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This article analyzes the behavior of the Economic Fitness indicator as a measure of the international competitiveness of Latin American economies, as well as an indicator of their relationship with per capita income gaps and the Human Development Index (HDI). Positive correlations were found between per capita income gaps and the stagnation of the international competitiveness of Latin American economies, as well as between human development levels and the productive structure, suggesting a causal relationship between human development and competitiveness. This paper also finds that the Economic Fitness indicator fluctuates significantly when estimated using exports in domestic value-added, suggesting that the original estimate may over- or underestimate competitiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within the framework of Latin American post-war structuralism, the global economy was the grounds of antagonism between a central (industrialized) pole and the periphery (providers of primary goods). This paper argues that addressing the specific way this antagonism is reproduced in the historical conditions of new capitalism requires considering the emergence of a chain-shaped structural logic, which differentiates activities of knowledge creation from those of knowledge reproduction within distinct productive sectors. This chain logic does not challenge the concept of structure, in terms of a sectoral differentiation in post-war capitalist production, but rather imposes it as a dominant norm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper identifies the similarities and differences among Latin American structuralism, dependency theory, and Thorstein Veblen's Imperial Germany (1915), exploring the connection on such as aspects as path dependency, technology, and economic policy. Imperial Germany is similar to many of the principal policy recommendations espoused by the structuralists and dependency theorists. Nevertheless, structuralism is closer to the ideas of the institutionalists and Veblen himself. In conclusions, the structuralists and Veblen's version in Imperial Germany agree that an industrial policy ought to be guided by the government, even though Veblen and the institutionalists clearly see social change through technological improvement, which is missing from structuralism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the universe of literature on franchises, several studies have examined the impact of franchising on economic growth, tending to focus on growth rather than development, although the empirical research has already concluded that franchising does have an influence on economic growth. Likewise, some articles have underscored the importance and influence of franchising on development, but have failed to provide empirical proof of its true sway. With that in mind, this paper provides empirical evidence demonstrating the relationship between franchising and development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Against the backdrop of trade liberalization, economies in Latin America have endeavored to capitalize on their comparative advantages and join global production processes; despite the fact that industrial exports have grown, however, they have had only a modest impact in terms of boosting the product in Latin American economies. The objective of this paper is to determine the influence of industrial exports on the product in six Latin American countries, using the input-output model and the network theory. The hypothesis sets out to prove that out of an economy's total transactions, the spillover effects from the industrial sector exports in each country are more diversified the more the country trades with the United States, even if these effects are weak, due to the low structural articulation in each of them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The basic premise of this paper is that the problem in the agency-social structure or subject-social structure relationship is crucial for understanding the present stage of take-off in the new phase of development or capitalism of knowledge following the recent global crisis of 2007-2009. This expresses the contradiction between neoliberalism, as a political-ideological projection, and a new technological-productive base, as well as the question of differentiation between developed "successful" countries and those that are "backward". Institutionalism and Gramsci's Marxism have offered solutions to the agency-structure dichotomy through very different theoretical approaches, the first seeking to explain the issue of differentiation between countries. Aspects of an alternative explanation are provided here through the Gramscian solution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper examines the relationship between the performance of Latin American stock markets with their real economies, applying seven econometric models for the cases of Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Mexico. The relationship between stock market yields in these countries and their respective GDPS is examined and compared, applying to the series for each country unit root tests, cointegration analysis, error correction model analysis, Granger causality modeling, self-regression vector analysis, stimulus and response functions, and variance decomposition analysis. The series comprise the following stock markets: Argentina's MERVAL, Brazil's BOVESPA, Chile's IGPA, and Mexico's IPC, as compiled by Economática. The GDP series were obtained from the Cepalstat data base. The series are monthly and are for the period 1993-2005. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses the Luxembourg Income Study (LIS) to analyze the dimension of the middle class in various Latin American countries. One of its major findings is that during the first decade of this century, the size of the middle class in Latin America did not appear to depend on demographic factors. A second finding is that, in contrast with the majority of developed countries, government income and expenditure policies had little influence on increasing the size of the middle class in the Latin American countries in the sample. Finally, as in the developed world, labor market factors have little influence on the size of the middle class in Latin America, the main exceptions being Brazil and Mexico, where employment seems to increase the size of the middle class. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to contribute to the debate on the presence of foreign banks in Latin America. To clarify the discussion, we shall conduct a survey of the empirical literature devoted to internationalization in the banking sector so as to provide a better analysis of the determinants that currently underpin foreign banking investments. The multinational banks concerned come mainly from the European Union, particularly Spain, and primarily focus their investments in the region's large emerging economies. They display profitability indicators that are on a par with those of domestic banks, generate a significantly lower level of operational efficiency, but are more efficient in their management of risk. International banks can help reinforce banking stability by spreading new risk management methods, introducing new control procedures and strengthening asset solidity. However, they are partly responsible for the credit squeeze from which Latin America is suffering. Foreign banks can be the cause of new sources of banking fragility such as the exposure to foreign exchange risks, the increase in market influence, persistently high intermediation spreads and moral hazard. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]