Economic growth with equity: challenges for Latin America

Includes bibliography

User Manual for the Gender Equality Observatory for Latin America and the Caribbean

Includes bibliography

Renta petrolera y minera en países seleccionados de América Latina

Incluye Bibliografía

Pension legislation and gender equity in Latin America

Includes bibliography

Do private sectors deficits matter?

Includes bibliography

Aníbal Pinto Santa Cruz

Aníbal Pinto Santa Cruz, Director of the Review since 1986, died on 3 January. His death fills us with profound grief and leaves a deep vacuum in this organization. The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean benefited for many years from the intellectual sparkle and human warmth of Mr. Pinto, who served for several years as Director of the Economic Development Division. What is more, he was one of the personalities who gave the ECLAC secretariat a clear institutional identity. The depth and clarity of his analyses of Chile and its development process were matched by his real dedication to Latin America, which inspired him to make solid and valuable contributions to the progress of ideas in our region. He belonged in his own right to the select group of those thinkers whose new categories and concepts afford others a richer vision of reality. It is not surprising, therefore, that followers and former students of his abound in the region. A person of great intellectual generosity, impatient with conventional wisdom and intolerance from all academic and political quarters, Aníbal Pinto received recognition from the international academic community, as embodied in the Raúl Prebisch Ibero­American Prize in Economics, an honorary doctorate from the University of Campinas, Brazil, and the Chilean National Prize in the Humanities and Social Sciences for 1995. In recent months he received two further distinctions: first, a tribute from his ECLAC colleagues on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the United Nations, and second, a collection of his writings published by the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México which was presented to him in a ceremony held at the Santiago Book Fair in December 1995. ECLAC has been immensely fortunate in having among its senior officials great personalities who have left behind a legacy of values, principles and key ideas; institution­builders, if you will. If there is anything which distinguishes ECLAC from other United Nations bodies, it is this. Aníbal Pinto's name will undoubtedly be among those which resound the loudest. For this reason, and for his exceptional human qualities, we shall remember him with affection and admiration.

Pension system reforms, the capital market and saving

Includes bibliography

The Central Bank and Chilean macroeconomic policy in the 1990s

Includes bibliography

Health management contracts in Costa Rica from a comparative perspective

Includes bibliography

Child malnutrition in Latin America and the Caribbean

A particularly crucial issue.In the context of the Millennium Development Goals, we dedicate this second edition of Challenges to the issue of child malnutrition in Latin America and the Caribbean.Likewise, the President of Chile, Michelle Bachelet, as Chief of State and Paediatritian, sets forth arguments calling on governments and citizens to mobilize for children's rights to adequate nutrition.

The opportunities and risks associated with privatizing railways in Latin America

Most railways in Latin America were built by private firms, often foreign owned. Over time, owing to a combination of nationalizations and competition from road transport, virtually all railways passed into government hands; the railroad industry became more and more of a white elephant for the Government because of the ever-increasing subsidies it swallowed up, its dwindling role in national economies, and a conviction that Governments should not be involved in productive activities. Consequently, the late 1980s saw the start of a trend towards denationalization of railways, with the latter being turned over to private, often foreign, interests. In this way, the railway industry in Latin America has come full circle in the space of 150 years. So far, there has not been any assessment of the recent privatization of railways in Latin America. However, the conclusion would probably be that: (i) privatization has on the whole been successful, and (ii) the results achieved would have been more positive still, had some things been done slightly differently. One problem is that the bidding process has failed to take into account the positive externalities associated with railways, such as the contribution they make to reducing road maintenance costs and environmental damage caused by road transport. Another unresolved issue is whether to put the entire railway system up for tender, or to invite separate bids for infrastructure and services. Economies of scale operate in the railway industry, favouring the existence of a number of rail companies. In the past, the railway companies of neighbouring countries such as Argentina and Paraguay, and Bolivia and Chile, enjoyed ties at director level, but these came to an end with the nationalization of railways. Now that the era of State involvement is itself drawing to a close, we can expect to see the formation of integrated railway systems, one of which might extend from Quijarro, on the border between Bolivia and Brazil, to Puerto Montt in the south of Chile.