The Inter-American Development Bank is offering a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) on social policy in Latin America and the Caribbean, including poverty and inequality, early childhood development, education, health, social protection and employment. Entitled Latin American Social Reality, the free, seven-week, introductory course is intended to give journalists, … [Read more...] about IDB Offers MOOC on Social Policy
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Is Latin America Failing Its Workers?
The deaths of 17 workers building facilities for the 2018 World Cup in Russia, along with a lack of employment contracts and harsh working conditions at the sites, have made headlines recently. They have provoked denunciations by rights activists and drawn attention to labor abuses. But Russia is not alone in failing to protect its workers. Latin America also suffers real … [Read more...] about Is Latin America Failing Its Workers?
Can Latin American Workers Dodge the Deaths of Despair?
For much of the last century, mortality rates in the United States fell steadily. But from 1998-2013, that trend reversed for a special demographic: non-Hispanic whites, aged 45-54. The problem, according to a new study by Nobel Laureate Angus Deaton, and fellow economist, Anne Case, lay in people lacking a college degree. Tens of thousands of those middle-aged whites were … [Read more...] about Can Latin American Workers Dodge the Deaths of Despair?
Can New Methods Sharpen Targeting in Programs for the Poor?
In recent years, developing countries have struggled to make social welfare programs for the poor and vulnerable more efficient. The distribution of preventative health products is an important example. Such products can help the poor stave off malnutrition and disease and improve overall productivity. But they have traditionally been distributed using subsidized pricing, and … [Read more...] about Can New Methods Sharpen Targeting in Programs for the Poor?
Trimming the Fat for Better Growth
Why do governments need to save? In large part, for some of the same reasons people and firms need to save: to invest and help their economies grow and prosper. Public saving may make up less of national saving than household or corporate saving in Latin America and the Caribbean. But it is nonetheless vital to overall economic health. Greater public saving would allow … [Read more...] about Trimming the Fat for Better Growth