Changes in the distribution of income and the New Economic Model in Jamaica

Includes bibliography

Educación y desarrollo en Brasil, 1995-2000

Incluye Bibliografía

Respuestas de política a los problemas de pobreza y desigualdad en el mundo en desarrollo

Incluye Bibliografía

The monetary pendulum in Mexico

Includes bibliography

La formación de capital en América Latina: un siglo y medio de dinámica macroeconómica

Incluye Bibliografía

Determinants of structural heterogeneity in Mexican manufacturing industry, 1994-2008

Includes bibliography

Haití: evolución económica durante 2004 y perspectivas para 2005

Incluye Bibliografía

Haitï: évolution économique de l'année 2004 et les perspectives pour 2005

Inclut la bibliographie

Long term growth in the Caribbean: a balance of payments constraint approach

Includes bibliography

Estado e desenvolvimento para América Latina: notas para um novo “programa de pesquisa”

O "debate desenvolvimentista" latino-americano não teria nenhuma especificidade, se tivesse se reduzido a uma discussão macro-econômica entre "ortodoxos" neoclássicos ou liberais, e "heterodoxos" keynesianos ou estruturalistas. Na verdade, ele não teria existido se não fosse por causa do Estado, e da discussão sobre a eficácia ou não da intervenção estatal, para acelerar o crescimento econômico, por cima das "leis do mercado". É muito pouco provável que o velho paradigma "líbero-desenvolvimentista" consiga se renovar. Seu "núcleo duro" perdeu vitalidade e não consegue gerar novas perguntas, nem consegue dar conta dos novos problemas latino-americanos, e muito menos ainda, do desenvolvimento asiático e do desafio chinês. Nestes momentos é preciso ter a coragem intelectual de romper com as velhas ideias, para propor novos caminhos teóricos e metodológicos. Com relação à América Latina, o Brasil conquistou um razoável grau de autonomia neste início do século XXI, e já entrou no grupo dos estados e das economias nacionais que fazem parte do "caleidoscópio central" do sistema, onde todos competem com todos, e todas as alianças são possíveis, em função dos objetivos estratégicos do país e da sua proposta de mudança do próprio sistema internacional. Esta nova importância política e econômica deverá crescer nos próximos anos de forma regular, na América do Sul, no Atlântico Sul, e no sul da África, mas o Brasil seguirá sendo um país sem capacidade de projeção global do seu poder militar. "Daqui para frente, a América Latina será cada vez mais hierarquizada e o futuro da América do Sul, em particular, será cada vez mais dependente das escolhas e decisões tomadas pelo Brasil. Em primeiro lugar, este país terá que decidir sobre a sua própria estratégia econômica nacional porque se for pelos "caminhos do mercado" o Brasil se transformará, inevitavelmente, numa economia exportadora de alta intensidade, de petróleo, alimentos e commodities, uma espécie de "periferia de luxo" dos grandes potências compradoras do mundo, como foram no seu devido tempo, a Austrália e Argentina, ou o Canadá, mesmo depois de industrializado. E se isto acontecer, o Brasil estará condenando o resto da América do Sul à sua condição histórica secular, de periferia "primário-exportadora" da economia mundial. Mas o Brasil também pode seguir um caminho novo dentro da América do Sul, combinando indústrias de alto valor agregado, com a produção de alimentos e commodities de alta produtividade, sendo ao mesmo tempo, auto-suficiente do ponto de vista energético.

The impact of climate change on the macroeconomy in the Caribbean

In this study, an attempt is made to assess the economic impact of climate change on nine countries in the Caribbean basin: Aruba, Barbados, Dominican Republic, Guyana, Jamaica, Montserrat, Netherlands Antilles, Saint Lucia and Trinidad and Tobago. A methodological approach proposed by Dell et al. (2008) is used in preference to the traditional Integrated Assessment Models. The evolution of climate variables and of the macroeconomy of each of the nine countries over the period 1970 to 2006 is analyzed and preliminary evidence of a relationship between the macroeconomy and climate change is examined. The preliminary investigation uses correlation, Granger causality and simple regression methods. The preliminary evidence suggests that there is some relationship but that the direction of causation between the macroeconomy and the climate variables is indeterminate. The main analysis involves the use of a panel data (random effects) model which fits the historical data (1971-2007) very well. Projections of economic growth from 2008 to 2099 are done on the basis of four climate scenarios: the International Panel on Climate Change A2, B2, a hybrid A2B2 (the mid-point of A2 and B2), and a ‘baseline’ or ‘Business as Usual’ scenario, which assumes that the growth rate in the period 2008-2099 is the same as the average growth rate over the period 1971-2007. The best average growth rate is under the B2 scenario, followed by the hybrid A2B2 and A2 scenarios, in that order. Although negative growth rates eventually dominate, they are largely positive for a long time. The projections all display long-run secular decline in growth rates notwithstanding short-run upward trends, including some very sharp ones, moving eventually from declining positive rates to negative ones. The costs associated with the various scenarios are all quite high, rising to as high as a present value (2007 base year) of US$14 billion in 2099 (constant 1990 prices) for the B2 scenario and US$21 billion for the BAU scenario. These costs were calculated on the basis of very conservative estimates of the cost of environmental degradation. Mitigation and adaptation costs are likely to be quite high though a small fraction of projected total investment costs.

Tourism life cycle, tourism competitiveness and upgrading strategies in the Caribbean

In the 1980s Butler adapted the life cycle product model to the tourism industry and created the “Tourism Area Life Cycle (TALC) model”. The model recognizes six stages in the tourism product life cycle: exploration, investment, development, consolidation, stagnation and followed, after stagnation, by decline or revitalization of the product. These six stages can in turn be regrouped into four main stages. The Butler model has been applied to more than 30 country cases with a wide degree of success. De Albuquerque and Mc Elroy (1992) applied the TALC model to 23 small Caribbean island States in the 1990s. Following De Albuquerque and Mc Elroy, the TALC is applied to the 32 member countries of the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) (except for Cancun and Cozumel) to locate their positions along their tourism life-cycle in 2007. This is done using the following indicators: the evolution of the level, market share and growth rate of stay-over arrivals; the growth rate and market share of visitor expenditures per arrival and the tourism styles of the destinations, differentiating between ongoing mass tourism and niche marketing strategies and among upscale, mid-scale and low-scale destinations. Countries have pursued three broad classes of strategies over the last 15 years in order to move upward in their tourism life cycle and enhance their tourism competitiveness. There is first a strategy that continues to rely on mass-tourism to build on the comparative advantages of “sun, sand and sea”, scale economies, all-inclusive packages and large amounts of investment to move along in Stage 2 or Stage 3 (Cuba, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico). There is a second strategy pursued mainly by very small islands that relies on developing specific niche markets to maintain tourism competitiveness through upgrading (Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, British Virgin Islands and Turks and Caicos), allowing them to move from Stage 2 to Stage 3 or Stage 3 to a rejuvenation stage. There is a third strategy that uses a mix of mass-tourism, niche marketing and quality upgrading either to emerge onto the intermediate stage (Trinidad and Tobago); avoid decline (Aruba, The Bahamas) or rejuvenate (Barbados, Jamaica and the United States Virgin Islands). There have been many success stories in Caribbean tourism competitiveness and further research should aim at empirically testing the determinants of tourism competitiveness for the region as a whole.