries, according to the club convergence results. [Display omitted] • We investigate greenhouse gas emissions convergence among nineteen Latin American countries for the period 1970 to 2018. • Results do not support the hypothesis that all countries convergence to a single equilibrium state. • We find strong evidence of subgroups that converge to different steady states. • Income, population density, openness, natural resources, and the level of corruption, play a crucial role in explaining the formation of convergence clubs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The article examines the effect of prestige on cooperation in social dilemma. • Actors cooperate in order to gain prestige by cooperating with prestigious others. • The paper analyses cooperation among art organizations in Bogotá (2011–2015). • The networks are modeled with a temporal exponential random graph model (tergm). • Prestige affects cooperation in social dilemmas, but depends on cooperation forms. What brings about cooperation in social dilemmas? The literature has proposed motivational and strategic solutions to social dilemmas. In motivational solutions, actors cooperate because they care about fairness. In strategic solutions actors cooperate because their chances to exploit others are reduced. This paper argues that actors also cooperate in order to gain prestige. The effect of prestige on cooperation is examined relying on a unique set of network and covariate data on art organizations (museums, independent art spaces, galleries and art foundations) in Bogotá, the capital of Colombia. Bogotá is a not a very likely environment for cooperation, since distrust is still widespread after a long civil war. The temporal exponential random graph models predict dyadic cooperation (i.e., between two actors) based on past and present cooperation in the network as well as of the organizations' characteristics. The analysis thus controls for the effect of actors' past and present interaction on the present cooperation dilemma. The paper shows that prestige affects cooperation in social dilemmas independent of past and present interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The causes presented in the literature of the middle-income trap are generic, emphasizing the quality of the legal institutions of the country, demographic problems, the lack of social infrastructure, poor macroeconomic policies, etc. were already present in developing countries when they were growing fast. Besides, the income interval used on the studies on the trap was too large. • Instead of promoting the growth, the liberalizing reforms, which were more radical in Latin America than in Asia, caused an increase in the interest rate and dismantled the mechanism that neutralized the Dutch disease – both facts leading to the chronic overvaluation of the exchange rate, which represented a competitive disadvantage of the companies utilizing the best technology available. • In the economic literature, it is well established that the currencies of the commodity-focused economies tend to be appreciated in the long run because they face the Dutch disease. On the other hand, central banks in the region tend to define a high interest rate around which they organize their monetary policy so as to attract foreign capital and "grow with external savings" – this representing a second major cause of overvaluation of the national currencies of Latin American countries. • The main conclusion of the research is that, in the period of 1980–2016, the Latin American countries didn't fall into middle-income but a liberalization trap; the reason why they have fallen into quasi-stagnation while Asian countries did not lie in the liberal reforms. Opening trade in countries that have the Dutch disease meant dismantling the pragmatic mechanisms that neutralized it; financial liberalization limited the ability of countries to control distorted flows of capital and created conditions for the increase in the interest rate. • The instrument to neutralize the Dutch disease on the domestic market side were import tariffs on manufactured goods. To the extent that they were just neutralizing the Dutch disease, they were not protectionist – they were just giving the local manufacturing industry equal conditions of competition with the companies of other countries. If the import tariffs on manufactured goods were higher than what was required to neutralize the Dutch disease, they would be also protectionist. This paper offers an alternative explanation to the slow-down observed in the growth of developing countries. Instead of a middle-income trap what happened was a liberalization trap. Growth didn't happen because countries turned middle-income, but happened in a given period, around the 1980s, when these countries faced a serious foreign debt crisis and were constrained to open their economies. The studies on the middle-income trap have adopted a broad income interval and were unable to offer new historical facts that explained why these countries stop growing fast. Differently, this paper shows that the trade liberalization and the financial liberalization that started in the 1980s involved the dismantling of the mechanism that neutralized the Dutch disease and the change from low to high interest rates – both facts leading to a long-term or chronic overvaluation of the exchange rate that made the manufacturing industry non-competitive and caused deindustrialization and low growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy is currently-one of the main obstacles to worldwide herd immunity and socioeconomic recovery. Because vaccine coverage can vary between and within countries, it is important to identify sources of variation so that policies can be tailored to different population groups. In this paper, we analyze the results from a survey designed and implemented in order to identify early adopters and laggers in six big cities located in Argentina, Colombia, Chile, Ecuador, Peru, and Dominican Republic. We find that trust in government and science, accurate knowledge about the value of vaccination and vaccine effects, and perceived risk of getting sick is associated with a higher probability to get vaccinated. We also identify potential laggers such as women and populations with high education but low knowledge about vaccines. We discuss specific strategies to promote vaccination among these populations groups as well as more general strategies designed to gain trust. These findings are specific to the context of Latin America insofar as the underlying factors associated with the choice to be vaccinated vary significantly by location and in relation to individual-level factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Analysis of data from 2432 survey respondents in Brazil and Ecuador. • More fatalistic individuals tend to hold more dangerous attitudes to road safety. • More fatalistic individuals also perceive traffic risk to be lower. • The relationship between beliefs and attitudes is mediated by risk perceptions. • Patterns of results are highly similar between samples from Brazil and Ecuador. Road safety is a major challenge in the Latin American region; however, there is a significant lack of research undertaken there. To contribute to addressing this gap, this paper reports on an exploration of the antecedents of traffic safety attitudes in two Latin American contexts: Brazil and Ecuador. Building on related work undertaken in other countries, the research explored the relationships between fatalistic beliefs, traffic risk perceptions, and road safety attitudes, while accounting for age, gender, and exposure to the road environment. Data from 2432 individuals, analysed using Structural Equation Modelling, revealed differences in the extent to which different fatalistic belief constructs (including divine control, luck, helplessness, internality, and general fatalism) were related to road safety attitudes. Moreover, fatalistic beliefs were found to influence road safety attitudes both directly and indirectly through their influence on risk perceptions. Those that reported more fatalistic beliefs also reported more dangerous attitudes to road safety and a lower perception of on-road risk. Mirroring findings from work undertaken in other countries, we found males compared to females and younger compared to older respondents to report more dangerous attitudes to road safety, with inconclusive results for risk perceptions. We also found very similar patterns of results in the data from the two countries included in the research. Results are discussed with regards to informing the design of road safety interventions aimed at influencing individual road user attitudes and, ultimately, human behaviour and system performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The process of a virus spread is inherently spatial. Even though Latin America became the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic in May 2020, there is still little evidence of the relationship between urban mobility and virus propagation in the region. This paper combines network analysis of mobility patterns in public transportation with a spatial error correction model for Santiago de Chile. Results indicate that a 10% higher number of daily public transportation trips received by an administrative unit in the city was associated with a 1.3% higher number of confirmed COVID-19 cases per 100,000 inhabitants. Following these findings, we propose an empirical method to identify and classify neighborhoods according to the level and type of risk for COVID-19-like disease propagation, helping policymakers manage mobility during the initial stages of an epidemic outbreak. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the contributions of critical Latin American geography, this paper proposes an alternative understanding of territories to explore the transformation of regional and local economies towards environmentally friendly and conscious modes of production while tackling uneven development. We argue that economic geography is well-suited to study these transformations due to its emphasis on understanding the spatial distribution and organization of economic activities. However, most of its theorisations are based on the Global North, leaving out discussions in the Global South. A decolonial approach to territories can help understand economic change towards sustainability and inclusiveness, considering alternative institutional and social arrangements that mediate socio-economic relations. The concept of 'territories as practice' emerges from critical Latin American geography and challenges monolithic and colonial conceptions of development and modernity. As proposed here, territories as practice allows explaining and planning for regional transformations in non-core regions, while paying attention to how global networks and extra-territorial factors influence economic change. We advocate for a practice-based spatial approach that acknowledges the practices shaping territories, helping us comprehend how localities and communities resist and adopt economic transformations. Territories as practice capture the multiplicity of visions, contradictions, and constructions defining a territory, leading to more inclusive and context-specific approaches to economic transformations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recent increase in Venezuelan migrants and refugees to Brazil has prompted a humanitarian response coordinated by multiple government agencies and inter/national organisations. This coordination effort sits under the umbrella of the Operation Welcome task force, in which the military is heavily involved. Situated in the northern state of Roraima, bordering Venezuela, this article explores one particular site of humanitarian care: a set of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) facilities located in the capital city of Boa Vista. Here, I investigate the militaristic design and processes of the shower block, which is available to Venezuelan refugees and migrants who are living without adequate shelter. In doing so, this paper argues that the normalisation of militarism in humanitarian intervention (re)produces exclusion and precarity for those accessing spaces of care. By understanding the water infrastructure of the site as an infrastructure of containment, this research shines light on the everyday, often invisiblised implications of migration governance that occur at the micro-scale. In particular, it highlights the conditions of slow and symbolic violence that are embedded within the military-humanitarian response. [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]

There are increasing efforts within Anglophone geography to take seriously and learn from knowledges produced in the global south. Although this move is usually based on ethical and political motivations of Anglophone geographers, there are competing sets of pragmatic and parochial motivations that pose tensions. The value of learning from the south is often only implicitly made and few attempts have been made to map the evolving forms and distribution of values generated through engaging southern knowledges. Critically reflecting on my own engagements with Latin American, and particularly Argentine, knowledges, this paper argues that current enthusiasm with southern epistemologies may be paving the way for the intensification of epistemic expropriation: the extraction and valorisation of knowledge in a depoliticised context elsewhere. The paper develops the notion of epistemic expropriation to direct attention to how south-north circulations of academic knowledge may be complicit in the geographically uneven valorisation of academic labour and the depoliticisation of knowledge’s concrete use-values. In the process of learning from Latin American knowledges, particularly around territory, I have generated clear value for my own career progression, and for Anglophone geographers, while it is less clear what my Argentine counterparts have gained. Moreover, in abstracting knowledges from their particular terrains of struggles, particularly the experiences of Greater Buenos Aires, I have facilitated a depoliticisiation of grassroots ideas and practices. The final section argues that practices of epistemic expropriation are reinforced and sustained by Anglophone hegemony in “international” geography, posing dilemmas for those engaging with southern knowledges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous research indicates that a combination of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) is an effective treatment for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). However, there are no studies to date of ACT for OCD in Latin American populations. Because socio-cultural context influences OCD symptomatology, it is worth adapting and testing ACT for OCD in such cultures. Three patients seeking treatment for OCD at a public health center in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil were treated with 16 sessions of ACT and ERP. All participants showed decreased OCD scores from baseline to post-treatment that remained lower at follow-up, suggesting that a version of ACT for OCD adapted for a Brazilian cultural context was effective. The intervention also had positive effects on depression, quality of life, and psychological flexibility. This paper focuses on the adaptations that reflect the unique needs of Brazilian culture, as well as how to integrate ACT within existing systems of care. This study shows the effectiveness of this approach in Brazil and offers promise for future cultural adaptations of ACT in other Latin American contexts. • A protocol combining ACT and ERP was culturally adapted for Brazilian clients. • Results show a reduction of OCD, depression, psychological inflexibility and an apparent increase in quality of life. • Clinical improvements were not fully maintained at follow-up, which may reflect the COVID-19 pandemic. • The adapted protocol may be a potential psychosocial treatment option for Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder clients in Brazil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the long-term development of palm oil landscapes in the northeastern Brazilian state of Bahia. In contrast to the agroindustrial monocultures that dominate global production, palm oil in Bahia emerges from a biodiverse cultural landscape constructed through five centuries of transatlantic socioecological exchange. Native to West Africa, African oil palms ( Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) diffused to the New World during colonial overseas expansion, becoming established in Bahia by the seventeenth century. There the palms helped form a complex cultural landscape that continues to supply local alimentary and spiritual demands for palm oil—an essential resource in many Afro-Brazilian cultural expressions. Extending approximately 70 km south of the capital Salvador, Bahia's traditional palm oil landscapes are now officially dubbed the Dendê Coast ( Costa do Dendê ), following the Kimbundu Bantu-inspired Afro-Brazilian term for palm oil. Historically colonial officials and elite Brazilians showed little interest in Bahia's palm oil economy, effectively conceding it to Afro-descendants until the mid-twentieth century. Since then, a series of modern development interventions have sought to transform the complex, biodiverse landscapes of the Dendê Coast into a legible oil palm monoculture based on an improved hybrid variety. Yet despite recurrent top-down efforts, emergent or “subspontaneous” groves and traditional polycultural landscapes continue to dominate land use in the region. Drawing on ethnography, landscape interpretations, archives, and geospatial analysis, this paper analyzes the historical development of Bahia's palm oil economy, recounting five centuries of socioecological changes on the Dendê Coast. The study integrates recent geographical treatments of the African diaspora with theories of complexity to comprehend the ongoing proliferation of Bahia's traditional palm oil landscapes despite top-down promotion of modern monocultures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper evaluates the impact of land reforms on household agricultural investments, livelihood strategies, and income levels in Brazil. Given the persistence of rural poverty in Northeast Brazil and the existence of both land and credit market failures, land reforms remain important policy tools for alleviating poverty and increasing growth. This paper evaluates the impact of the recent National Program of Land Credit, a controversial market-assisted land reform program that provides access to land through private land markets. Household-level panel data covering similar beneficiary and control groups allows for identification using both propensity score weighting and difference-in-difference methodologies. The evidence indicates that the Land Credit successfully transitions households into agriculture, with land holdings and investments increasing as a result of the program. As with many earlier land reform programs in Latin America, the new wave of market-assisted land reforms does not increase access to private credit. While land reforms have the potential to drive redistribution, poverty reduction, and growth, these findings suggest that ensuring greater access to credit, irrigation, and higher return economic activities remains important. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Even though mobility is a requirement for participation in “modern life”, the truth is that mobility is unevenly distributed and it constitutes a field of contestation and dispute among social classes. Mobility does not derive from individual decisions or free choices. On the contrary, it is the result of the interaction between individual attributes and social structure. To grasp this interaction, it is necessary to go well beyond observed mobility. This paper explores the unequal access to urban opportunities among different social classes in Montevideo. It does so by computing potential public transport accessibility to two types of crucial opportunities: jobs and education. The paper findings show an unequal distribution of potential mobility, especially for jobs and upper level public education. Primary public schools are an exception, revealing the spatial footprint of the mature Uruguayan social protection network at this level. This paper's approach allows to identify and describe various fields of contestation such as urban form, transit network, the state provision of public goods (in the case of education), through examining the effects of uneven mobility on social goods access and, as a result, on social equity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The norm that private property ownership should be conditional on fulfilment of a 'social function' diffused widely across Latin America during roughly the first half of the twentieth century, becoming a standard aspect of the region's legal systems. However, substantive implementation has been rare. This paper seeks to explain the diffusion-implementation gap. It argues that the standard explanation of such gaps, which emphasises the superficial imitation by developing countries of policies and norms devised in advanced societies, does not fit this case. Rather, the gap emerged due to the difficulty of implementing property reform without an institutional breakdown that deposits exceptional power in the hands of pro-reform forces. In the absence of such an event, conservative forces have usually succeeded in blocking implementation. Yet, ironically, even when a breakdown has occurred, this norm has gone largely unimplemented because the resulting concentration of power has made more efficient policy tools viable. • Social function of property has diffused widely across Latin American legal systems. • Substantive implementation of this principle has been rare. • Standard account of diffusion-implementation gaps cannot explain this case. • Gap reflects the difficulty of reforming property absent an institutional breakdown. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the role of women in family business. Prior studies suggest that in Latin America the contribution of women in family business remains largely hidden, often relegated to a supportive role. Drawing on an entrepreneurial stewardship perspective, this study challenges that perception, paying close attention to the contribution of women to family business continuity. This study relies on a multiple case study design, and uses a critical approach to examine family businesses in rural areas of Honduras. We find that gendered norms are fluid, as women's roles are multi-faceted being simultaneously influenced by household and family business logics. Thus, the contribution of women emerges specifically in terms of embracing a stewarding role, nurturing resilience, and shaping family and business networks. What our findings point to is that the contribution of women to the continuity of family businesses in Latin America, previously perceived as invisible and/or disguised, is enacted through a formal and visible managerial role, as well as an informal and discreet stewarding role. Implications for theory and practice, as well as opportunities for future research, are offered. • This study examines the role of women in Latin American family businesses. • Women's roles are influenced by both household and family business logics. • Women are entrepreneurial stewards of business continuity, especially in times of crisis. • Women embrace a stewardship role, nurture resilience, and shape networks to contribute to family business continuity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The trucking industry is the backbone of domestic supply chains. In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, road transportation has been essential to guarantee the supply of basic goods to confined urban areas. However, the connectivity of the trucking network can also act as an efficient virus spreader. This paper applies network science to uncover the characteristics of the trucking network in one major Latin American country −Colombia− and provides evidence on freight networks' ability to spread contagious diseases spatially. Network metrics, official COVID-19 records at the municipality level, and a zero-inflated negative binomial model are used to test the association between network topology and confirmed COVID-19 cases. Results suggest that: (i) the number of COVID-19 cases in a municipality is linked to its level and type of network centrality; and (ii) being a port-city and a primary economic hub in the trucking network is associated with a higher probability of contracting earlier a pandemic. Based on these results, a risk-based approach is proposed to help policymakers implement containment measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, many Latin-American states have been increasingly involved in the provision of subsidized housing for the urban poor. These housing projects are usually implemented in forms of massive master planned estates located in urban peripheries. The focus on quantity of housing units built, as opposed to the good location, connectivity and functionality of the dwellings, impedes access of the residents to income-generating opportunities and reduces their socio-economic mobility. This paper analyzes how residents in one of such social housing complexes –Villas de San Pablo in Barranquilla, Colombia– adopt and respond to these challenges in their own, informal ways. Building on empirical data obtained from interviews, observation and an enumeration survey, the author explains how the lack of jobs and economic opportunities in the area motivated many of the dwellers to convert their houses to accommodate different income-generating activities. Thus, this paper documents how a master planned project and its land-use transform from a strictly controlled into a diverse and organic urban ecosystem. The author argues for an urgent revision of the planning practices, inflexible zoning bylaws and outdated design principles that shape these “modern” affordable housing projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary This paper investigates whether small-scale water supply systems implemented and operated by water user associations increase access to piped water supply in rural Brazil by more than systems by local governments. Starting from 15% to 16% in the year 2000, access rates in rural areas with water user associations increased to 33.4% in 2010. In areas with local government supply systems, access rates only increased to 24.9%. Based on data from Brazilian census and the national water and sanitation survey, the empirical analysis in this paper shows that the observed difference is effectively due to project-type choice. Additionally it points toward higher accountability as a potential reason for better results of community-based projects. In municipalities where social groups requested a new system before the local government started implementation and therefore public awareness for the project was higher, the increase in access rates is comparable to the increase in municipalities with water user association projects. The same is true if local media is present or political competition in local elections is higher. As the effect of project type on access rates might be confounded by simultaneous drivers of project-type choice and access rates, the quantitative analysis is based on a difference-in-difference estimator in combination with kernel matching to overcome the endogeneity of project type. The treatment effect revealed by this analysis is robust to various specification changes and the robustness checks show no structural differences between treatment and control groups that could bias the results. The calculation of matching weights for the kernel matching is informed by semi-structured interviews with academics and sector experts in Brazil explaining the determinants of project choice. The interviews highlight the political economy behind infrastructure expansion in rural Brazil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Resumo O controle da dor no período pós‐operatório é um problema significativo na prática clínica na América Latina. O controle insuficiente ou inadequado da dor é devido, em grande parte, à insuficiência de conhecimento, atitudes e formação e à comunicação precária em vários níveis. Além disso, a falta de conscientização da disponibilidade e importância de políticas e diretrizes inequívocas para avaliar a intensidade da dor, o uso de analgésicos específicos e a abordagem adequada para instruir o paciente levaram ao subtratamento consistente da dor na região. Contudo, esses problemas não são insuperáveis e podem ser abordados no âmbito tanto do provedor quanto do paciente. Políticas e diretrizes substanciais podem ajudar a garantir a continuidade dos cuidados e reduzir as variações desnecessárias na prática. O objetivo deste artigo é chamar a atenção para os problemas associados à dor aguda no pós‐operatório (DAPO) e sugerir recomendações para solucioná‐los na América Latina. Um grupo de especialistas em anestesiologia, cirurgia e dor desenvolveu recomendações que levarão a um controle mais eficiente e eficaz da dor. Será preciso mudar o conhecimento e o comportamento dos profissionais de saúde e pacientes e obter um compromisso por parte de legisladores. O sucesso dependerá de uma atitude positiva e do compromisso de cada parte através do desenvolvimento de políticas e programas e da promoção de um sistema mais eficiente e eficaz para a prestação de serviços para a DAPO, como recomendado pelos autores deste trabalho. O grupo que as redigiu acredita que a aplicação dessas recomendações deve melhorar de modo significativo a eficiência e eficácia do controle da dor no período pós‐operatório na América Latina. Post‐operative pain management is a significant problem in clinical practice in Latin America. Insufficient or inappropriate pain management is in large part due to insufficient knowledge, attitudes and education, and poor communications at various levels. In addition, the lack of awareness of the availability and importance of clear policies and guidelines for recording pain intensity, the use of specific analgesics and the proper approach to patient education have led to the consistent under‐treatment of pain management in the region. However, these problems are not insurmountable and can be addressed at both the provider and patient level. Robust policies and guidelines can help insure continuity of care and reduce unnecessary variations in practice. The objective of this paper is to call attention to the problems associated with Acute Post‐Operative Pain (APOP) and to suggest recommendations for their solutions in Latin America. A group of experts on anesthesiology, surgery and pain developed recommendations that will lead to more efficient and effective pain management. It will be necessary to change the knowledge and behavior of health professionals and patients, and to obtain a commitment of policy makers. Success will depend on a positive attitude and the commitment of each party through the development of policies, programs and the promotion of a more efficient and effective system for the delivery of APOP services as recommended by the authors of this paper. The writing group believes that implementation of these recommendations should significantly enhance efficient and effective post‐operative pain management in Latin America. [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]

This paper examines whether elections, which are generally held on fixed dates, and banking crises explain the timing of tax reforms and the allocation of the additional tax burden. Using an original fine-grained data set of tax reforms, the paper finds support for the role of these two sources of variation. In particular, the probability of reform is higher during banking crises. During electoral periods, increasing taxes becomes highly unlikely, even if the government is facing financing problems. Interestingly, politics seem to trump economics: banking crises do not affect the probability of having a reform during electoral times. Moreover, the presence of an IMF program affects the tax instruments chosen: countries with a program increase the value-added tax, while those without raise the personal income tax. Finally, the ideology of the president does not explain who bears the additional tax burden. [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]

Positive sentiments towards urban green spaces (UGS) unequivocally increased worldwide amid COVID-19. In contrast, this paper documents that views on mobility restrictions applicable to UGS are of a contested nature. That is, while residents unambiguously report positive sentiments towards UGS, they do not share views on how to administer access to UGS—which is a matter of public policy. These contesting views reflect opposite demands that managers of UGS had to balance during the pandemic as they faced the challenge of reducing risk of spread while providing services that support physical and mental health of residents. The empirical analysis in this paper relies on views inferred through a text classification algorithm implemented on Twitter messages posted from January to October 2020, by urban residents in three Latin American countries—Argentina, Colombia, and Mexico—and Spain. The focus on Latin America is motivated by the documented lack of compliance with mobility restrictions; Spain works as a comparison point to learn differences with respect to other regions. Understanding and following in real-time the evolution of contesting views amid a pandemic is useful for managers and city planners to inform adaptation measures—e.g. communication strategies can be tailored to residents with specific views. • Amid COVID-19, social media showcased contesting views on mobility restrictions applicable to UGS. • Contesting views on regulation of access hold together with unambiguous increase in positive sentiments towards UGS. • These views reflect residents' stands with respect to how UGS should be used during a pandemic event. • Social media provides unstructured information to design and communicate adaptation measures in real-time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background In middle-income countries, vaccines against pneumococcal disease, rotavirus, and human papilloma virus are in general more costly, not necessarily cost saving, and less consistently cost-effective than earlier generation vaccines against measles, diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis. Budget impact is also substantial; public spending on vaccines in countries adopting new vaccines is, on average, double the amount of countries that have not adopted. Policymakers must weigh the costs and benefits of the adoption decision carefully, given the low coverage of other kinds of cost-effective health and nonhealth interventions in these same settings and relatively flat overall public spending on health as a share of gross domestic product (GDP) over time. Objective This paper considers lessons learned from recent vaccine cost-effectiveness analyses and subsequent adoption decisions in Latin America a, largely under the auspices of the Pro Vac Initiative. Results The paper illustrates how small methodological choices and seemingly minor technical limitations of cost-effectiveness models can have major implications for the studies’ conclusions, potentially influencing countries’ subsequent vaccine adoption decisions. Methods We evaluate the ProVac models and technical outputs against the standards and framework set out by the International Decision Support Initiative Reference Case for economic evaluation and consider the practical effects of deviations from those standards. Conclusions Lessons learned are discussed, including issues of appropriate comparators, GDP-based thresholds, and use of average versus incremental cost-effectiveness ratios as a convention are assessed. The article ends with recommendations for the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) relies on the principle that traces of compounds, which a population is exposed to or consume, are excreted unchanged or as metabolites in urine and/or feces, and ultimately end up in the sewer network. Measuring target metabolic residues i.e. biomarkers in raw urban wastewater allows identifying the exposure or use of substances of interest in a community. Up to date, the most popular application of WBE is the estimation of illicit drug use and studies have been made mainly across Europe, which has allowed estimating and comparing drug use in many European cities. However, until now a comprehensive study applying WBE on the most frequently consumed illicit drugs has not been performed in South American countries. In this work, we applied this approach to samples from Colombia, selecting two of the most populated cities: Bogotá and Medellin. Several biomarkers were selected to estimate drug use of cocaine, cannabis, amphetamine, methamphetamine, MDMA (ecstasy), heroin and ketamine. Composite samples (24-h) were collected at the corresponding municipal wastewater treatment plants. Sample treatment was performed at location by applying solid-phase extraction (SPE). Before SPE, the samples were spiked with appropriate isotope labeled internal standards. In parallel, samples (spiked with the analytes under study at two concentration levels) were also processed for quality control. Analysis of influent wastewater was made by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry, with triple quadrupole analyzer. Data shown in this paper reveal a high use of cocaine by the population of the selected Colombian cities, particularly from Medellin, while the use of other illicit drugs were low. The relevance of using quality control samples, particularly in collaborative studies, as those presented in this work, where research groups from different countries participate and where the samples had to be shipped overseas, is highlighted in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary This paper problematizes the use of the “landscape” concept as the perspective in forest governance and REDD+ discourse, especially as it affects ownership claims and management of forest space. This study advocates the contrasting concept of “territory” as essential to spatial justice in community-held forest lands and for effectivity in REDD+ projects. Whereas landscape in REDD+ discourse is a basic unit of resolution for biophysical, especially conservationist, analysis; territory refers to spatial units embedded in tenurial entitlements, and thus in governance and the execution of management. The study critically considers case studies and conceptual approaches in REDD+ and Climate Smart Landscapes projects and their commitment to landscape, or territory, as the spatial governance unit. The review highlights some promising partial steps toward “territorialization” as a good practice, but finds that most do not follow up the implications for governance. The paper asserts that “landscape” as an analytical understanding of forest peoples’ space contains serious defects—it does not set up the essential architecture and mechanisms for social owning and holistic management of designated (forest) space as territory, it does not address the contestations around “whose territory?”, and a “landscape” discourse can obfuscate the actual practice of REDD+ programs. “Territorialization” would involve situating legitimate land users’ rights at the core of REDD+ spatial planning and implementation. “Forest landscapes as territories” would legitimize the entitlements of forest peoples to govern their own lands, with the responsibilities and rewards of their experience of effective management. The community and its social territorial space would become the definitive spatial unit for operationalizing REDD+, rather than the ecological unit or watershed, by prioritizing upwardly institutionalized territory over bio-physical spatializations of landscape. A territorial perspective should shift some power away from global and national policy-setters to local actors (not only registered landowners), as central in REDD+ governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Maternal immunization rates and vaccine uptake in Latin America vary from country to country. This variability stems from factors related to pregnant women, vaccine recommendations from healthcare providers and the health system. The aim of this paper is to describe women's knowledge and attitudes to maternal immunziation, and barriers to access and vaccination related decision-making processes in Latin American countries. We conducted focus group discussions (FGD) with pregnant women in five middle-income countries: Argentina, Brazil, Honduras, Mexico and Peru, between July 2016 and July 2018. The FGDs were conducted by trained qualitative researchers in diverse clinics located in the capital cities of these countries. A total of 162 pregnant women participated in the FGDs. In general, participants were aware of the recommendation to receive vaccines during pregnancy but lacked knowledge regarding the diseases prevented by these vaccines. Pregnant women expressed a desire for clearer and more detailed communication on maternal vaccines by their healthcare professionals instead of relying on other sources of information such as the internet. Overall, participants had positive attitudes towards maternal immunization and were open to receiving vaccines in pregnancy based on general trust they have in recommendations made by their healthcare providers. The main obstacles pregnant women said they encounter were mainly centered around their clinical experience: long waiting times, vaccine shortages, and impolite behavior of healthcare providers or clinical staff. Important advances have been made in Latin America to promote maternal immunization. Results from this study show that an important aspect that remains to be addressed, and is crucial in improving vaccine uptake in pregnancy, is women's clinical experience. We recommend pregnant women to be treated as a priority population for providing immunization and related healthcare education. It is imperative to train healthcare providers in health communication so they can effectively communicate with pregnant women regarding maternal vaccines and can fill knowledge gaps that otherwise might be covered by unreliable sources dispensing inaccurate information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the role of foreign direct investment (FDI) in facilitating the transition toward low carbon societies in Latin America from 1990 to 2022, in order to investigate the effects of FDI among the green transition process and contribute to the design of new ad hoc green FDI policies. Additionally, we introduce the Low Carbon Transition Curve hypothesis as a framework for understanding the relationship between income and the transition to green economies in the selected countries. Through the application of cointegration regression analysis, preceded by the examination of unit roots and cointegration, we uncover notable findings. Our results indicate that the impact of FDI on the consumption of renewable energy exhibits heterogeneity across Latin American countries, as evidenced by the lack of statistical significance in the renewable/fossil fuel mix consumption of energy. However, it is important to note that FDI has a positive and significant effect on the promotion of renewable energy consumption. Furthermore, our analysis confirms the statistical significance of the income-low carbon transition hypothesis across all regression models, suggesting that income per capita plays a pivotal role as a driving factor in countries' transition to green economies. In light of these findings, it is recommended that countries utilize FDI to reduce their dependency on fossil fuels by offering incentives for green FDI, which can contribute significantly to the transition process. These practical implications can guide decision-making processes and support the implementation of measures that contribute to a more sustainable and environmentally conscious energy sector in Latin America. • This paper explores the role of foreign direct investment (FDI) in promoting the transition to low carbon societies. • We introduce the Low Carbon Transition Curve hypothesis to conceptualize the relationship between income and the green transition. • We employed fully modified ordinary least squares and canonical cointegration relationship estimation. • Estimates produced evidence that the FDI contributes to a more intensive use of renewable energy. • The analysis supports the significance of the income-low carbon transition hypothesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Commuting time represents a shock to worker time allocations that ultimately affects wellbeing. This paper analyzes the commuting behavior of employee and self-employed workers in urban areas of eleven Latin American countries. Using data from the ECAF data, results show that employees spend about 8.2 more minutes commuting to work than their self-employed counterparts, net of observable characteristics, a difference of around 18.5% of the employees' commuting time. This difference is qualitatively robust across the eleven countries and is concentrated in commutes by public transit, but is not explained by differences in access to public transit services. This analysis is a first cross-country exploration of self-employed and employee workers' commuting time in Latin America. By analyzing differences in commuting time between these two groups of workers, our analysis may serve to guide future planning programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research aims to evaluate the scientific production on public relations addressing Latin America through a quantitative content and bibliometric analysis of articles and special issues published between 1980 and 2020, written in the official languages of the region: Spanish and Portuguese. The results of 123 articles confirm a substantial increase of studies since 2011, and some limitations of scientific dissemination. Although almost half of the authors were based in Brazil (40%), 17 base countries were counted. This work complements the latest studies on the object of study in English (Thelen, 2021) and provides the scientific community with recognition and access to native production. • A set of 123 native language articles where analised on public relations addressing Latin America. • There is a significant increase in the number of studies from 2016 onwards (29%). • Brazil accumulated the largest number of papers in the period (n = 49). • It was found that the impact in native languages (4.2) was lower than in English (43.2). [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]

Although segregation is a worldwide phenomenon, this paper will focus mainly on Latin American urban areas. We will discuss approaches – rooted in e.g. geography, economics, sociology, and anthropology – for measuring, analysing and describing segregation patterns at places of residence, workplaces, recreation and shopping areas, in political participation and access to justice, and others. In doing so, we will also address different quantitative and qualitative theoretical approximations and methods of research to unpack these different segregation manifestations. We will illustrate this by giving examples of different kinds of socio-cultural, economic, financial, political and judicial inclusion and exclusion. In short, this paper provides an overview of different kinds and types of segregation and their mutual relationships, ranging from reciprocal strengthening to surprising combinations to clear-cut contradictions, to contestations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Globalization and changing mobility patterns have significantly altered the urban landscapes of Latin America over the past decades. Efforts by the state and the private sector to regenerate urban areas and free up land for the sake of investment and wealthy city dwellers have shaped processes of privatization and socio-spatial segregation. While ‘privileged mobilities’ such as lifestyle migration can be assumed to play a role in such urban transformations, research on the link between urban change and lifestyle migration in Latin America is still in its infancy. This paper focuses on the impact of lifestyle migration on the extent and speed of socio-spatial change in intermediate cities and urbanizing regions. More concretely, the paper underscores the importance of lifestyle migration in shaping contemporary urban space in Latin America by comparing socio-spatial transformations in Cuenca, an intermediate city in southern Ecuador, and the urbanizing coast of Guanacaste province in northwest Costa Rica. These research sites currently are two of Latin America's main destinations for international lifestyle migrants, and hence are experiencing escalating real estate development. Both areas have developed into increasingly exclusivist spaces and as such show that intermediate cities and urbanizing regions can no longer escape the spatial segregation, gentrification and inequality that used to be associated almost solely with metropolitan centers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The expansion of multinational enterprises from Latin America over the previous 10 years is part of a global trend of increasing outward foreign direct investment (FDI) from developing countries. This paper proposes to analyse outward FDI in the region categorising the behaviour of the 50 largest multinational enterprises from the region and attempting a broad classification of their motivations, objectives and means for their international expansion (FDI strategies). The author argues that the prevalent strategies identified can point towards an explanation for the current downturn in FDI outflows from the region. The paper finally provides a connection between the FDI strategies and the efforts towards structural change of the economies of the region, highlighting the role of outward FDI in this process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the limits of recognition by investigating the politics of Indigenous rights in Paraguay. The "multicultural turn" of the 1980s–1990s promised to disrupt historical patterns of Indigenous dispossession through land titling initiatives across the Americas, yet as this case shows, recognition comes without guarantees. I draw from ethnographic research with the Xákmok Kásek Indigenous community in Paraguay's Chaco to consider how Sanapana and Enxet-Sur Indigenous peoples are reworking the limits of recognition to disrupt settler colonial power. Rather than rejecting or refusing recognition, I argue that the Xákmok Kásek community now employs a dialectics of refusal and engagement that rewrites the terms of recognition, subsequently forcing state officials to reconcile with new articulations of indigenous self-determination that disrupt settler colonial power. Focusing on the dialectics of refusal and engagement brings nuance to the complex negotiations and evolving strategies of resistance that Indigenous peoples are employing to challenge the status quo of dispossession in pursuit of decolonial futures across the Americas, futures shaped by historic processes that draw humans and non-humans together in place to maintain existing relations and form new ones in pursuit of more just geographies This article, therefore, contributes to ongoing debates about the politics of recognition, post-multiculturalism, and decolonial geographies by bringing a focus on Latin America more fully into dialogue with analyses of settler colonial geographies in North America and Australia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Most analyzed countries implemented stringent measures to face pandemic. • Strategies were incomplete lacking extensive testing and tracking measures. • Response effectiveness undermined by socioeconomic conditions and health capacities. • A poor pandemic management (communication and coordination) influenced results. • Large impact of COVID-19 on deaths in countries studied. COVID-19 reached Latin-American countries slightly later than European countries, around February/March, allowing some emergency preparedness response in countries characterized by low health system capacities and socioeconomic disparities. This paper focuses on the first months of the pandemic in five Latin American countries: Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. It analyses how the pre-pandemic context, and the government's responses to contain and mitigate the spread together with economic measures have affected the COVID-19 health outcomes. Extensive qualitative document analysis was conducted focused on publicly-available epidemiological data and federal and state/regional policy documents since the beginning of the pandemic. The countries were quick to implement stringent COVID-19 measures and incrementally scaled up their health systems capacity, although tracing and tracking have been poor. All five countries have experienced a large number of cases and deaths due to COVID-19. The analysis on the excess deaths also shows that the impact in deaths is far higher than the official numbers reported to date for some countries. Despite the introduction of stringent measures of containment and mitigation, and the scale up of health system capacities, pre-pandemic conditions that characterize these countries (high informal employment, and social inequalities) have undermined the effectiveness of the countries' responses to the pandemic. The economic support measures put in place were found to be too timid for some countries and introduced too late in most of them. Additionally, the lack of a comprehensive strategy for testing and tracking has also contributed to the failure to contain the spread of the virus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bolivia’s leftward political shift, which is frequently described as “post-neoliberal,” is crucially linked to the ideal of autonomy. While autonomy has a long history among leftist theorists and social movements in Latin America, its contemporary importance is related to an ongoing effort on the part of scholars and activists to identify an alternative organizational form that eschews both state actors and private entities. Drawing on fieldwork conducted with a group of community-run water systems in peri-urban Cochabamba, this paper asks what autonomous water governance looks like in practice. By presenting a case in which the community water systems made a series of structurally limited “autonomous” decisions that ultimately bound them more closely to the local state and private sector, the paper argues that autonomy faces socio-ecological limitations when conceptualized as a project of internal self-governance. Socio-ecological processes take place at multiple scales and over long time spans; a radical politics of autonomy therefore necessitates a spatially extroverted project that focuses on building strategic alliances that strengthen community autonomy in the long-term. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces the concept of ‘not-quite-neoliberal natures’ in relation to contemporary theoretical debates and Latin American political processes. The phrase is meant to signal both our appreciation of and reservations about theoretical elaborations of neoliberalism, post- neoliberalism, and (post-)neoliberal natures in relation to the wide variety of reforms currently transforming resource governance in Latin America. After reviewing theoretical debates about (post-)neoliberalism and situating them within Latin American history, we present the major themes emerging across the papers in this special issue: (1) the prevalence of concomitant and overlapping political processes, (2) the productivity of tensions and contradictions, particularly with respect to the state-society relationship, and (3) dynamism, or an insistence on the depth and liveliness of ‘context’ and ‘contestation’. [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]

Summary This paper studies the impact of gender and ethnicity on educational outcomes in Bolivia, Mexico, Peru, Senegal, and Sierra Leone, using the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series-International (IPUMS-I) database. Using an estimation method analogous to difference-in-differences, the paper finds that gender-based differences in literacy, primary school completion, and secondary school completion are larger for minority ethnic groups compared to others, or ethnicity-based differences are larger for women compared to men. The findings suggest that the intersection of gender and ethnicity confers cumulative disadvantage for minority groups, especially in Latin American countries, with implications on the design of development programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Community school programmes in Latin America have received relatively little consideration when compared to the amount of research conducted on popular education in the region. This paper revises the literature on community school programmes in the context of the theory of dialogic action and the capability approach. First, the roots of inequality in Latin America are discussed. This is followed by a summary of the literature on community school programmes in Latin America, analysing their differences and commonalities and exploring two different community school programmes operating in the region. A conceptual framework is next presented to explore the role of the progressive educator and individuals' agency, drawing parallels between the ideas of Paulo Freire and those of M S Archer and Amartya Sen in relation to agency and freedom. The paper concludes by questioning whether, by developing pupils' agency, community school programmes such as those analysed in this paper, could help to tackle educational inequalities in the long term, with a discussion of the implications for further research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the emergence of human population genetics in Brazil in the decades following World War II, and pays particular attention to narratives about the formation of the Brazilian nation. We analyze the institutionalization of this branch of genetics in the 1950s and 1960s, and look at research on the characteristics of the population of Brazil, which made use of new explanatory models of evolutionary dynamics. These developments were greatly influenced by the activities of the Rockefeller Foundation and by the presence of North American geneticists in Brazil, especially Theodosius Dobzhansky. One of the main points of this paper is to show that explanations of Brazilian human genetic diversity constructed in the mid-twentieth century closely followed interpretations that had been produced since the end of the nineteenth century, in which notions of ‘racial mixing’ played a central role. Even as population genetics was conditioned by nationalist concerns that had long marked Brazilian history, we argue that its emergence and institutionalization was closely associated with global, post-World War II socio-political contexts, especially with regards to modernization projects and growing scientific internationalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper contains critical commentary on the emergence and future research tasks for queer world cities, a cross-disciplinary field of inquiry positioned at the intersection of urban globalization studies and the geographies of sexualities. It seeks to advance the concept of homoentrepreneurialism in order to understand the sexualized worlding of cities under the hegemony of neoliberal urbanism. Recent developments in Buenos Aires and other Latin American cities are used as illustrative examples of how sexual diversity and cosmopolitan tolerance are increasingly interwoven with entrepreneurial quests to upgrade the global competitiveness of a city and thereby attract tourists, capital, and a select group of (homo-)sexual citizens. The paper takes critiques of geographical elitism seriously in its interpretation of homonormativity, but relationality and geographically uneven development prevail over reparatory substitution. Commentary on research projects from other world regions is also provided, and a research agenda is proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2005, indigenous leader Evo Morales was elected president on a dual promise of nationalising extractive industries to direct resource wealth to the country's poor and enacting long-held indigenous demands for a plurinational state. Each project has relied on two contrasting and contested understandings and practices of territorial sovereignty, however. On the one hand, resource nationalism has rested on the state's ability to re-seat and extend national sovereignty over non-renewable natural resources and concomitantly national territory. On the other hand, plurinationalism entails the departure from a liberal multicultural framing of the nation-state toward a model that recognises the territorial self-determination and political autonomy of indigenous nations, including over decisions of extractive development. Resource nationalism has quickly shown its centralising tendencies, as economic concerns have been put before a more radical reorganisation of the modern, colonial model of territorial sovereignty. From an analysis of the territorial geographies articulated by the lowland indigenous movement in the TIPNIS (Territorio Indígena y Parque Nacional Isiboro Sécure ; Isiboro Sécure Indigenous Territory and National Park) conflict over a road project – and the potential for hydrocarbon exploitation this could enable – this paper demonstrates that indigenous protestors constantly sought to de- and re-territorialise political space in their efforts for the decolonisation of the nation-state. This engagement not only highlights some of the tensions between resource nationalism and indigenous self-determination, but also illustrates how territorial visions are fashioned within the changing political conditions of Latin America's era of the extractive imperative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The WHO recommends dengue vaccine in highly endemic areas as part of integrated management strategy. • Serostatus and age at the time of vaccination are main drivers of vaccine efficacy. • Main conclusions of the 6th IDI Meeting for dengue vaccine introduction in the region are discussed. • A dengue vaccine program entails consensual public health strategies and robust communication. Dengue disease represents a large and growing global threat to public health, causing a significant burden to health systems of endemic countries. For countries considering vaccination as part of their Integrated Management Strategy for Prevention and Control of Dengue, the World Health Organization currently recommends the first licensed dengue vaccine, CYD-TDV for: individuals aged 9 years or above from populations with high transmission rates, based on either seroprevalence criteria or pre-vaccination screening strategies, and for persons with confirmed prior exposure to infection in moderate to lower transmission settings. This paper describes the main conclusions of the Sixth Meeting of the International Dengue Initiative (IDI) held in June 2018, following release of a new product label by the manufacturer, updated WHO-SAGE recommendations, additional scientific evidence on vaccine performance, and reports of experiences by implementing countries. Considerations were made regarding the need for improving the quality of epidemiological and surveillance data in the region to help define the convenience of either of the two vaccination strategies recommended by WHO-SAGE. Extensive discussion was dedicated to the pros and cons of implementing either of such strategies in Latin America. Although, in general, a seroprevalence-based approach was preferred in high transmission settings, when cost-effectivity is favorable pre-vaccination screening is a convenient alternative. Cost-effectiveness evaluations can assist with the decisions by public health authorities of whether to introduce a vaccine. Where implemented, vaccine introduction should be part of a public health strategy that includes the participation of multiple sectors of society, incorporating input from scientific societies, ministries of heath, and civil society, while ensuring a robust communication program. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We provide new evidence on the effectiveness of PAs and the role of institutions. • We use high-resolution satellite imagery and regression discontinuity methods. • PAs significantly reduce deforestation in both national PAs and collective lands. • National PAs are only effective near human settlements, in more developed regions. • In contrast, Collective lands avoid deforestation in remote, less developed regions. Protected areas (PAs) are a cornerstone of conservation policy. While evidence shows that, overall, PAs have contributed to preserving forests, their impact varies greatly depending on the institutional context. This paper provides new evidence on the mechanisms through which local institutions shape the effectiveness of PAs. We use high-resolution satellite imagery of deforestation and illicit activities in Colombia and spatial regression discontinuity methods to estimate the causal effect of PAs in different institutional contexts. Our main results indicate that PAs significantly reduce deforestation, with larger effects for collective lands than national (strict-use) PAs, and no impact for regional (multiple-use) PAs. However, national PAs are only effective near human settlements, in municipalities that provide more public goods and are less violent. In remote areas, national PAs are particularly vulnerable to the expansion of coca crops and gold mining. In contrast, collective lands reduce coca crops and avoid deforestation in remote, less developed regions. These results highlight the extent to which natural PAs rely on the institutional capacity of the national and local governments, while collective lands protect forests even when state presence is weak. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]