The different faces of inclusion and exclusion

The notions of inclusion and exclusion have a long tradition in sociology, but have gained significant currency more recently in public policy analysis. However, a certain conceptual inflexibility arises when the distinction is applied to complex social situations. This article examines the main approaches to inclusion/exclusion in the sociological tradition, systems theory and the theory of new inequalities. On this basis, five interrelated situations of inclusion and exclusion are constructed: self-inclusion/self-exclusion, inclusion by risk/exclusion by danger, compensatory inclusion, inclusion in exclusion and sub-inclusion. They are illustrated with specific examples to refine an analytical approach to problems of inclusion and exclusion, with a view to contributing to sociological analysis and to assessing the consequences of public and private decisions.

Economic Survey of the Caribbean 2015: Balancing economic recovery and high debt in the Caribbean

The survey provides an overview of the economic performance for 2014 of the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Guyana, Jamaica, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago plus the eight member states of the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union (ECCU) and the outlook for 2015. Data were collected from a review of reports from national governments and through interviews with government officials in each of the countries analyzed.

Going through the labyrinth: the political economy of Argentina’s abandonment of the gold standard (1929-1933)

This article is the short but crucial history of four years of transition in a monetary and exchange-rate regime that culminated in 1933 with the final abandonment of the gold standard in Argentina. That process involved decisions made at critical junctures at which the government authorities had little time to deliberate and against which they had no analytical arsenal, no technical certainties and few political convictions. The objective of this study is to analyse those “decisions” at seven milestone moments, from the external shock of 1929 to the submission to Congress of a bill for the creation of the central bank and a currency control regime characterized by multiple exchange rates. The new regime that this reordering of the Argentine economy implied would remain in place, in one form or another, for at least a quarter of a century.