Photo Credit: UNICEF “The one thing all children have in common is their rights. Every child has the right to survive and thrive, to be educated, to be free from violence and abuse, to participate and to be heard." So spoke UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in preparation for Universal Children’s Day on November 20. But rights do not necessarily translate into reality. The … [Read more...] about Universal Children’s Day: Should We Celebrate?
Double-dip of Latin American Exports: a call for diversification
By Paolo Giordano* According to the latest edition of the Trade and Integration Monitor of the IDB, exports from Latin America and the Caribbean fell at an annualized rate of 10.9% in the first six months of 2015 compared to the same period in 2014 - the biggest drop recorded since the trade collapse of 2009. The total for the year is therefore expected to stay in the red, … [Read more...] about Double-dip of Latin American Exports: a call for diversification
The Geography of Development: IDB Annual Development Lecture
Hundreds of thousands of refugees from Africa and the Middle East are hiring human traffickers and mounting rickety rafts each year to find a better life in Europe. Others are making the long trek North across deserts and over fences to enter illegally into the United States. At the IDB’s Annual Development Lecture, Princeton Professor Esteban Rossi-Hansberg discussed how many … [Read more...] about The Geography of Development: IDB Annual Development Lecture
Can Psychometrics Improve Credit Access?
By: Irani Arráiz What if I told you that your chances of getting a divorce are related to you and your spouse’s credit score? Well, it happens that your ability and willingness to pay depends, it seems, on some personality traits which, in turn, affect how we relate to one another, including our spouses. Based on that idea—that your ability and willingness to pay depends on … [Read more...] about Can Psychometrics Improve Credit Access?
External Aid and Government Capacity Building
A recent report by AidData (summarized in the Washington Post ) shows that Multilateral Banks “exert larger-than-expected agenda-setting influence on the basis of their financial contributions.” That is, institutions such as the IDB and the World Bank influence the setting of the reform agenda and help countries develop policies beyond what their actual financial contributions … [Read more...] about External Aid and Government Capacity Building