Transformación productiva con equidad: la tarea prioritaria del desarrollo de América Latina y el Caribe en los años noventa = Changing production patterns with social equity: the prime task of Latin American and Caribbean development in the 1990s

Incluye Bibliografía

Precios al detalle de los productos refinados del petróleo en algunos países de América Latina: 1975-1989 = Retail prices for refined oil products in selected Latin American countries: 1975-1989

Incluye Bibliografía

Equidad y transformación productiva: un enfoque integrado = Social equity and changing production patterns: an integrated approach

Incluye Bibliografía

En busca de la equidad: las mujeres como actores sociales en el desarrollo del Caribe = In search of social equity: women as social partners in Caribbean development

Incluye Bibliografía

La pesca en alta mar y los intereses de los estados ribereños de la región: un análisis de la negociación futura a la luz de la equidad: parte I: De la Convención de las Naciones Unidas sobre el Derecho del Mar a la convocatoria de la Conferencia de las Naciones Unidas sobre Poblaciones Transzonales y las Poblaciones de Peces Altamente Migratorias = High-seas fisheries and the interests of the coastal states of the region: an analysis of the upcoming negotiation from the perspective of social equity: part I: From the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea to the United Nations Conference on Straddling Fish Stocks and Highly Migratory Fish Stocks

Incluye Bibliografía

The institutionality of gender equity in the State: a diagnosis for Latin America and the Caribbean

Includes bibliography

Institucionalidad de la equidad de género en el Estado: un diagnóstico para América Latina = The institutionality of gender equity in the State: a diagnosis for Latin America and the Caribbean

Incluye Bibliografía

Increased prices for world oil and the oil-deficit economies of Latin America and the Caribbean, 1973-1978

Includes bibliography

Infrastructure, integration and equity: The social impact of the health and public transportation infrastructure.

Academicians and practitioners generally agree that there is a positive correlation between more and better infrastructure and economic growth. From the broader perspective of development, attempts have been made in the literature to identify the different theoretical connections and the empirical patterns that link infrastructure to productivity, on the one hand, and those that link it to social inclusion and equity, on the other hand. Infrastructure contributes to development in different ways. The capital involved is not homogeneous, nor is its effect on the distributive aspects. Water and sanitation have a particularly strong association with the health of the general population and with infant mortality, early childhood health, learning abilities and the acquisition of labour skills. With respect to transportation, the reduction of costs and travel times has a direct economic impact on economic activities of production and domestic and international distribution. That infrastructure also has a social and distributive role to play by reducing the number of fatal accidents and serious injuries in the sectors that are naturally most susceptible to them, namely, the poor. Under the broad umbrella of infrastructure, we can include a number of facilities that make possible the provision of certain services. Some of these facilities require very significant fixed capital investments; some of them are residential, while others are not necessarily. What they all have in common is the existence of networks (transportation, wiring, pipelines) and a strong convergence of physical capital and/or technology, as well as the need for major investments in periodic maintenance.

ECLAC Notes Nº 36

Latin America and the Caribbean's Economies Turn in Stronger Performances this Year To Invest More - but also Better - in Education Opinion: An Opportunity to Consolidate Growth, by José Luis Machinea Highlights: Valuable Experiences that Improve Gender Equity Indicators The Region's Energy Resources Should Guarantee Secure Supply at Reasonable Prices Recent Titles Calendar

Capital flows to Latin America: recent developments

The external environment has deteriorated sharply as a result of the spiraling financial turmoil, and has led to a weakening in commodity prices and fears of a worldwide recession. Latin America and the Caribbean's fastest expansion in 40 years may be threatened as the global credit crunch makes financing scarce and squeezes demand for the region's commodities. This time around the region is better positioned to weather the crisis than in the past, given improvements in macroeconomic and financial policies as well as a reduced net dependency on external capital inflows. However, Latin American markets are feeling the effects of the crisis through a slowdown in capital inflows, large declines in stock price indexes, significant currency adjustments and an increase in debt spreads. Volatility has soared, with the closely watched Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index moving to an all-time high of 70.33 on October 17, indicating that fear (rather than greed) has been ruling the markets.After reaching record lows in May 2007, emerging markets bond spreads are now above pre-Asian crisis levels. The JPMorgan EMBI+ Latin American composite widened by 146 basis points in the third quarter, with spreads reaching 448 basis points at the end of September. Spreads have widened sharply in recent weeks as foreign investors cut back regional exposure for the safety of U.S. Treasuries. The ongoing lack of liquidity and subsequent liquidation of assets is leading to a collapse in asset prices and a sharp widening in spreads. Daily spreads in October have risen to levels not seen since December 2002, making it much more difficult for governments that need financing to get it. Risk premiums for Latin corporates and sovereigns have risen substantially, but have remained well below U.S. junk (high-yield) bonds. Latin corporates are facing a steep rise in foreign exchange borrowing costs (although less than firms in other emerging markets), which raises concerns that refinancing risks will climb.So far, emerging markets vulnerabilities have been more focused on corporates, as sovereigns have improved public debt dynamics and countries' financing needs are under control. Market performance has been driven by the rapid deterioration of emerging markets bank and corporate market, as well as ongoing losses in emerging markets equities. From January to September 2008, the Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) Latin American Index lost almost 28%, while the Emerging Markets Index lost 37% and the G-7 Index lost 24%. While in 2007 the Latin America component gained 47%, almost nine times as much as the MSCI-G7 index for developed markets, since mid-September 2008 stocks in Latin America have been doing worse than stocks in developed countries, as concerns about access to credit and the adverse impact of sharp falls in commodity prices and in local currencies contribute to increased risk aversion and to outflows of capital. Many governments in the region have used revenue from the commodity boom to pay down debt and build reserves. Now, facing a global financial crisis and the threat of recession in developed countries, the biggest question for Latin America is how long and deep this cyclical downturn will be, and how much it is going to reduce commodity prices. Prices for commodities such as soy, gold, copper and oil, which helped fund the region's boom, have fallen 28% since their July 2 high, according to the RJ/CRB Commodity Price Index. According to Morgan Stanley (in a September 29 report), should prices return to their 10-year average, Latin America's balanced budgets would quickly revert to a deficit of 4.1% of GDP. As risk aversion increases, investors are rapidly pulling out massive amounts of money, creating problems for local markets and banks. There is an ongoing shortage of dollars (as investors liquidate assets in Latin American markets), and as currencies depreciate, inflation concerns increase despite the global slowdown. In Brazil and Mexico, central banks deployed billions of dollars of reserves to stem steep currency declines, as companies in these countries, believing their local currencies would continue to strengthen against the U.S. dollar, took debts in dollars. Some companies also made bets using currency derivatives that have led to losses in the billions of dollars. Dramatic currency swings have caused heavy losses for many companies, from Mexico's cement giant Cemex SAB to the Brazilian conglomerate Grupo Votorantim. Mexico's third-largest retailer, Controladora Comercial Mexicana, declared bankruptcy recently after reporting huge losses related to exchange rate bets. As concerns about corporate exposure to dollar-denominated derivatives increases, yields on bonds issued by many of Brazil's and Mexico's leading companies have started to rise, sharply raising the cost of issuing new debt. Latin American external debt issuance came to a halt in the third quarter of 2008, totaling only US$ 690 million. The cost of obtaining loans for capital expenditures, M&A and debt refinancing is also rising substantially for Latin American corporates amid contagion from the U.S. financial crisis. According to bankers, a protracted trend of shortening tenors and widening spreads has intensified in the past few weeks, indicating that bank lending is quickly following the way of bonds and equity. Finally, money transfers from Latin American migrants are expected to decline for the first time this decade, as a result of economic downturns in the U.S. and Spain, inflation and a weaker dollar. The Mexican Central Bank announced that money transfers from Mexicans living in the U.S. dropped a record 12.2% in August. In 2008, migrants from the region will send some 1.7% less in remittances year-on-year when adjusted for inflation, according to the IADB, compounding the adverse effects of the deepening financial turmoil.

Work, family and public policy changes in Latin America: Equity, maternalism and co-responsibility

Taking account of the substantial increase in female labour market participation that has occurred throughout the Latin American region, this article describes policies adopted with the aim of reconciling work and family responsibilities between 2003 and 2013, and the implications of their design for socioeconomic and gender equity. We look at the cases of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica and Uruguay, five countries which, on the basis of their track records, are the best placed to implement policies to reorganize time, income and services. The empirical analysis indicates, first, that these changes have contributed to socioeconomic equity more consistently than to gender equity. Second, the scale and type of change was found to vary significantly from one country to another. The article concludes by raising a number of substantive questions about the measures, their implementation and effectiveness, and the variations between countries.

The equity gap: Latin America, the Caribbean and the Social Summit

The World Summit for Social Development, held in Copenhagen, Denmark, from 6 to 12 March 1995, brought together a large number of heads of State and Government and official representatives from States Members of the United Nations and culminated in the adoption of the Copenhagen Declaration on Social Development and the Programme of Action of the World Summit for Social Development. These two documents —the first containing policy statements, the other dealing with their practical application— imply commitments at the national, regional and international levels. Barely two years have passed since this summit was held, too short a period to permit an evaluation of the impact of the actions that the Latin American and Caribbean Governments set out to undertake. On the other hand, most of the countries were already implementing a variety of official policies related to the great objectives of the World Summit for Social Development. Al reunirse ahora los países miembros de la CEPAL para examinar, por vez primera, los avances hacia la aplicación de los resultados de la Cumbre,1 la Secretaría ha centrado su estudio en tres aspectos. Primero, en examinar, desde la óptica latinoamericana y del Caribe, la situación actual en materia de pobreza, empleo e integración social, los principales temas de la Cumbre. Segundo, en el ámbito de las políticas, en reseñar las tendencias que resultan más relevantes para el cumplimiento de los compromisos antes mencionados. Tercero, en proponer algunas orientaciones adicionales sobre el contenido y alcance de las políticas tendientes a facilitar el pleno cumplimiento futuro de dichos compromisos. Se procura con ello orientar el debate de los gobiernos y de la sociedad civil en América Latina y el Caribe acerca de cómo se están instrumentando en la región los compromisos de la Cumbre de Copenhague.

Social equity and changing production patterns: an integrated approach

In accordance with the mandate it received at the twenty-third session, in this document the secretariat has attempted to delve further into the links among technical progress, international competitiveness and social equity, although it does not, certainly, purport to have exhausted these subjects. Two qualifying remarks are called for here. First, the secretariat is deliberately abstaining from becoming embfoiled in the theoretical aspects of a controversy which has raged for centuries, and particularly since the French revolution, i.e., the debate surrounding the cause-and-effect relationships and possible areas of incompatibility among democratic governance, economic stability, growth and well-being. Rather than concerning itself with doctrine, the secretariat prefers to deal with the realities confronting virtually all the Governments of the region. These realities include the need to resume a sustained (and environmentally sustainable) growth process within the framework of the consolidation of pluralistic, democratic societies -societies that are faced with very real demands to address the many ways in which the majority of the population has been bypassed by development. Secondly, no attempt has been made in this document to provide a list of suitable policies for changing production patterns or for attaining greater social equity. Instead, the focus is on how certain pivotal analytical and policy aspects can be linked within an integrated approach so as to reinforce any existing areas of complementarity between efforts to achieve greater growth and efforts to seek greater social equity. This approach highlights the central tenet of the document: that growth, social equity and democracy can be compatible. What is more, there are significant but as yet largely unexplored areas in which social equity and changing production patterns complement and reinforce one another.