National public investment systems in Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tabago

Includes bibliography

Operations strategy and supply chain management: A Brazilian case study

The objective of this study is to understand how an assembly company, that is considered a focal company in the chain of Brazilian white goods sector, can influence the supply chain management established with its first tier suppliers. This is an exploratory qualitative study in which the information was gathered through direct observations, documents' retention, and data from interviews held with management-level employees of the sales and product development areas of the focal company and of the production area of the suppliers' companies. This study indicates that the operations strategy of the focal company influences the supply chain management and that the common business processes shared by its suppliers are a way to verify the truth of such statement. The suppliers cooperate closely with the focal company when complementing their business processes and consequently supporting the company to pursue its operations strategy. A set of mechanisms to aid the comprehension of how the operations strategy can affect the business processes and therefore to achieve the result of this research were adopted. © EuroJournals Publishing, Inc. 2012.

Public policies and the competitiveness of agricultural exports

Includes bibliography

The privatization of public water utilities

Includes bibliography

The biodiesel market and public policy: a comparative analysis of Argentina and Brazil

Includes bibliography

Structural change and productivity growth 20 years later: old problems, new opportunities. Summary

Includes bibliography

Public-private contracts: analysis and formulae for sustainability: development and applications in Mexico

Includes bibliography

The law for the regulation of public water-related utilities

Includes bibliography

Exploiting the potential of the Caribbean information society as an enabler of human development in the region

Includes bibliography

Regulation of the private provision of public water-related services

Includes bibliography

Airport systems: public service and private initiative

This issue analize the importance of air travel among other forms of transport has greatly increased, offering a viable option for the movement of people and goods.

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.

Meta-analysis of the income and price elasticities of gasoline demand: public policy implications for Latin America

By means of a meta-analysis, this article sets out to estimate average values for the income and price elasticities of gasoline demand and to analyse the reasons for the variations in the elasticities reported by the literature. The findings show that there is publication bias, that the volatility of elasticity estimates is not due to sampling errors alone, and that there are systematic factors explaining these differences. The income and price elasticities of gasoline demand differ between the short and long run and by region, and the estimation can appropriately include the vehicle fleet and the prices of substitute goods, the data types and the estimation methods used. The presence of a low price elasticity suggests that a fuel tax will be inadequate to control rising consumption in a context of rapid economic growth.

O Mercado de terras urbanas e seu papel na produção e transformação do espaço intraurbano em cidades médias: os Casos de Ribeirão Preto/SP e São Carlos/SP

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Catastrophic regime shift in water reservoirs and São Paulo water supply crisis

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)