With a surging pandemic, income losses, and a deepening recession, Latin America and the Caribbean is facing a health and economic crisis that will test its financial systems like few events in modern times. The blow, however, can be softened. Banks as well as governments and central banks can play a crucial role, providing financing to lessen the impact on families and firms … [Read more...] about Ensuring Financial Stability in the Battle against COVID-19
How We Measure the Productivity and Efficiency Gains of Improving Infrastructure Services
Part of our "behind the scenes" series of posts for the 2020 flagship publication From Structures to Services: The Path to Better Infrastructure in Latin America and the Caribbean When we think about infrastructure’s contribution to the region's economies, we look at the direct effects’ investment in bridges, airports, and power grids have on growth. A new highway can … [Read more...] about How We Measure the Productivity and Efficiency Gains of Improving Infrastructure Services
How to Reduce Imprisonment in Latin America
With about 1.4 million people—including pre-trial detainees and convicts—held in penal institutions, Latin America is suffering from a dramatic incarceration crisis. Over the last ten years, the prison population in the region has grown by 76%, and today 241 people for every 100,000 in habitants are in detention, about twice the level of the European Union. Overcrowding and … [Read more...] about How to Reduce Imprisonment in Latin America
Electric Vehicles: Towards Clean and Affordable Transportation
Concerned by climate change and urban pollution, governments and consumers are rapidly moving towards electric vehicles. Battery prices have decreased, and electric cars are increasingly competitive against standard gas-powered vehicles. Before Covid-19, worldwide sales and new registrations of electric vehicles started to grow exponentially, with the United States, China and … [Read more...] about Electric Vehicles: Towards Clean and Affordable Transportation
Have Lockdowns Been Effective in Latin America?
As Latin America registers more than 5.5 million infections and more than 220,000 deaths from Covid-19 in mid-August – currently highest among the regions of world – it becomes important to ask why lockdowns there haven’t been more effective. After all, mobility restrictions have exacted a heavy economic toll, hurting businesses, eliminating jobs, and aggravating poverty and … [Read more...] about Have Lockdowns Been Effective in Latin America?