Does public financial support stimulate innovation and productivity? An impact evaluation

This paper contributes to the empirical literature that evaluates the effects of public financial support to innovation on innovation expenditures, innovation itself and productivity in developing countries. Propensity score matching techniques and data from Innovation Surveys are used to analyse the impacts of public financial support to innovation on Uruguayan firms. The results indicate that there is no crowding-out effect of private innovation investment by public funds and that public financial support in Uruguay seems to increase private innovation expenditures. Financial support also appears to induce increased research and development expenditures and innovative sales, with these effects being greatest for service firms. Public funds do not, however, significantly stimulate private expenditures by firms that would have carried out innovation activities even in the absence of financial support.

Research on policies and institutions to support small and medium scale enterprise in the Caribbean: Trinidad adn Tobago report

The Government of Trinidad and Tobago continues to provide support to SMEs in order to enhance their international competitiveness. The increasing effects of globalization and the reality of several trade agreements require that local businesses attain and maintain a level of competitiveness which ensures their continued survival and growth. This report examines in detail the policy environment within which these enterprises operate. It also examines the role of the key implementing agencies such as the BDC and NEDCO for government’s policy on the sector and also the role of the respective line ministries. These organizations strive to deliver value added technical, financial and export promotion services to its clients on a subsidised basis. The services offered reflect five key business areas such as financing, training, technical assistance, trade assistance, business re-engineering, project management and export promotion. In the case of the BDC its services target six sectors: food and beverage, metal processing, leisure marine, including yachting, information and communication technology/electronics, printing and packaging and entertainment. These said sectors are identified by the government, on the basis of a study which was done by TIDCO, for the promotion of a cluster development strategy. In the case of NEDCO it targets the following sectors: art and craft, food and beverages, fashion and fashion accessories, culture and ecotourism, bed and breakfast operations, indigenous entertainment and light manufacturing.

Regional financial cooperation: experiences and challenges

Includes bibliography

Financial development, growth and equity in Brazil

Includes bibliography

International financial architecture: foundations and framework

Includes bibliography

Reforming the international financial architecture: consensus and divergence

Includes bibliography

The international financial crisis: diagnoses and prescriptions

Includes bibliography

Regional financial cooperation

Includes bibliography

Millennium development goals: advances in environmentally sustainable development in Latin America and the Caribbean

Includes bibliography

Public policy for pensions, health and sickness insurance

Includes bibliography

The contribution of biofuels to the sustainability of development in Latin America and the Caribbean

Includes bibliography

Appraisal and conclusions from the 1994-2009 review of the implementation of the Cairo Programme of Action in the Caribbean

Incluye Bibliografía

The current situation of small and medium-sized industrial enterprises in Trinidad & Tobago, Barbados and St. Lucia

Includes bibliography

The European Investment Bank and SMEs: key lessons for Latin America and the Caribbean

Incluye Bibliografía

The impact of structural reforms on growth in Latin America and the Caribbean: an empirical estimation

Includes bibliography