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Argentina on the brink of disaster is an economic analysis of the Argentine crisis. The text begins with an analogy between the plagues of Egypt and the serious economic problems facing Argentina, attributed to the lack of adequate measures by the State: high inflation, loss of purchasing power, increase in informality, economic stagnation, flight of capital, decrease in international reserves, massive devaluation and the possibility of a right-wing government at the end of the year. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper makes an economic assessment of Jair Bolsonaro's presidency. It analyzes the triangle of incompatibilities: high income inequality-reprimarization of the economy-high economic growth; and if one adds the environment, one could say the impossible squaring of the circle. The result of this impossibility is economic stagnation, persistent high inequality, deterioration of the standard of living, especially of the poorest, and serious damage to the environment through deforestation. The pandemic and the war in Ukraine have shaken an already "sick" economy and reveal the structural crisis in Brazil, as well as the turning points in the functioning of the labor market. The present ruptures suggest the political exhaustion of the current presidency and that the country is at a crossroads. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article deals with the latent crisis situation that has existed in Latin America for several decades. Average per capita growth rates over a long period of time in most Latin American countries are between 0 and 2%. Since the 1980s and 1990s, the trend towards stagnation has not been explained in the same way in the large Latin American countries. While there are common causes, the weight of each factor differs. This article sets out the various theories on the trend towards economic stagnation. Its originality is that not only does it underline the role of inequalities in income and wealth and deindustrialization, but it also stresses the causes of economic volatility and its consequences on the low average per capita growth rate, which is particularly pronounced in some countries. Contrary to a relatively shared idea, these economies have been little or not emerging from 1990 to now, except between 2000-2012 more and less. They have therefore not converged, or only to a limited extent, towards the per capita income level of the advanced countries, unlike many Asian countries. Latin American countries are experiencing several crises at the same time, which feed of each other. The crisis is deep. It is structural as it calls to question the very modes of expansion of capitalism in recent decades. Therefore, only responses at this level can make it possible to overcome the obstacles to sustainable development, to the inclusion of those, the majority, who are rejected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Le système de retraite par répartition doit évoluer compte tenu de la transition démographique. On se dirige petit à petit vers un système mixte alliant le système de répartition - avec des retraites calculées à partir d'un salaire de référence faible - et le système de capitalisation, obligatoire ou non, pour ceux qui désireraient avoir une retraite plus élevée, militaires, juges etc., au détriment des catégories vulnérables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the presidencies of Néstor Kirchner (2003-2007) and Cristina Kirchner (2007-2015) in Argentina, and of Lula (2003-2011) and Dilma Roussef (2011-2016) in Brazil, both countries showed relatively high growth rates, real wages increased and poverty decreased. In Argentina, the economic dynamics slowed down in 2012 and Brazil entered into a deep crisis in 2014. These failures can be explained by two “original sins": the relaxation of external constraint in Argentina and Brazil and financialization in Brazil. The former generated a real appreciation of the national currency against the dollar not compensated by an increase in labor productivity. The second manifested itself to the detriment of industrial investment. Although these effects could have been controlled, their cost has been very high. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The digital revolution has disrupted how companies behave, their environment, and their consumption patterns, while changing the job and wage structure in the sectors in which they operate. On its own, this revolution has entailed a major upheaval with no end in sight, which is why it is better to learn to manage it than deny it or pump the brakes. Latin American countries use new technologies to different extents, but do not produce them. The result is negative fallout for jobs and employment, a burgeoning informal sector, and higher job income in advanced countries and in the emerging Asian economies that do make these technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since its appearance in 2020, Brazil and Mexico have been among the most affected countries in the world by covid-19. Their respective presidents, Jair Bolsonaro and Andrés Manuel López Obrador (known as AMLO), have played a leading role in specific policies during the pandemic. Their choices were both singular and counter- intuitive. On the health front, AMLO initially underplayed the seriousness of the situation, and the Brazilian president, Bolsonaro, defended a frankly negationist attitude, with a dramatic balance sheet, without his popularity being seriously affected. On the economic front, they have chosen policies that contradict not only each other but also their own supposed ideological stances. Bolsonaro, who is ranked on the far right, has implemented an emergency transfer program on a scale comparable to those of developed countries and the most massive the country has ever seen. Conversely, AMLO, considered a progressist, provided just a minimum policy package, maintaining his previous electoral program. By adopting a comparative approach and mobilizing a unique and diversified set of data, the objective of this paper is to explore these apparent contradictions. After having established the precise diagnosis of the policies implemented to deal with the crisis and the economic and health situation in the two countries during the 2020-2022 period, we propose an original interpretation grid of the central role played by the two presidents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Has China's economic success brought about Brazil's economic failure? Or should we look elsewhere for the causes behind the disaster into which the South American nation is currently sinking? There is a path out of the rentier trap, but it is narrow. Brazilian administrations have preferred not to pursue loans, convinced that raw materials prices would keep rising, and that even without making structural changes, it would be possible to enact policies designed to reduce the wage gap and mitigate poverty, with no concern for declining competitiveness, and a blind eye to the top 1%, which is becoming wealthier. An increasingly asymmetrical relationship with China has made room for crisis, but not growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In most Latin American countries homicide rates are much higher than in developed countries. It increases in some countries, decreases in others or stabilizes. It growths strongly in a few cities but decrease significantly in others since the beginning of the years 2000. The drug taffickers and the evolution or criminal organizations play a special role. The causes of the increase and the reduction of violence are many and complexs. Reduce violence when it reaches the level that she knows in many Latin American countries is a bit like trying to do the squaring of the circle. That is the difficulty. There is a set of prerequisites to make the more cohesive society and reduce violence: substantially reduce socio-economic inequalities, promote a more egalitarian income distribution, develop a primary, secondary, and vocational quality education, invent the city policies, improve the quality of institutions, including and especially that of justice and the police, develop a policy of the city as it was done in Bogotá and as it starts to be done in the «pacified favellas» at the Brazil in contrast to what is observed in Mexico where repression is privileged and corruption is very high. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The new commercial globalization changed the map of the global industry. Today's world is different from yesterday. North does not dominate South in the same way. In the South there are large heterogeneities between developing countries, the emerging Asian and Latin American countries, etc. Some countries in the South have come to impose their own rules. However, not all emerging economies in the South have the same capacity prevail, as Latin America. Some Asian countries benefit temporarily from high growth, but experience a process of deindustrialization that weakens them. Some theories and analytical tools have become outdated or inaccurate, such as the center-periphery approach. Countries that yesterday belonged to the periphery have acquired characteristics of the old center and even exercise control over developed countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The new commercial globalization changed the map of the global industry. Today's world is different from yesterday. North does not dominate South in the same way. In the South there are large heterogeneities between developing countries, the emerging Asian and Latin American countries, etc. Some countries in the South have come to impose their own rules. However, not all emerging economies in the South have the same capacity prevail, as Latin America. Some Asian countries benefit temporarily from high growth, but experience a process of deindustrialization that weakens them. Some theories and analytical tools have become outdated or inaccurate, such as the center-periphery approach. Countries that yesterday belonged to the periphery have acquired characteristics of the old center and even exercise control over developed countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The apparent stability on relative shares in revenue during the 2000s, or even the increase increase in wages share in Latin-American countries, seems to be a "surprise" in Kaldor's opinion, or even a "mystery" for Schumpeter, or well finally "a reproach to economic theory" according to Robinson. Various theories trying to explain sharing of value added insist on investment relative size, saving importance, different types of technical progress (biased or not), amount of idle capacity, cost structure, intermediate products importance, higher markup rates searching by entrepreneurs and, consecutively, on distributive conflict. We will analyze main macroeconomic models - those of Kaldor, Robinson and Kalecki - in order to overtake that "reproach to economic theory". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Having considered differing definitions of poverty for developed and developing countries, poverty in Latin America is analyzed, especially rural poverty in Brazil. Once the region's economic situation during the 1980s and 1990s and the implications of this for poverty are considered, the objective is to develop a microeconomic analysis of poverty without abandoning the macroeconomic approach. This leads to a study of the various Conditional Cash Transfer Programs implemented in Argentina, Brazil and Mexico and a discussion of the impact of monetary transfers, social costs and fiscal policies in the evolution of poverty. Finally, we conclude that the efficacy of these policies depends on the specific needs of the rural and urban poor, because what is important is reducing economic and social inequalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author maintains that the economic crisis that broke out in mid-2008 in industrialized countries and quickly spread to economies throughout the world does not have its origins solely in deregulation of the financial market. Though this clearly precipitated and has broadened the crisis, it is essential to consider the financial and commercial globalization that has marked regimes of economic growth. This is the globalization that has provoked the dislocation of production -in favor of China- and the consequent loss of jobs and stagnation of salaries. From this perspective, an end to the crisis will require more than a restructuring of financial architecture; what will be needed is change in financial and commercial deregulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rise in wages inequalities, whatever may be the level of development reached, is linked to the modernization of countries, a modernization percieved as a constraint in an ever more globalised world. This tendency is sometimes thwarted by sustained education policies and by restrictive government policies aiming at raising low wages. But as a tendency, it is stronger when countries increase their opening rate and modify the exports structures toward ever more sophisticated products. One can however see how much it is artificial to separate technology from exports in order to measure their respective weight on the rise of inequalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When considered as a whole, and in spite of the new policies of redistribution, the decrease of poverty remains below what could have been expected, especially when we compare it to what is happening in countries in Asia. The exit from the tunnel is still far. The effect that the evolution of the types of jobs has on the poverty level is expressed by means of the change in the distribution of income and by means of the importance of economic growth. This results in a paradox. But the fact that the growth rate is weak and that the level of inequalities is very high does not allow the poverty rate to diminish. A strong decline in poverty might be the consequence of a new acceleration in the economic growth, and this occurs due to a dynamic integration into the world economy, and due to a redistribution of equally high incomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Globalization in Brazil: guilty or scapegoat? After the sequence of structural adjustments decisions suggested by the IMF, Brazilian economy became wider opened, as the consequences from financial globalization were stronger than those from commercial globalization. Nevertheless, social and economical reality didn't show much improvement. On the contrary, figures on economic increase and inequalities show Brazil behind the average of developing countries. Even if the effects caused by "mondialisation" on weakened economies are well known, globalization can not be taken as the only guilty of weak economic increase, for maintaining the high level of inequalities or for the increase of precariousness. Responsibility must be searched on high inequalities in where operates "mondialisation", on weakness of public policies, on irresponsible way of opening of the economy and in fiscal policy in favor of financial sector. Other countries have reached quite different results, once the have adopted different public policies, which goal was to establish control and reduction upon the negatives effects of globalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

El artículo trata la violencia en América Latina. Afirma que el nivel de violencia en la mayor parte de los países latinoamericanos es más elevado que en Europa, Estados Unidos y Canadá. Aborda Colombia como un caso extremo de violencia. Analiza la violencia en cuatro dimensiones: su intensidad, diferencias regionales, evolución y efecto sobre la esperanza de vida.

This paper studies the evolution of violence in South America. It analyzes and discusses the influence of different economic variables on homicide rates, using an econometric test based on data of some South American countries during the period 1995-2000. It shows that this economic approach can be usefull but can also be dangerous when it leads to the wrong policies of social exclusion. Furthermore, it also shows how variables such rapid urbanization, low education, and inefficient regulations, together with corruption, play an important role in the generation of violence in South America. Finally, the paper recommends changing the way of perceiving economics and its social implications, by examining the interaction of this discipline with other social sciences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on earnings from narcotics trade. The consumption of coca leaf is authorized in certain countries, but forbidden in most. Trafficking is prohibited in certain countries, while the use of drugs is not repressed in others. The amount of variation is considerable and little is known about its modalities. Quality therefore is difficult to assess, the variation not being defined before the act of sale by the dealers. Likewise, little is known about substitution in products, which depends upon the differentiated change in prices, the amount of dependency, and the changes in the cultural context. The rapid rise of synthetic products is significant. Their use has substituted in part for the use of natural drugs, which are made from plants converted by the help of chemicals, and they are often mixed with these natural forms. The distinction between what is medicinal and what is not, is not always an easy one, especially if these substances help increase performance, such as speed and endurance. The professionalization of sports and the extraordinary commodification of this domain lead naturally to the doping of athletes. Drugs become, therefore, a part of the reproduction of the workforce of athletes.

Se presenta un obituario para el profesor universitario francés Jacques Valier.

The new commercial globalization changed the map of the global industry. Today's world is different from yesterday. North does not dominate South in the same way. In the South there are large heterogeneities between developing countries, the emerging Asian and Latin American countries, etc. Some countries in the South have come to impose their own rules. However, not all emerging economies in the South have the same capacity prevail, as Latin America. Some Asian countries benefit temporarily from high growth, but experience a process of deindustrialization that weakens them. Some theories and analytical tools have become outdated or inaccurate, such as the center-periphery approach. Countries that yesterday belonged to the periphery have acquired characteristics of the old center and even exercise control over developed countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The new commercial globalization changed the map of the global industry. Today's world is different from yesterday. North does not dominate South in the same way. In the South there are large heterogeneities between developing countries, the emerging Asian and Latin American countries, etc. Some countries in the South have come to impose their own rules. However, not all emerging economies in the South have the same capacity prevail, as Latin America. Some Asian countries benefit temporarily from high growth, but experience a process of deindustrialization that weakens them. Some theories and analytical tools have become outdated or inaccurate, such as the center-periphery approach. Countries that yesterday belonged to the periphery have acquired characteristics of the old center and even exercise control over developed countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

La nueva globalización comercial modificó el mapa de la industria mundial. El mundo de hoy es diferente del de ayer. El Norte ya no domina al Sur de la misma manera. En el Sur hay grandes heterogeneidades entre los países más atrasados, los emergentes asiáticos y latinoamericanos, etc. Algunos países del Sur han llegado a imponer sus propias reglas de juego. Pero no todas las economías emergentes del Sur tienen la misma capacidad para imponerse, como las de América Latina. Estas se benefician temporalmente del alto crecimiento de Asia, pero experimentan un proceso de desindustrialización que las debilita. Algunas teorías y herramientas analíticas se han vuelto obsoletas o erróneas, como el enfoque centro-periferia. Países que ayer pertenecían a la periferia, han adquirido características del antiguo centro e incluso ejercen control sobre países desarrollados. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]