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Brazil approaches its 2018 election with an economy that is gradually recovering from the deepest recession in its recent economic history. However, for many Brazilians, the recovery has not yet translated into new and better jobs, or rising incomes. This book explores the drivers of future employment and income growth. Its key finding: Brazil needs to dramatically improve its performance across all industries in terms of productivity if the country is to provide better jobs for its citizens and generate lasting gains in incomes growth for all. This is particularly important as Brazil is aging rapidly and the boost the country has enjoyed thanks to its young and growing labor force in the pa...
This book combines an institutional political economy approach to policy making with social network analysis of social policy formulation processes. Based on extensive interviews with governmental and nongovernmental actors, the case studies of social policy formulation in Argentina, The Bahamas, Bolivia, and Trinidad and Tobago show that while societal actors are central in the networks in South American countries, government officials are the main participants in the Caribbean countries. The comparative analysis of the networks of ideas, information, economic resources, and political power across these cases indicates that differences in the types of bureaucratic systems and governance structures may explain the diversity of actors with decision power and the resources used to influence social policy formulation across the region. These analytical and methodological contributions-combined with specific examples of policies and programs-will help to enhance the efficiency, efficacy, and sustainability of public policies in the social arena.
This book is a journey through leading and incredibly diverse emerging markets in a world of shocks and transitions. Tracing the rise of China, the emergence of India, the changing fortunes in Brazil, Argentina, and Mexico, the unique developments in Turkey and Indonesia, the complex geopolitics in Russia and Saudi Arabia, and the challenging post-apartheid transition in South Africa, the study examines their varying prospects in the years to come. Using an innovative analytical approach and rich empirics, the book delves into topics ranging from macroeconomics to human development, institutions to climate change. It provides a strategic roadmap of reform for these economies to escape the middle-income trap. It argues that in a world where advanced economies are defined by slowdown, growing trade blocs, changing demographics, and the rise of renewable technologies, emerging markets will continue to play a significant but complex role in the twenty-first century.
Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) has made slow but consistent progress addressing the imbalances induced by the pandemic in an international environment that is just now showing signs of stabilizing. Despite favorable macroeconomic management, high interest rates and fiscal imbalances remain challenging while growth rates remain lackluster due to long-standing structural issues. Looking forward, an aging workforce and rising violence will increasingly complicate policy. This report focuses particularly on weak competitive forces as a source of low productivity, low growth, and low welfare in LAC. It emphasizes the need for effective competition institutions, pro-competition regulatory frameworks, complementary policies to improve the capabilities of workers and firms, and enhanced innovation systems, to prepare local industries to reach the technological frontier and face global competition. Furthermore, the report underscores the need for reforms to prevent large businesses from exerting undue political influence over policy decisions.
Collected here are wide-ranging contributions to economics in general, and to post-Keynesian economics in particular by leading economists.
Today’s middle-income countries tend to be locked in a middle-income trap, unable to transition to higher income levels due to rising costs and declining competitiveness. While there is a broad consensus that upgrading these economies towards innovation-led growth is imperative, countless institutional and political economy obstacles remain. This book brings together analytical perspectives from comparative political economy, innovation studies, and development economics for the study of technological upgrading. Its distinctive contribution is the development of an innovative theoretical framework, named upgrading regimes, combining and extending the comparative capitalism and innovation system perspectives. It explores the usefulness of this approach by providing an indepth assessment of the political economy of upgrading in Brazil under the Workers’ Party governments. As the politics of technological upgrading will be one of the crucial research areas in the years to come, this book promises to become a key reference point in this debate.
Social deprivations coincide with vast deforestation in Brazil's Legal Amazon, or Amazônia. Poverty reduction and sustainable development require renewed efforts to protect the region's exceptional natural wealth, coupled with a shift from an extractive to a productivity-oriented growth model.
Italian Economists of the 20th Century provides a unique up-to-date assessment and appreciation of the work of 12 pioneering economists. The essays - written by a group of leading international scholars - are a fitting tribute to the important contribution that Italian economists have made to 20th century economics.
Competition is a core element of economic growth, but empirical evidence on how competition affects productivity in the Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) region is limited. This study fills this gap with state-of-the-art empirical research, drawing on firm surveys in the formal sector and novel domestic competition enforcement datasets.
Beyond Commodities shows that Latin America and the Caribbean’s growth performance over the last decade cannot be reduced to the commodity boom: growth-promoting reforms that strengthened financial development, increased trade openness and improved infrastructure development also played a significant role and can continue doing so. Based on the econometric analysis of panel data from the 1970-2010 period for 126 countries, the study shows that, while the commodity boom facilitated growth in most of the region, it did not determine it. Domestic pro-growth policies and the maintenance of a sound macro-fiscal framework played a central role in explaining the region’s good performance during...