ECLAC Notes Nº 28

Foreign Direct Investment Flows to Latin America Plunged by One-Third in 2002 More of an Opportunity than a Limitation Op-ed by Ricardo Ffrench-Davis: Economic Reforms to Grow with Equity Highlights: New Options to Attract Foreign Investment Indicators The Competitiveness of Agrifoods in Central America and the Caribbean Recent Titles Calendar

ECLAC Notes Nº 5

Ups and downs of the Brazilian economy Surprises in structural reform index Opinion: Does foreign direct investment contribute to economic growth? Highlights: The debate over Chile's Water Code Indicators Community management improves rural education Recent titles Calendar

ECLAC Notes Nº 39

Foreign Direct Investment Rose 44% in 2004 Integration In South America's Natural Gas Industry Opinion by José Luis Machinea: Foreign Direct Investment in Latin America: the Need to Sustain the Past Year's Recovery and Achieve Greater Benefits Highlights: Development Banks and Financing for Productive Development Indicators Poverty and Precarious Housing in Latin American Cities Recent Titles Calendar

Economic Survey of the Caribbean 2013: Improved economic performance with reduced downside risks

Includes bibliography.

Centroamérica: ¿Una nueva relación centro-periferia basada en el control de los activos productivos?

Incluye bibliografía.

United States Trade Developments 2012-2013

Includes bibliography.

O Investimento Estrangeiro Direto na América Latina e Caribe, informe 2013. Documento informativo

Incluye bibliografía.

La Inversión Extranjera Directa en América Latina y el Caribe 2013

Incluye bibliografía.

CEPAL Review no.92

Foreign direct investment and development: the MERCOSUR experience / Daniel Chudnovsky and Andrés López. -- Developing competitive advantages: successful export SMES in Argentina, Chile and Colombia / Dario Milesi, Virginia Moori, Verónica Robert and Gabriel Yoguel. -- Effects of training on competitiveness in the manufacturing sector / Ramón Padilla and Miriam Juárez. -- Youth employment: characteristics, tensions and challenges / Jürgen Weller. -- The globalization of the health-care industry: opportunities for the Caribbean / Richard L. Bernal. -- Social protection in the English-speaking Caribbean / Oliver Paddison. -- Strengthening a fiscal pillar: the Uruguayan dual income tax / Alberto Barreix and Jerónimo Roca. -- International migration and development: the socioeconomic impact of remittances in Colombia / David Khoudour-Castéras. -- Non-sectoral agents and recent changes in Argentina’s agricultural sector / Clara Craviotti. -- Referees for CEPAL Review 2005-2006. -- Guidelines for contributors to the CEPAL Review. -- CEPAL Review on the Internet. -- Recent ECLAC publications.

The employment situation in Latin America and the Caribbean: Crisis in the labour markets and countercyclical responses

As predicted in the first bulletin, produced jointly by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) and the International Labour Organization (ILO), the impact of the economic crisis continued to be felt in Latin America and the Caribbean during the second quarter of 2009. Regional exports of goods and services contracted in response to sluggish demand on international markets, while remittances and foreign direct investment flows continued to fall, credit lost its buoyancy and the total wage bill diminished, owing mainly to job losses. As a result, the growth forecasts of many countries had to be adjusted downwards. Since the end of 2008, the countries of the region had started to implement countercyclical policies —albeit with significant differences— in an effort to use public spending to counter flagging investment and consumer-spending levels and boost aggregate demand. In this second bulletin, ECLAC and ILO show how the impact of the crisis has deepened in labour markets in the region in the first half of the year and examine existing options and the outcome of public-infrastructure and emergency employment programmes designed to mitigate the impact of the crisis on the labour market. The unemployment rate has risen in practically all countries compared with the previous year and this situation worsened further in the second quarter, when urban unemployment exceeded the rate of the corresponding period in 2008 by 1 percentage point (to stand at 8.5%, up from 7.5%), while in the first quarter, the variation was 0.6 of a percentage point. Labour indicators also point to an increase in informality, a decline in employment with social protection and a decrease in full-time employment. Labour-market trends observed in the first half-year, together with the forecast for a 1.9% decline in regional GDP in 2009, suggest that the average annual rate of urban unemployment in the region will be close to 8.5%. This forecast is slightly less pessimistic than the estimate given in the first bulletin; this is attributable to the fall in the participation rate in the first half-year to levels that are expected to remain low for the rest of the year. Without this reduction in the labour supply, due largely to the “discouragement effect”, the annual average urban unemployment rate would stand at between 8.8% and 8.9%. Thus, the open urban unemployment figure would increase by 2.5 million and if the “discouraged job-seekers” are included, then the number of additional persons not finding a niche in the urban labour market would climb to 3.2 million. In the region, as in the rest of the world, there are signs that the crisis may have reached bottom in the middle of the year. In many countries, production levels have ceased their decline and there are indications of an incipient recovery leading to cautious optimism that there may be a moderate upturn in labour markets in the fourth quarter. The pace of recovery will vary from one country to the next and is expected to be gradual at best. Even with the return to a growth path, there should be no illusion that the labour problems will immediately disappear. First, the recovery in employment is expected to lag behind the upturn in economic activity. Second, since economic growth is likely to remain moderate in the short term and well below the rates recorded between late 2003 and mid-2008, demand for labour and consequently the generation of good-quality jobs will continue to be weak. Thus, countries should not relax their efforts to defend and create decent jobs, but rather should take steps to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of available instruments. In this way, the region will be in a better position not only to confront the challenges of economic recovery, but also to strengthen the foundations for social inclusion and for advancing under more favourable conditions towards fulfilment of the Millennium Development Goals.

Panorama Económico y Social de la Comunidad de Estados Latinoamericanos y Caribeños 2014

Prólogo de Alicia Bárcena

Economic and Social Panorama of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States 2014

This issue of the Economic and Social Panorama of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States is a contribution by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) to the third Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), to be held in San José in January 2015. This document is based on excerpts from some of the annual flagships published by the Commission in 2014: Statistical Yearbook for Latin America and the Caribbean 2013 (LC/G.2582-P); Demographic Observatory 2013 (LC/G.2615-P); Economic Survey of Latin America and the Caribbean 2014 (LC/G.2619-P); Preliminary Overview of the Economies of Latin America and the Caribbean 2014 (LC/G.2632-P); Foreign Direct Investment in Latin America and the Caribbean 2013 (LC/G.2615-P); Latin America and the Caribbean in the World Economy 2014 (LG/G.2625-P) “Social Panorama Social of Latin America 2014. Briefing Paper”; as well as the Gender Equality Observatory of Latin America and the Caribbean. Annual Report 2013-2014 (LC/G.2626).

Incentivos públicos de nueva generación para la atracción de inversión extranjera directa (IED) en Centroamérica

Incluye Bibliografía

Evolución y composición de los flujos de inversión extranjera en América del Sur bajo la óptica de las principales empresas inversionistas

El objetivo es identificar el posicionamiento de Brasil como receptor de inversion y como inversionista dentro de America del Sur. Se hace un examen de la inversion extranjera directa en esta subregion, bajo la optica de la presencia y actuacion internacional de las grandes empresas presentes en la zona - transnacionales y empresas locales con actuacion regional.

Revista de la CEPAL no.60

La evolución de las ideas y las políticas para el desarrollo / Gert Rosenthal. -- Políticas macroeconómicas para el crecimiento / Ricardo Ffrench-Davis. -- Flujos de capitales: lecciones a partir de la experiencia chilena / Eduardo Aninat, Christian Larraín. -- La transformación del desarrollo industrial de América Latina / José Miguel Benavente, Gustavo Crespi, Jorge Katz, Giovanni Stampo. -- Las reformas de las pensiones en América Latina y la posición de los organismos internacionales / Carmelo Mesa-Lago. -- Aportes de la antropología aplicada al desarrollo campesino / John Durston. -- Prospección de la biodiversidad: potencialidades para los países en desarrollo / Julie M. Feinsilver. -- La inversión extranjera y el desarrollo competitivo en América Latina y el Caribe / Alejandro C. Vera-Vassallo. -- La crisis del peso mexicano / Stephany Griffith-Jones.