The UK is a country of just 242 thousand square kilometers (compared to Mexico’s 1.9 mn, Argentina’s 2.7 mn and Brazil’s 8.4 mn) located about 7,000 km from Barbados and more than 7,500 km from anywhere on the mainland of Latin America (it’s just over 7,500 km from London to Simon Bolivar airport, Caracas and over 8,000 km to the Yucatan).[1] Considering Latin America’s two … [Read more...] about BREXIT: What Does It Mean for Latin America and the Caribbean?
Macroeconomics and Finance
Trimming the Fat for Better Growth
Why do governments need to save? In large part, for some of the same reasons people and firms need to save: to invest and help their economies grow and prosper. Public saving may make up less of national saving than household or corporate saving in Latin America and the Caribbean. But it is nonetheless vital to overall economic health. Greater public saving would allow … [Read more...] about Trimming the Fat for Better Growth
Finding the Recipe for Successful Productive Development Policies
Latin America boasts a wealth of creativity and resources. Since the turn of the century, its creative industries—from Argentina to Colombia to Mexico—have been flourishing. However, the region has been getting bad grades in productivity, a key ingredient for development. Its levels of research and development are low. Compared to rich countries, its productivity has been … [Read more...] about Finding the Recipe for Successful Productive Development Policies
Making Saving a State Policy
Over the last three decades, Chile has led the way in promoting greater national savings in Latin America and the Caribbean. Beginning in the early 1980s with a pension reform that introduced mandatory savings through a system managed by the private sector, the country has implemented numerous measures that have boosted its savings rate. Privatizations were carried … [Read more...] about Making Saving a State Policy
Help the Economy, Save the Environment
Latin America and the Caribbean rang in World Environment Day June 5th with much to celebrate. Home to the world’s largest expanse of tropical forest, its greatest species diversity, and some of its most abundant renewable energy resources, the region is ever more conscious of the importance of the environment to its future. Moreover, that awareness is spurring new initiatives … [Read more...] about Help the Economy, Save the Environment