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This paper introduces the special issue focused on Latin America and the Caribbean (LA&C), featuring five papers penned by local authors. Reviewing Voluntas journal's main topics concerning LA&C as grassroots movements within civil society, the third sector including its definitions and institutional context, philanthropy, and volunteer work. After organizing these discussions, we summarize the five papers included in this special issue. We connect these papers with broader debates in the LA&C literature and emphasize their unique contributions. A significant amount of the LA&C research relies on case studies. We advocate for increased usage of local databases to conduct quantitative studies. Furthermore, while most theoretical models use non-local frameworks, we encourage research that presents fresh theoretical viewpoints to enrich the debate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aging in Latin America and the Caribbean will not proceed along known paths already followed by more developed countries. In particular, the health profile of the future elderly population is less predictable due to factors associated with their demographic past that may haunt them for a long time and make them more vulnerable, even if economic and institutional conditions turn out to be better than what they are likely to be. This paper answers a set of questions regarding the nature and determinants of health status among the elderly in Latin America and the Caribbean using SABE (Survey on Health and Well-Being of Elders), a cross-sectional representative sample of over 10,000 elderly aged 60 and above in private homes in seven major cities in Latin America and the Caribbean. We examine health outcomes such as self-reported health, functional limitations–Activities of Daily Living (ADL’s) and Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL’s), obesity (ratio of weight in kilograms to the square of height in centimeters), and self-reported chronic conditions (including diabetes). The findings include: (a) Countries differ in self-reported health but exhibit much less differences in terms of functional limitations. The number of chronic conditions increase with age and is higher among females than among males; (b) On average SABE countries display levels of self-reported diabetes (and obesity) that are as high if not higher than those found in the US; (c) There is evidence, albeit weaker than expected, suggesting deteriorated health and functional status in the region; (d) There is important evidence pointing toward rather strong inequalities (by education and income) in selected health outcomes. Preliminary findings from SABE confirm that Latin America and the Caribbean display peculiarities in the health profile of elderly, particularly with regard to diabetes and obesity. It is important that new policy initiatives begin to seriously target the region’s elderly, especially with an emphasis on the prevention and treatment of diabetes and obesity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Child maltreatment and substance abuse are both international public health priorities. Research shows that child maltreatment increases the risk for substance use and problems. Thus, recognition of this relationship may have important implications for substance demand reduction strategies, including efforts to prevent and treat substance use and related problems. Latin America and the Caribbean is a rich and diverse region of the world with a large range of social and cultural influences. To date, relatively little work has addressed the link between child maltreatment and substance use in the region. A working group constituted by the Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission (CICAD) and the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) in June, 2010 identified this area as a priority area for a multinational research partnership. This paper summarizes existing information on drug use and child maltreatment in six participating countries, Colombia, El Salvador, Jamaica, Nicaragua, Panama and Uruguay, and considers the implications of child maltreatment prevention for demand reduction strategies to address substance use issues. A CICAD/CAMH-sponsored multinational research partnership has been formed, which will involve research on the link between child maltreatment and substance misuse, expertise exchange and resource sharing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article contributes to the literature on the convergence problem by studying whether there is β-convergence between the economies of Latin America and the Caribbean by analyzing the trend in beta convergence, calculating regressions between ten-year periods of economic growth and the logarithm of per capita income. Thus, the trend of convergence from 1950 can be studied and any sub-period in which absolute convergence has occurred can be detected. For that purpose, the current study uses data from the Penn World Tables between 1950 and 2019 for all economies in the region. Although wider sample empirical tests in the 1990s found little evidence of unconditional convergence of poor countries from the 1950s on, this study tests whether these results still hold for the subsample of Latin American and Caribbean economies. While the Spanish and Portuguese speaking countries show a divergence pattern, the economic integration among the Caribbean Islands is yielding fruit in terms of σ-convergence. The main policy implication is that a major integration of Latin American countries would support convergence to a common steady state. Hence, all the countries should implement policies to develop their comparative advantages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study constructs a new data set on unemployment rates in Latin America and the Caribbean and then explores the determinants of unemployment. We compare different countries, finding that unemployment is influenced by the size of the rural population and that the effects of government regulations are generally weak. We also examine large, persistent increases in unemployment over time, finding that they are caused by contractions in aggregate demand. These demand contractions result from either disinflationary monetary policy or the defense of an exchange-rate peg in the face of capital flight. Our evidence supports hysteresis theories in which short-run changes in unemployment influence the natural rate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To assess the causes of infertility and artificial reproductive technology (ART) outcomes in women of African descent living in the Caribbean and Bermuda. Design: Cross-sectional study composed of a questionnaire administered to providers who care for women undergoing ART in the Caribbean and Bermuda. Material and methods: A questionnaire from the Deerfield Institute was adapted to meet the aims of our study with their permission. Eight infertility clinics in the Caribbean and Bermuda were identified. The primary physician at each site was contacted via email and invited to participate in the study. Questionnaires were completed via interview or electronically. Responses were collected in a REDCap database for statistical analysis. Results: There were five respondents from Barbados, Bermuda (× 2), Puerto Rico, and the Bahamas. The most commonly reported etiologies of infertility among Afro-Caribbean patients were female-male factor and uterine factor. In vitro fertilization (IVF) combined with intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) is performed more often than conventional IVF. The cumulative live birth rates (LBR) after ART for those ages ≤ 34, 35–37, 38–42, and > 42 were 52%, 40%, 22%, and 12%, respectively. The cumulative live birth rate was 31.5% for total patients. The factors reported to be most important in hindering patients from cycling were coping emotionally with poor ovarian response and cost. The biggest restraints to infertility care were costs and a lack of local IVF centers on all islands. Conclusion: Afro-Caribbean women receiving infertility care in the Caribbean may have better ART outcomes compared to African-American women in the United States (US). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on sustainability was ignited by the Brundtland Report and further fueled by the recognition that sustainability is a critical challenge for the twenty-first century. The explosion of sustainability literature necessitates continuous review and synthesis. This targeted review focuses on sustainable rural land use in Latin America and the Caribbean. A systematic selection process yielded 57 articles published between 1980 and 2016. The articles were categorized based on the definition of sustainable land use, measure(s), and their contributions to sphere(s) of knowledge—environment, economic, and/or social. Almost half of the articles were categorized into one sphere of knowledge, one-fifth in two spheres, and the remaining third in all three spheres. Generally, the definitions of sustainability matched the measures of sustainability and the spheres of knowledge. This results in high variation in definitions and measures across studies depending on which sphere or combination of spheres is emphasized. Recent studies are applying complex indicators of sustainability that cross all three spheres, thereby addressing the limitations of using a reductionist approach to measure the complexity of studying of multiple intersecting and overlapping land uses. This important trend will support the comparison of current land-use practices to sustainable goals and facilitate comparison across land uses. The development and incorporation of theoretical frameworks are generally absent from these studies limiting the generalizability across study sites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are three positions about the impact of outward foreign direct investment (FDI) from China on the policies of Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) countries: the "Wealth is Power" camp, which associates political power with Chinese economic lures; the "Conditionalist" camp, which contends the international and domestic economic and political context determines the specific political effect of Chinese outward FDI (OFDI); and the "Politics is Power" camp, which believes no dramatic political changes have resulted from the economic stimuli of Chinese OFDI (COFDI) and associated economic lures. Case studies herein on Brazil and China, Argentina and China, Ecuador and China, and the Caribbean and China support the Conditionalist camp, albeit to differing degrees and for different reasons. Case studies herein on COFDI in Argentina and in Colombia also deepen our knowledge about the drivers of COFDI. They challenge those asserting that COFDI in LAC is driven purely by political motives. This piece also reviews and critiques the state of the literature on COFDI in LAC and suggests a pathway for moving to the next level. It specifically recommends researchers work to cumulate knowledge by asking similar kinds of questions across cases, exploit theory, and work on variable conceptualization and operationalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is an ongoing debate between focalization and universalization on welfare policies as the best way to develop the welfare state in Latin America and the Caribbean. However, there is a need to develop a measure that exhibits the multidimensional nature of the welfare state, instead of focusing on the social spending dimension. Segura-Ubiergo (The political economy of the welfare state in Latin America: globalization, democracy and development. Cambridge University Press, New York, ) constructed a welfare effort index (WEI) to facilitate understand the relative degrees of welfare state development among Latin American countries. The WEI focuses mainly on social spending and ignores the other dimensions of welfare. Based on a comparative analysis of 17 Latin American countries and following the methodology of Segura-Ubiergo, a new index that aims at enriching the WEI was constructed. The new index is multidimensional in that it has eight indicators relating to three dimensions of welfare: social spending, coverage of welfare programs and outcome of welfare institutions. Principal component analysis was used for reducing the indicators into three indexes that represent three proposed dimensions of welfare. The combination of these three indexes gives the multidimensional welfare index. The results of the index account for more than 75 % of the data variance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is now clear that the global shift toward democracy in recent decades has resulted in a highly uneven democratic landscape in which the quality and performance of democracies around the world vary greatly. In an era characterized by increasingly open borders to goods, services, information, and, at times, labor, we argue that poorly performing, uneven democracies have become an important, yet underexplored, component in one's emigration calculus. We test this argument through analysis of survey data across 22 Latin American countries and find strong and consistent evidence that both the quality of a democratic system and its ability to fulfill basic governance responsibilities influence the degree to which an individual considers emigration as a viable life strategy. These findings in turn have implications for the subsequent impact emigration may have on the democratic development of high migration communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the amount of reactive nitrogen circulating at the global level has increased markedly in the last century, the effects of this increase are largely seen at the regional level due to interacting ecological and socio-economic factors. In contrast with most other regions of the world, Latin America and the Caribbean (LA-Ca) stand out due to the fact that the major input of reactive nitrogen (Nr) still occurs naturally via biological nitrogen fixation (BNF) in natural ecosystems as opposed to anthropogenic inputs of synthetic fertilizer, fossil fuel combustion and cropping with leguminous species. Largely due to economic reasons, the consumption of fertilizer N in the LA-Ca region is still low in comparison with the average consumption of the world. However, the fertilizer N consumption is increasing at a much faster rate than that in developed regions of the world, like USA and Canada. The Nr production through BNF in cultivated plants that fix nitrogen (C-BNF) is 5 times lower than that occurring naturally in Latin America, but is still equivalent to 16% of the world C-BNF. The cultivation of nitrogen-fixing crop species in the LA-Ca region is also increasing, almost entirely due to the expansion of soybean fields in the central and northern regions of Brazil and the Pampa region of Argentina. Other anthropogenic activities in the region that contribute to an increase in the circulation of reactive nitrogen include the impact of biomass burning and urbanization. In the last decade, an average of 47,000 km2 per year of forests was burned in the LA-Ca region. The environmental impact of urban centers in the LA-Ca region has become very important, since an intense urbanization process is occurring in this region, at an intensity that far exceeds urban development in the northern hemisphere. The consequences of increased urbanization include increased emissions of NO x to the atmosphere due to the fossil fuel combustion, and the lack of sewage treatment facilities in most cities of the LA-Ca result in a large volume of untreated sewage discharged into surface waters, creating serious environmental problems. The combination of rapid urbanization and agricultural intensification in this region suggest that concern is warranted for the potential for increase in the circulation of reactive nitrogen in the very near future. At the same time, the opportunity still exists to mitigate some of the consequences of human impact on the nitrogen cycle in a region that still maintains a large fraction of its natural ecosystems intact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]