At college graduations this summer, commencement speakers will rally departing classes to pursue their dreams and unique paths through life. That may be inspiring. But getting a job is far harder today than it was when those commencement speakers went to college a few decades ago. More people have acquired higher education, competition is stiffer, and requirements for even … [Read more...] about Boosting Education in an Unpredictable Century
#LatAm
What Interactive Learning Can Teach Latin America
How can teachers teach when their students have wildly different skills? It is a difficult problem. And it is a problem that especially plagues education systems in developing countries where massive expansions in coverage have thrown children from different parental backgrounds, training and skill together into the same classrooms. Teachers may focus their attention on their … [Read more...] about What Interactive Learning Can Teach Latin America
Interest Rates are Falling, But Not So Fast
By Andrés Fernández, Daniel Hernaiz and Andrew Powell Most of the largest economies in Latin America have adopted inflation targeting [1]. A huge advantage of having such an anchor, and not relying on a fixed exchange rate to curb diverging expectations, is that the exchange rate is then determined by the market and can adjust to shocks. Given the large shocks the region has … [Read more...] about Interest Rates are Falling, But Not So Fast
When Government Capacity Creates Economic Options
Government capacity is in part the ability to hit the long ball, to have long-term policies that look beyond the next election and the next change in administration. In economic policy, as in social policy and so many other areas, it can make all the difference. Unfortunately, in too many countries of Latin America and the Caribbean winning the next election and installing … [Read more...] about When Government Capacity Creates Economic Options
Why Are Latin Americans Happier than Their GDP Would Suggest?
Money can’t buy happiness, or at least that’s what many Latin Americans may say. The latest World Happiness Report has shown once again that the region has higher levels of wellbeing than its GDP would predict, and some Latin American countries have a higher happiness index than developed nations from Western Europe. What is it about the region that makes its citizens happy? … [Read more...] about Why Are Latin Americans Happier than Their GDP Would Suggest?