On Sept. 15 2008, Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy heralding the most serious financial crisis since the Great Depression. A couple of years after, I was at a conference and a senior (European) official gave a presentation entitled The Global Financial Crisis, Lessons for Latin America. I asked whether there was a typo. Shouldn’t that be lessons from Latin America?, I … [Read more...] about Banks and the Global Financial Crisis 10 Years On: Lessons from Latin America and the Caribbean
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Pushing the Frontier of Solar Cells
Areas of Latin America, like Mexico and Chile, have some of the world's greatest solar potential. But a new technological development in solar cells could allow them to harness more of the sun's energy and speed the growth of solar in the region. The new solar cells are known as perovskites. They are made of a crystalline structure and can be printed on sheets of plastic or … [Read more...] about Pushing the Frontier of Solar Cells
Can Domestic Violence Be Accurately Measured?
Education has long been promoted as a means for changing women’s position in society. Growing income, opportunity and exposure to more equal social norms, it is thought, should help protect women against abuse, not least by allowing them to choose better partners. However, recent evidence shows that the role of education as a protective factor may be limited. Physical and … [Read more...] about Can Domestic Violence Be Accurately Measured?
When Expectations Push a Country to Default
Countries have long relied on the issuance of debt to finance their expenditures and investments. However, it can be risky. Episodes such as the worldwide debt crisis of 1983, with its dramatic effects on Latin America, and the more recent European debt crisis, show that countries need to be cautious when choosing their debt levels. High levels of debt coupled with periods of … [Read more...] about When Expectations Push a Country to Default
Searching for a New Macroprudential Framework
The policy of quantitative easing led by advanced economies and the subsequent surge of capital flows to emerging economies (EMEs) after the global financial crisis together with their recent reversal have highlighted the need to tailor a macro approach for EMEs that incorporates financial stability as an explicit policy target. But what should the approach be? Should it take … [Read more...] about Searching for a New Macroprudential Framework