Search

Remittances have become one of the most important sources of household income in developing countries, empowering recipients to be more politically independent. Using a dynamic estimator and panel data for 84 developing countries over the 1982–2011 period, this paper investigates the effect that remittances have on political institutions. Controlling for country and time fixed effects and using an exogenous source of variation to instrument remittances, the baseline results show that remittances start having a positive effect on democratic institutions when remittances reach 22% of GDP. This evidence suggests that remittances can influence the relationship between recipients and political elites, providing incentives for recipient households to hold their political representatives more accountable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Labor market dynamics have played a significant role in the remarkable social gains experienced in the recent past across Latin America. Assessing quality of employment, beyond the perspective of income, to include other fundamental aspects of jobs – such as whether jobs are secure, provide benefits, or are satisfying – can shed light on the sustainability of these achievements. This is particularly pertinent given the region's current economic slowdown. Using harmonized data for 15 countries in Latin America, this paper connects the role of job quality with the recent process of inclusive growth across the region, and particularly with how individuals worked their way out of poverty. The paper first proposes a multi‐dimensional measure for job quality, and then uses this measure to compare job quality across countries and over time. The paper also studies correlates of job quality and the relationship between job quality and poverty. One main finding is that job quality across the region began to increase in 2003. The best predictors of job quality are age, gender, firm size, formal employment, and union membership. Benefits and job satisfaction are the dimensions of job quality that are best correlated with not living in poverty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a new Multidimensional Poverty Index for Latin America. The index combines monetary and non‐monetary indicators, updates deprivation cut‐offs for certain traditional unsatisfied basic needs indicators and includes some new indicators, aiming to maximize regional comparability within the data constraints. The index is estimated for 17 countries of the region at two points in time—one around 2005 and the other around 2012. Overall, we estimate about 28 percent of people are multidimensionally poor in 2012 in the region. We find statistically significant reductions of poverty in most countries, both in terms of incidence and intensity over the period under analysis. However, important disparities between rural and urban areas remain. Statistical scrutiny of the index suggests that it captures the state of poverty relatively well while maintaining a certain parsimony and being highly robust to changes in weights, indicators, and poverty cut‐off. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Motivation: How is research on social issues shaped in Latin America? How much attention do researchers give to poverty and inequality? What is the focus of research on these issues? Purpose: The paper aims to analyse the main patterns of academic publications on poverty and inequality in Latin America. Approach and methods: A bibliometric analysis based on different sources is used to review the main trends of publications on poverty and inequality in the region between 1990 and 2014. Findings: We find that although Latin America is widely recognized as one of the most unequal regions worldwide, poverty—not inequality—has been at the centre of the region's research agendas for many years. We detect a gradual shift in research from poverty to inequality, both in the academic literature and in the publications of international organizations. Policy implications: These findings provide new elements to better understand how and why researchers choose certain topics over others. This understanding is important both to gain knowledge on what researchers are prioritizing, and to shed light on the relationship between those priorities and public policies to combat poverty and inequality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For at least eight decades, researchers have analyzed the association between childhood poverty and cognitive development in different societies worldwide, but few of such studies have been carried out in Latin America. The aim of the present paper is to systematically review the empirical studies that have analyzed the associations between poverty and cognitive development in children under 18 years of age from Latin American and Caribbean countries between 2000 and 2015. This analysis takes into consideration the country where the work was conducted, the experimental and analytical design, sample size and composition, cognitive and poverty paradigms implemented, levels of analysis, and the inclusion of mediation analyses. Through these, we identify common patterns in the negative impact of poverty that have been repeatedly verified in the literature in other continents; we also call attention to a set of issues regarding sample, design, paradigms, impact, and mediation analyses that should be considered in future studies in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This commentary discusses the implication of child and adolescent development research for public policy in Latin America. As illustrated by the articles in this special issue, even though the research of child and adolescent development in Latin America is making significant progress, still more research is needed. Developmental research in the region faces the challenge of uncovering the mechanisms that affect child development in a context of high levels of poverty and inequality. In addition, researchers in the region should be particularly careful in using appropriate and rigorous methods, improving the design and adaptation of instruments that measure child and adolescent development, developing longitudinal datasets, and looking for causal evidence. Children and adolescents in Latin America will benefit from a further expansion of developmental research. Research in child and adolescent development using data from Latin America can advise policy makers and help improve the design and evaluation of interventions and public policies that promote child and adolescent well-being in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: This study examined Latin American evaluation needs regarding the development of a collaborative mental health care (CMHC) evaluation framework as seen by local key health‐care leaders and professionals. Potential implementation challenges and opportunities were also identified. Methods: This multisite research study used an embedded mixed methods approach in three public health networks in Mexico, Nicaragua and Chile. Local stakeholders participated: decision‐makers in key informant interviews, front‐line clinicians in focus groups and other stakeholders through a survey. The analysis was conducted within site and then across sites. Results: A total of 22 semi‐structured interviews, three focus groups and 27 questionnaires (52% response rate) were conducted. Participants recognized a strong need to evaluate different areas of CMHC in Latin America, including access, types and quality of services, human resources and outcomes related to mental disorders, including addiction. A priority was to evaluate collaboration within the health system, including the referral system. Issues of feasibility, including the weaknesses of information systems, were also identified. Conclusion: Local stakeholders strongly supported the development of a comprehensive evaluation framework for CMHC in Latin America and cited several dimensions and contextual factors critical for inclusion. Implementation must allow flexibility and adaptation to the local context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses poverty and inequality in Latin America as of 2014. Latin America is the world's second most unequal region on the plant according to the Centro de Estudios Distributivos, Laborales y Sociales and World Bank. Inequality is considered as one of the main challenges to combat poverty, affirm democracy and sustain sovereign economic growth in the region. Also examined is the evolution of poverty and inequality in the region since the 1980s.