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The fact that equitable social policy expanded drastically in Latin America during the left turn and during a time of prosperity does not necessarily mean that the ideological color of governing parties and economic growth are the engines behind changes in social policy, as is usually claimed by part of the literature. Using panel data from Latin American countries for 1990–2013, this paper offers an alternative explanation, derived from previous qualitative research, that the level of political competition, the strength of civil society, and wealth are the key factors behind the expansion of equitable social policy. Once these explanations are included in our models, the ideological leaning of governments and economic growth lose statistical significance. Thus, this paper challenges dominant approaches that consider social policy change in Latin America a consequence of the ideological leaning of the government and economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this paper is to bridge an important gap between academic literature and the lessons of recent financial crises in Latin America. Although standard economic theory holds that banking crises are a singular phenomenon that should be treated in a uniform fashion, the banking crises of Mexico, Argentina, and Uruguay, and the responses of local authorities, convincingly demonstrate that there are in fact two distinct types of banking crisis that require equally distinct resolution measures. Taking into account these historical episodes, this paper presents a conceptual framework that both accommodates the possibility of two types of banking crisis and offers the analytical framework necessary to examine benefits and disadvantages of different resolution strategies when applied to distinct types of crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the recently developed panel unit root and the Pedroni cointegration tests are applied to empirically examine the validity of the Feldstein–Horioka puzzle (F–H puzzle) for a heterogeneous panel of 14 Latin American and five Caribbean countries over the period, 1960–2002. The findings indicate that in these countries, the long-run solvency condition is maintained. Finally, employing the Pedroni panel group FM-OLS estimator (2000, 2001), it is found that the statistically significant estimated savings-retention coefficient for the panel is relatively small indicating that the F–H Puzzle is not valid and thus implying the prevalence of a moderate degree of capital mobility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates empirically the relationship between exchange rate ( ER) regimes and volatility of real exchange rate depreciation ( RERD), comparing the G7 and 17 Latin American ( LA17) countries, during 1970-2010. We estimate a panel autoregressive model with generalized autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity ( GARCH) errors and regime-specific effects on both the conditional mean and conditional variance. For the G7, we find that, relative to the fixed ER regime, only the freely floating regime shows higher RERD volatility; under the managed floating regime the RERD is equally volatile and under the crawling peg it is actually less volatile. Instead, in the case of the LA17, more flexible ER regimes are associated with more volatile RERD rates, with higher volatility under the managed floating regime than under the crawling peg and with extremely high volatility under the 'freely falling' ER regime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The slave trades out of Africa represent one of the most significant forced migration experiences in history. In this paper, I illustrate their long-term consequences on contemporaneous socio-economic outcomes, drawing from my own previous work on the topic and from an extensive review of the available literature. I first consider the influence of the slave trade on the 'sending' countries in Africa, with attention to their economic, institutional, demographic, and social implications. Next, I evaluate the consequences of the slave trade on the 'receiving' countries in the Americas. Here, I distinguish between the case of Latin America and that of the USA. Overall, I show that the slave trades exert a lasting impact along several contemporaneous socio-economic dimensions and across diverse areas of the world. JEL Classification: J47, J15, O15, N30, P48, Z10 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the dynamics of national saving-investment relationship in order to determine the degree of capital mobility in 12 Latin American countries. The analytically relevant correlation is the short-term one, defined as that between changes in saving and investment. Of special interest is the speed at which variables return to the long run equilibrium relationship, which is interpreted as being negatively related to the degree of capital mobility. The long run correlation, in turn, captures the coefficient implied by the solvency constraint. We find that heterogeneity and cross-section dependence completely change the estimation of the long run coefficient. Besides we obtain a more precise short run coefficient estimate compared to the existent estimates in the literature. There is evidence of an intermediate degree of capital mobility, and the coefficients are extremely stable over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper tests empirically the Balassa-Samuelson (BS) hypothesis (i.e. rapid economic growth is accompanied by real exchange rate appreciation because of differential productivity growth between tradable and non-tradable sectors) using annual data for twenty Latin American countries. The paper applies new panel data unitroot tests proposed by Im et al. (Discussion paper, University of Cambridge, June 1997) and new panel data cointegration techniques suggested by Pedroni (Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, 1999) and the results are compared with those obtained with conventional time series unit-roots and cointegration tests. The main finding is that whereas a standard time series approach rejects the Balassa-Samuelson hypothesis for 11 countries out of 20, new panel cointegration techniques permit the rescue of this hypothesis for Latin American countries, as well as for Central American and South American groups of countries considered separately. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the process of convergence in Latin America over the period 1970-1998. There has been relatively little work on income convergence among developing countries in general and in Latin America in particular, even though many studies have examined convergence both within and among developed countries. There is little support for the convergence hypothesis over the sample period as a whole -- although the beta coefficient is positive, it is insignificant. Convergence is strong in the 1970s but by the 1990s it has disappeared. There is no evidence of a narrowing in the cross-country dispersion of income (sigma convergence) for the sample period as a whole. The results offer little support for the neo-classical growth model -- poorer countries have not grown faster than richer ones. There is a strong case for strengthening regional development policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the theoretical and empirical links between key economic variables and private spending in Latin America during 1980 to 1995. The empirical findings of this paper directly address the complementarity hypothesis which suggests that increases in public investment spending raise the marginal productivity of private capital, thereby inducing higher rates of private investment spending. This paper also addresses the issue of whether changes in the real exchange rate (expenditure-switching policies) have a deflationary effect on the economics of Latin America. The findings in this paper make an important contribution to the ongoing debate about which policies need to be promoted to raise and sustain the rate of private capital formation in Latin America--the region's future source of employment and income creation. (JEL 010, 050) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses recent migration to North America with reference to the 1962 and 1967 Canadian immigration regulations and the 1965 United States Immigration and Nationality Act. Despite the similar emphasis on manpower and kinship criteria as the basis for the admission of immigrants, differences between Canada and the United States exist with respect to the importance of immigration for the respective economies, the organization of immigration, the formal regulations, and the size and composition of migrant streams. After an examination of the volume, origin, and occupational composition of immigration to Canada and the United States, flows between the two countries are studied. The paper concludes with a scrutiny of changes in immigration regulations which are pending in both countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Official reserves have increased to unprecedented levels since the mid-1990s, particularly in developing economies. One of the reasons ascribed for accumulating official reserves is the so-called mercantilist motive. This motive is seen as a part of an active industrial policy in the sense that these resources allow the monetary authorities to maintain a stable and undervalued real exchange rate, promoting economic growth and development via the tradable goods sector. In this paper we attempt to assess this motive using data for ten selected Latin American economies during the period 1996–2011. Unlike most previous work done on this topic, we consider official reserves as one of the determinants of the real exchange rate. Our econometric findings indicate that international reserves in the region appreciate the real exchange rate. This result suggests that the strategy of hoarding reserves in Latin America has not promoted economic growth and development. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article reports on the results of 69 individual qualitative interviews in Cuenca, Ecuador, conducted with lifestyle migrants in 2011, 2012 and 2013. Many of the North American migrants interviewed are in Ecuador for economic reasons, a motivation that has been under-theorised in lifestyle migration literature. The paper develops the concept of geographic arbitrage to explore the motivations and strategies of migrants in a context of structural inequalities and geographic differentiation in labour costs. Geographic arbitrage consists of relocating day-to-day expenses to low-cost locations, a strategy that is perhaps of increasing importance in North American, given the lack of retirement security there. The paper argues that the strategy of geographic arbitrage of North Americans to Cuenca is framed by powerful players in the field of international lifestyle marketing and by the socio-economic context of the migrants themselves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A conference paper about the transportation of goods and of raw materials in Latin America is presented. The author believes that countries such as Brazil need to build railroads in order to transport materials to seaports for trade purposes. Also discussed is the role of fast traveling ships and loading and storage facilities in the transport of goods.

Copyright of Journal of Latin American Studies is the property of Cambridge University Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper estimates the effects of foreign aid on Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) prevalence in a sample of 27 Latin American and Caribbean countries during 1995-2013 and advocates for stronger sentinel surveillance to monitor the stability of the epidemic in the region. Surges in global HIV funding have improved access to health care and antiretroviral therapy, leading to gains in life expectancy. HIV is a prime cause of death and disability in resource-poor settings. It declines with more global funding for health, yet its pathway is random. The net impact of foreign aid on health is unknown due to poor surveillance. HIV’s unsystematic nature requires better metrics arising from global aid data to calibrate the degree of response in the region. A dynamic panel-data model with robust standard errors was used to determine if changes in HIV were associated with changes in foreign aid for health in the sample but the positive association was not statistically significant. Better data from local epidemics is needed to reveal population- and group-specific trends. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using recently developed panel unit root and panel cointegration tests and the Fully-Modified OLS methodology (FMOLS), this paper estimates the impact of remittances on the economic growth of selected upper and lower income Latin American & Caribbean (LAC) countries over the 1990-2007 period. Despite the large flow of remittances to the region, there have been relatively few empirical studies assessing the impact of remittances on economic growth in LAC. Panel unit root tests suggest that several of the macro variables included in the model exhibit unit roots, yet, at the same time, Pedroni's panel cointegration test determined that there is a cointegrating relationship among the variables in the estimated model. The FMOLS estimates suggest that remittances have a positive and significant effect on economic growth in both groups of countries. The estimates also indicate that both the degree of economic freedom and credit provided by the banking system have a positive and significant effect on economic growth in upper (middle) income LAC countries. The sign of the interaction term between remittances and the credit (and EFI) variables suggest that remittances act as substitutes for these variables. Finally, the effect of remittances on both sets of countries is stronger in the presence of a financial (credit) variable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Latin American regional governance today represents a conglomerate of commercial, political and trans-societal welfarist integration projects. In this overlapping and sometimes conflicting scenario what Latin Americanness should mean, and how integration projects should respond to current challenges of global political economy are being redefined. The focus of the paper is twofold: to better understand current regional transformations and to discuss what new developments mean for how we theorise non-European regionalism. Looking at the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas and the Union of South American Nations we ask: How are we to understand regional agreements that are grounded in different systems of rules, alternative ideas and motivations that contest ‘open regionalism’? We argue that Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) and Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas (ALBA) represent different pathways to regional building, creating foundations for post-hegemonic and post-trade regional governance. We thus challenge New Regionalist approaches that assume regionalism as taking place within and modelled by neoliberal economics, establishing the debate around ‘old’ vs. ‘new’ regionalism. As these categories are limited in grasping the full meaning and implications of post-hegemonic regional orders, we discuss UNASUR and ALBA as ‘arenas for action’ to understand divergent practices, outcomes and types of regionness emerging in alternative regional spaces in South America. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper, and the special issue it introduces, explores whether, and how, the rise of the regulatory state of the South, and its implications for processes of governance, are distinct from cases in the North. With the exception of a small but growing body of work on Latin America, most work on the regulatory state deals with the US or Europe, or takes a relatively undifferentiated 'legal transplant' approach to the developing world. We use the term 'the South' to invoke shared histories of many countries, rather than as a geographic delimiter, even while acknowledging continued and growing diversity among these countries, particularly in their engagement with globalization. We suggest that three aspects of this common context are important in characterizing the rise of the regulatory state of the South. The first contextual element is the presence of powerful external pressures, especially from international financial institutions, to adopt the institutional innovation of regulatory agencies in infrastructure sectors. The result is often an incomplete engagement with and insufficient embedding of regulatory agencies within local political and institutional context. A second is the greater intensity of redistributive politics in settings where infrastructure services are of extremely poor quality and often non-existent. The resultant politics of distribution draws in other actors, such as the courts and civil society; regulation is too important to be left to the regulators. The third theme is that of limited state capacity, which we suggest has both 'thin' and 'thick' dimensions. Thin state capacity issues include prosaic concerns of budget, personnel and training; thick issues address the growing pressures on the state to manage multiple forms of engagement with diverse stakeholders in order to balance competing concerns of growth, efficiency and redistribution. These three themes provide a framework for this special issue, and for the case studies that follow. We focus on regulatory agencies in infrastructure sectors (water, electricity and telecoms) as a particular expression of the regulatory state, though we acknowledge that the two are by no means synonymous. The case studies are drawn from India, Colombia, Brazil, and the Philippines, and engage with one or more of these contextual elements. The intent is to draw out common themes that characterize a 'regulatory state of the South,' while remaining sensitive to the variations in level of economic development and political institutional contexts within 'the South.' [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the origins of economic development theory by focusing on the work of Raúl Prebisch. When Prebisch put forward his theoretical framework, he was faced with the challenges of creating a foundation for development policies in the context of the Cold War. Moreover, Prebisch was immersed in a determined mentalité; he was part of a social network and institutional setting that transformed his ideas into an influential theory. The objective is to highlight that economic theories do not rely on natural laws, and rather result from a historical and social context and that economists are not passive, isolated theoreticians; they are socialized and directly impact the issues on which they theorize. To strengthen the argument, archival research on the Prebisch Papers at the UN Archives as well as interviews from the UN Oral History Project are included. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The 2008 subprime crisis led to a global wave of bailouts and other political-economic measures by governments. These moves were seen as the rise of a new statism. Emerging giants, such as Brazil, introduced new growth policies and reinforced state-crediting of corporations. This article briefly discusses key institutional, structural and ideological lineages and dilemmas in post-2008 statism and capitalism in Brazil. Neo-mercantilist capitalism is visible, for example, in the new ‘National Champions’ strategy aiming to create export-focused, leading global-sector corporations via mergers orchestrated by key politicians, capitalists and state financial institutions. Changes after a bailout–merger in the paper industry suggest that, after the 2008 financial crisis, in Brazil as elsewhere the use of public funds has had multiple and complex impacts, including the saving of corporations, the concentration of power in those best connected in the political economy, and further exacerbation of class-based inequalities in economic decision making. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Using panel data of 12 middle-income countries in East Asia as well as Latin America, this paper examines how openness in general and outward FDI in particular affects poverty. While economic growth and trade openness are found to be associated with lower poverty, both outward and inward FDI adversely affect the mean income of the poorest quintile of the population. The results hold in both regions, though the Latin American countries seem to be in a somewhat less favorable situation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In May 2007, the Instituto Carso de la Salud-now Instituto Carlos Slim de la Salud (ICSS)-was endowed with US$500 million to focus on priority health issues in Latin America, notably issues of 'globalisation and non-communicable diseases'. ICSS was soon criticised, however, on the grounds that its funding was derived from tobacco industry profits and that its founder Carlos Slim Hélu remained an active industry principal. Collaboration with ICSS was said to run counter to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. The Institute's then Executive President Julio Frenk disputed these charges. This research employs an archive of tobacco industry documents triangulated with materials from commercial, media, regulatory and NGO sources to examine the financial relations between Slim and the tobacco industry. The paper analyses Slim's continuing service to the industry and role in ICSS. It demonstrates a prima facie conflict of interest between ICSS's health mission and its founder's involvement in cigarette manufacturing and marketing, reflected on ICSS's website as a resounding silence on issues of tobacco and health. It is concluded that the reliance of international health agencies upon the commercial sector requires more robust institutional policies to effectively regulate conflicts of interest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper seeks to further the debate surrounding Banco del Sur and the possible roles it can play for both South America in general and for specific member countries. Drawing on lessons from the region's recent history, a case is made for the need to incorporate established national publicly owned banks into Banco del Sur's regional framework if the objectives proposed for the bank are to be fulfilled. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista de Historia Económica / Journal of Iberian & Latin American Economic History is the property of Cambridge University Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper aims to explore the Keynesian idea that aggregate demand matters for economic activity, both in the short and long run. To that extent, it discusses the endogeneity of the natural rate of growth, and presents two empirical exercises: the first one tests for unit roots in output for 12 Latin American countries using panel data. The results suggest that gross domestic product series are non-stationary and therefore shocks (both from supply and demand) have persistent effects in the economy. The second exercise tests the hypothesis of an endogenous natural rate of growth, and suggests that potential output has been influenced by the actual level of economic activity in Latin American countries. This result corroborates the hypothesis that aggregate demand has long-run effects in the economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using evidence from Cusco, Peru, the paper examines the effects of the planned displacement of informal traders from city-centre streets. Although more than 3500 traders were relocated to new off-centre markets, the research identifies the emergence of 'unplanned' alternative city-centre locations for informal trade, especially the new courtyard markets. The municipal-led changes, influenced strongly by concerns to enhance tourism, reveal a process which displays many of the hallmarks of gentrification. Lower-class traders were displaced from city-centre streets for the benefit of middle-class tourists and local people. There was also gentrification of the trading activity itself: by manipulating stall allocation and pricing structures to exclude the poorest traders from the new higher-quality municipal markets. The changing pattern of informal trading can be viewed as an unconventional 'barometer' of the progress of policy-led gentrification, applicable to other cities in the developing world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides an analysis of the two channels of regional integration: integration via markets and integration via agreements. Given that East Asia and Latin America are two fertile regions where both forms of integrations have taken place, we examine the experiences of these two areas to illustrate our conclusions. There are three related results. First, East Asia has been integrating via the markets long before formal agreements have been in vogue in the region. Latin America, on the other hand, has primarily been using formal regional trade treaties as the main channel of integration. Second, despite the relative lack of formal regional trade treaties until recently, East Asia is more integrated among itself than Latin America. Third, from a purely economic and trade standpoint, the proper sequence of integrations seems to be first integrating via the markets and subsequently via formal regional trade agreements. One interpretation of the relative success of the East Asian approach is that regional trade agreements often serve multiple constituents. Integrating via markets first can be helpful because this can give a stronger political bargaining power to the outward-looking economic-oriented forces within the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the impact of exchange rate levels and exchange rate uncertainty on US foreign direct investment into Latin America. By decomposing exchange rate uncertainty into temporary (short-run) and permanent (long-run) components, we further explore whether the nature of uncertainty matters. Our empirical findings support the view that exchange rate uncertainty has a negative impact on US investment flows into Latin America. Moreover, it is the persistency in uncertainty rather than transitory uncertainty that mostly deters foreign investment. In contrast, investors do not appear to be affected by discrete movements in exchange rate levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aging in Latin America and the Caribbean will not proceed along known paths already followed by more developed countries. In particular, the health profile of the future elderly population is less predictable due to factors associated with their demographic past that may haunt them for a long time and make them more vulnerable, even if economic and institutional conditions turn out to be better than what they are likely to be. This paper answers a set of questions regarding the nature and determinants of health status among the elderly in Latin America and the Caribbean using SABE (Survey on Health and Well-Being of Elders), a cross-sectional representative sample of over 10,000 elderly aged 60 and above in private homes in seven major cities in Latin America and the Caribbean. We examine health outcomes such as self-reported health, functional limitations–Activities of Daily Living (ADL’s) and Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL’s), obesity (ratio of weight in kilograms to the square of height in centimeters), and self-reported chronic conditions (including diabetes). The findings include: (a) Countries differ in self-reported health but exhibit much less differences in terms of functional limitations. The number of chronic conditions increase with age and is higher among females than among males; (b) On average SABE countries display levels of self-reported diabetes (and obesity) that are as high if not higher than those found in the US; (c) There is evidence, albeit weaker than expected, suggesting deteriorated health and functional status in the region; (d) There is important evidence pointing toward rather strong inequalities (by education and income) in selected health outcomes. Preliminary findings from SABE confirm that Latin America and the Caribbean display peculiarities in the health profile of elderly, particularly with regard to diabetes and obesity. It is important that new policy initiatives begin to seriously target the region’s elderly, especially with an emphasis on the prevention and treatment of diabetes and obesity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the main issues of regulating and supervising banks in emerging markets with a view toward evaluating the long-run options, particularly in Latin America and East Asia. These economies face a severe policy commitment problem that leads to excessive bailouts and potential devaluation of claims of foreign investors. The paper reviews the tradeoffs imposed by external discipline and examines various proposed arrangements.

This paper examines the impact of the twin forces of neoliberalism and globalization on culture in Latin America. It argues that the application of a neo-liberal economic strategy over the past 25 years and the increased integration of the region's economy into the global economy have led to changes in cultural values and lifestyles. There is much evidence to support the idea that the changes denote the diffusion of a USstyle market culture, which values individualism, competition, and consumerism. Chile was taken as a case study, as it has the longest and most successful experience with the neo-liberal model and globalization in the region. In Chile, and elsewhere, there are notable changes in political culture, including a less partisan and ideological electorate, increased political apathy, especially among the youth, and campaign formats that emphasize style over substance. At the same time, more complex cultural mixtures are also emerging, in which, for example, new campaign techniques are used to reinforce traditional values. There is also increasing resistance to the application of neo-liberal economic policies and to globalization in the region, although it is unclear to what extent this opposition can stem the international tide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background In middle-income countries, vaccines against pneumococcal disease, rotavirus, and human papilloma virus are in general more costly, not necessarily cost saving, and less consistently cost-effective than earlier generation vaccines against measles, diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis. Budget impact is also substantial; public spending on vaccines in countries adopting new vaccines is, on average, double the amount of countries that have not adopted. Policymakers must weigh the costs and benefits of the adoption decision carefully, given the low coverage of other kinds of cost-effective health and nonhealth interventions in these same settings and relatively flat overall public spending on health as a share of gross domestic product (GDP) over time. Objective This paper considers lessons learned from recent vaccine cost-effectiveness analyses and subsequent adoption decisions in Latin America a, largely under the auspices of the Pro Vac Initiative. Results The paper illustrates how small methodological choices and seemingly minor technical limitations of cost-effectiveness models can have major implications for the studies’ conclusions, potentially influencing countries’ subsequent vaccine adoption decisions. Methods We evaluate the ProVac models and technical outputs against the standards and framework set out by the International Decision Support Initiative Reference Case for economic evaluation and consider the practical effects of deviations from those standards. Conclusions Lessons learned are discussed, including issues of appropriate comparators, GDP-based thresholds, and use of average versus incremental cost-effectiveness ratios as a convention are assessed. The article ends with recommendations for the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How does the reception of remittances change the views of those left behind? In this paper, we compare the impact of financial remittances (transmission of money) with the impact of social remittances (transmission of ideas and values) on preferences about the role of the state in the economy (in particular, the role of the state in creating jobs, reducing inequality, and securing citizens' well-being). Using data from the Latin American Public Opinion Project (2008-2010), we find that social learning via cross-border communication is positively associated with preference for an enhanced role of the state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary This paper studies the impact of mining activity on socioeconomic outcomes in local communities in Peru. In the 1990s and 2000s, the value of Peruvian mining exports grew by 15 times; and since the early 2000s, one-half of fiscal revenues from mining have been devolved to local governments. Has this boom benefitted people in local communities? Using the district-level “poverty map” of 2007 (the latest available with accurate data on consumption, poverty, and inequality) together with district-level data on mining production and fiscal transfers to local governments, we present some evidence to answer this question. We find that mining districts have larger average consumption per capita and lower poverty rates than otherwise similar districts. These positive impacts, however, decrease drastically with administrative and geographic distance from mining centers. Moreover, consumption inequality within mining districts is higher than in comparable nonproducing districts. This dual effect of mining is accounted for by, first, the better educated immigrants required and attracted by mining activity and, second, the jobs that some community natives obtain in industries and services related to mining. The inequalizing impact of mining, both across and within districts, may help explain the social discontent with mining in Peru, despite its enormous revenues. An area for future research highlighted in the paper regards the usefulness of fiscal transfers to local governments (the Mining Canon ), a key component of the fiscal decentralization reform of 2002. We find neither a detrimental nor a beneficial effect from the Mining Canon in Peru. Whether this is explained by our early measurement of results (5 years into the decentralization program) or by the lack of implementation capacity of local governments remains to be answered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The proliferation of debt crises around the world since the 1980' s has generated debt-repayment negotiations prioritizing austerity in debtor countries. This forty-year history of debt crises in the Global South and North now allows comparison of these negotiations and their impacts. We examine the distinct and historically specific trajectories in Latin American and Greece, highlighting the foundations of each experience of debt crisis. We focus on the institutions responsible for managing crisis and their reliance on similar austerity strategies to compel debtor countries into a neoliberal restructuring of their economies. This paper examines the similarities and differences in austerity policy through a comparative-historical analysis of Latin American and Greek experiences of debt crisis. The results of such policies and the political actors involved in implementing austerity are also examined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the link between political control of government bureaucracies and citizens' likelihood to stage disruptive protests. A public administration heavily controlled by politicians, and staffed to a large extent with political appointees, allows politicians to intervene in policy implementation and favor some groups over others in terms of access to public services. Such a system may induce citizens or civic associations to resort to disruptive actions to express demands and demonstrate political relevance, and thereby secure access to public goods. The effects are hypothesized to be more pronounced where civil society is stronger. We test the arguments empirically on data from 19 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, and the findings are consistent with the hypotheses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines China-Latin America relations through the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) in the 2011-2018 period. In this context, the main perspectives on integration and regionalism are discussed, and CELAC is shown to possess the characteristics of a regional body. It is proposed that the relationship China seeks through this body can be explained by its interest in institutionalising a mechanism for rapprochement with Latin America and the Caribbean. It is noted that CELAC is seen by China as a strategic vehicle that allows it to engage bilaterally with various countries and develop an economic strategy under structurally asymmetric conditions. However, its institutional nature has prevented it from serving these interests. As per the methodology, documentary and qualitative data analysis is made using the systematisation of an unpublished database. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we critically engage with the notion of a ‘post-neoliberal turn’ in Latin America. The analysis interrogates the existence and characteristics of post-neoliberalism as a mode of regulation, and explores the contributions (and limits) of the concept as a means of theorizing political and economic restructuring. We critically synthesize the literature, articulating commonly cited principles and practices of post-neoliberalism according to different political, ideological, and geographical contexts. To generate productive engagement across disciplinary and geographical boundaries, we draw on perspectives from Latin America and on concepts of ‘variegated neoliberalization’ and ‘counter-neoliberalization’ (thereby abstracting from, rather than about, Latin America). [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Copyright of Cuadernos de Economia is the property of Universidad Catolica del Uruguay Damaso Antonio Larranaga and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In this paper we test for the populist view of inflation in South America during the eventful period between 1970 and 2007, a period which captures the latest democratic transition in the continent, episodes of hyperinflation and finally macroeconomic stabilisation. The results-based on panel time-series data and analysis-confirm the prediction which suggests that recently elected governments coming into power after periods of political dictatorship, and which are faced with demand for redistribution, end up engaging in populist (or redistributive) policies, which tend to lead to high inflation and overall poor macroeconomic performance. All in all, we suggest that the implementation of democracy as such requires not only the 'right political context'-or an appropriately constrained executive-to work well, but it also must come with certain economic institutions (central bank independence and a credible and responsible fiscal authority), institutions that were (coincidentally) absent in South America right after re-democratisation, but which would presumably raise the costs of pursuing populist policies in the first place. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes whether south--south cooperation is legitimately a recent practice or merely an improved version of previous regional integration processes in Latin America and the Caribbean. The authors reviewed and systematized the historic development of subregional integration processes in Latin America and the Caribbean and focused on health cooperation in the following contexts: the Central American Integration System, the Andean Community of Nations, the Caribbean Community, the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization, the Southern Common Market, and the Union of South American Nations. The study concludes that the conceptual and methodologic foundations of south--south cooperation in health were born from and nurtured by the processes of regional integration in Latin America and the Caribbean. This paper posits that regional political and economic integration initiatives bring potential benefits to the health sector and act as an important mechanism to develop south--south cooperation in this domain. The study recommends furthering this type of research to provide information that will allow national and multilateral agencies, or other stakeholders, to formulate and implement better policies for international health cooperation that target reducing inequities and promoting health and well-being for all people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Latin American Studies is the property of Cambridge University Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In this paper we study the presence of calendar anomalies in the main Latin-American stock markets, for the 1993 to 2007 period. The literature has shown that the detection of those effects may depend on error distribution assumptions (Baker et al., 2008), and that their existence could be due to a problem of data snooping (Sullivan et al., 2001). In response to these problems, Cho et al. (2007) introduced a robust non-parametric test, which was adopted in this paper. Results show that calendar anomalies: Monday and Weekend Effects are present in the main Latin-American stock markets, and they are statistically significant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The aim of this article is to provide new empirical evidence on the impact of international financial integration on the long-run Real Exchange Rate (RER) in 39 developing countries belonging to three different geographical regions (Latin America, Asia and MENA). It covers the period 1979–2004, and carries out ‘second-generation’ tests for non-stationary panels. Several factors, including international financial integration, are shown to drive the long-run RER in emerging countries. It is found that the new financial environment characterised by international financial integration leads to a depreciation of the RER in the long run. Further, RER misalignments take the form of an under-valuation in most MENA countries and an over-valuation in most Latin American and Asian countries. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

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Copyright of Desarrollo Económico is the property of Instituto de Desarrollo Economico y Social and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Since the nineteenth century, Latin America and other poor areas of the world received periodical visits from missions of economic experts. This paper analyzes the picture that Hirschman draws of these money doctors, whose main task was to advise on the economic and financial reforms that were deemed necessary for economic development. Hirschman coins the expression 'visiting-economist syndrome' to criticize the work done by these money doctors. I discuss whether Hirschman, as a money doctor himself, was able to acquire immunity from the disease he feared. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]