By Mark P. Jones In January 1992, bitter enemies on El Salvador's left and right met in a colonial era castle in Mexico City, shook hands and brought an end to a 12-year-long civil war that had claimed 75,000 lives and displaced one-fifth of El Salvador's population. Today, 25 years later, the right and left remain starkly divided in El Salvador, and the country is among the … [Read more...] about A Strong Party System and Peace in El Salvador
How Nobel Ideas Inspired the IDB
Richard Thaler, the University of Chicago professor who fused psychological insights and economics to reveal how biases affect decision-making, was awarded Oct. 8 the 2017 Nobel Prize in economics. The award, which recognizes Thaler's work in overturning assumptions about economic behavior as rational and demonstrating how people could be "nudged" to make better choices, … [Read more...] about How Nobel Ideas Inspired the IDB
When Globalization and Populism Meet
It amounts to an upheaval. Populist movements claiming to speak directly for the people and opposed to everything from bankers to immigrants and the institutions of liberal democracy have altered the political landscape in large areas of the world. Think Brexit in Great Britain, Syriza and Podemos in Greece and Spain, and the populist candidates in the most recent elections in … [Read more...] about When Globalization and Populism Meet
Should Reform Tackle Rules and Institutions Together?
In the wake of its banking and economic crisis of 2002, Uruguay took some bold steps. Unlike other countries that squandered the commodities boom of the subsequent years, delaying fiscal reforms and, in many cases, worsening their long-term fiscal stance, the country embarked on a series of integral reforms in virtually every policy area, from public management systems to … [Read more...] about Should Reform Tackle Rules and Institutions Together?
The Skills Gap: Holding Latin America Back
From a certain optic, advances in education in Latin America and the Caribbean have been remarkable. In 1900, only one in three children attended primary school. Very few advanced to secondary school. Today, primary education in the region is nearly universal and enrollment in secondary school stands at nearly 80%. Unfortunately, those gains in access to education have not … [Read more...] about The Skills Gap: Holding Latin America Back