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
Little Money for Little Kids
For every dollar spent on children aged 0 to 5, three dollars is spent on children aged 6 to 12 in Latin America and the Caribbean. That is one of the unsettling findings of The Early Years: Child Well-Being and the Role of Public Policy, edited by Samuel Berlinski and Norbert Schady. This 2015 edition of the IDB’s flagship publication, Development in the Americas, was unveiled … [Read more...] about Little Money for Little Kids