Foreign Direct Investment in Latin America and the Caribbean 2016

The 2016 version of Foreign Direct Investment in Latin America and the Caribbean is the most recent edition of an annual series published by the Unit on Investment and Corporate Strategies of the Division of Production, Productivity and Management of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC).

Environment and dispersal paths override life strategies and residence time in determining regional patterns of invasion by alien plants

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Running Hot and Cold: Economic Liberalization and Foreign Direct Investment in Latin America by Sector

This article examines the effects of market–oriented economic reforms on foreign direct investment (FDI) flows to Latin America from 1985 to 2006. In contrast with most existing scholarship, we disaggregate FDI into its destination in the primary resource, manufacturing, and service sectors allowing us to determine that different kinds of investments exhibit distinct behavior. Notably, manufacturing FDI appears to be erratic; previous investment is not a predictor of current investment. FDI across sectors is associated with varying policy environments, with service and primary resource investment attracted to hosts with policies associated with more stable economic and political contexts. Overall, manufacturing FDI appears to function more like “hot” portfolio investment and is less likely to provide some of the positive spillover effects thought to be associated with more permanent FDI. These findings have an array of implications for economic, development, and industrial policies throughout Latin America and the developing world.

Separation of Ownership from Control and Discretionary Managerial Behaviour in a Transition Economy

This study was the final stage of a four-year study of managerial behaviour and company performance in Bulgaria and examined the influence of changing ownership and control structures of companies on managerial behaviour and initiative. It provides a theoretical summary of the specific types of ownership, control, governance structures and managerial strategies in the Bulgarian transitional economy during 1992-1996. It combines two theoretical approaches, the property-rights approach to show concentrated property-rights structure and private and majority types of control as determinants of efficient enterprise risk bearing and constrained managerial discretion, and the agency theory approach to reveal the efficient role of direct non-market governance mechanisms over managers. Mr. Peev also used empirical information collected from the Central Statistical office in Bulgaria, three different enterprise investigations of corporatised state-owned enterprises between 1992 and 1994, and his own data base of privatised and private de novo industrial companies in 1996-1996. The project gives a detailed description of the main property-rights structures in Bulgaria at the present time and of the various control structures related to these. It found that there is a strong owner type of control in private and privatised firms, although, contrary to expectations, 100% state -owned enterprises tended to be characterised by a separation of ownership from control, leaving scope for managerial discretion. Mr. Peev predicts that after the forthcoming mass privatisation, many companies will acquire a dispersed ownership structure and there will be a greater separation of ownership from control and potential or inefficient managerial behaviour. The next aspect considered in detail was governance structures and the influence of the generally unstable macroeconomic environment in the country during the period in question. In examining managerial strategies, Mr. Peev divided the years since 1990 into 3 periods. Even in the first period (1990-1992) there were some signs of a more efficient role for managers and between 1992 and 1994 the picture of control structures and different managerial behaviour in state-owned companies became more diversified. Managerial strategies identified included managerial initiatives for privatisation, where managers took initiative in resolving problems of property rights and introducing restructuring measures and privatisation proposals, managerial initiatives for restructuring without privatisation, and passive adjustment and passive management, where managers seek outside services for marketing, finance management, etc. in order to adjust to the new environment. During 1995-1996 some similarities and differences between the managerial behaviour of privatised and state-owned firms emerged. Firstly, the former have undergone many changes in investment and technology, while managers of state-owned companies have changed little in this field, indicating that the private property-rights structure is more efficient for the long-term adaptation of enterprises. In the area of strategies relating to product quality, marketing, and pricing policy there was little difference between managers of private, privatised and state-owned firms. The most passive managerial behaviour was found in non-incorporated state-owned firms, although these have only an insignificant stake in the economy.

Alternative Cow Herd Investment Strategies: Constant Size and Constant Investment

Two heifer replacement strategies were compared over a 25-year period. One strategy retained the same number of heifers each year to maintain a constant herd size. The second strategy retained the same dollar value of heifer calves each year based on their opportunity cost as feeder calves. The constant investment strategy herd size varied throughout the period, but generated higher average profit and higher net worth than did the constant herd size strategy. Constant investment is a simple strategy to adjust the level of investment in beef cows and the resource base (pasture, labor, winter feed) in response to market signals driven by the cattle cycle. This strategy automatically increases heifer retention when the opportunity cost is low and reduces the number retained when cost is high. The effect is a lower average cost of cows in the herd, lower overall investment, and a higher net return on investment. Iowa producers, who often have greater flexibility in land use than producers in other major beef cow regions, can better utilize this strategy that generates greater profits and net worth growth.

Labour Migration, Trade and Investment: From Fragmentation to Coherence

Trade, investment and migration are strongly intertwined, being three key factors in international production. Yet, law and regulation of the three has remained highly fragmented. Trade is regulated by the WTO on the multilateral level, and through preferential trade agreements on the regional and bilateral levels – it is fragmented and complex in its own right. Investment, on the other hand, is mainly regulated through bilateral investment treaties with no strong links to the regulation of trade or migration. And, finally, migration is regulated by a web of different international, regional and bilateral agreements which focus on a variety of different aspects of migration ranging from humanitarian to economic. The problems of institutional fragmentation in international law are well known. There is no organizational forum for coherent strategy-making on the multilateral level covering all three areas. Normative regulations may thus contradict each other. Trade regulation may bring about liberalization of access for service providers, but eventually faces problems in recruiting the best people from abroad. Investors may withdraw investment without being held liable for disruptions to labour and to the livelihood and infrastructure of towns and communities affected by disinvestment. Finally, migration policies do not seem to have a significant impact as long as trade policies and investment policies are not working in a way that is conducive to reducing migration pressure, as trade and investment are simply more powerful on the regulatory level than migration. This chapter addresses the question as to how fragmentation of the three fields could be reme-died and greater coherence between these three areas of factor allocation in international economic relations and law could be achieved. It shows that migration regulation on the international level is lagging behind that on trade and investment. Stronger coordination and consideration of migration in trade and investment policy, and stronger international cooperation in migration, will provide the foundations for a coherent international architecture in the field.

Building up and sharing knowledge for better decision making on soil and water conservation in a changing mountain environment - the WOCAT experience

For successful implementation of any soil and water conservation (SWC) or sustainable land management practice, it is essential to have a proper understanding of the natural and human environment in which these practices are applied. This understanding should be based on comprehensive information concerning the application of the technologies and not solely on the technological details. The World Overview of Conservation Approaches and Technologies (WOCAT) is documenting and evaluating SWC practices worldwide, following a standardised methodology that facilitates exchange and comparison of experiences. Notwithstanding this standardisation, WOCAT allows flexible use of its outputs, adapted to different users and different environments. WOCAT offers a valuable tool for evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of SWC practices and their potential for application in other areas. Besides collecting a wealth of information, gaps in available information are also exposed, showing the need for more research in those fields. Several key issues for development- oriented research have been identified and are being addressed in collaboration with a research programme for mitigating syndromes of global change.

Listeria monocytogenes infection in ruminants: Is there a link to the environment, food and human health? A review.

Listeria (L.) monocytogenes is widely distributed in the environment, but also has the ability to cause serious invasive disease in ruminants and humans. This review provides an overview of listeriosis in ruminants and discusses our insufficient understanding of reservoirs and possible cycling ofL. monocytogenes between animal and human hosts, food and the environment. It indicates gaps in our knowledge of the role of genetic subtypes in L. monocytogenes ecology and virulence as well as risk factors, in vivo diagnostics and pathogenesis of listeriosis in ruminants. Filling these gaps will contribute to improving the control of L. monocytogenes and enhancing disease prevention. As the prevalence of listeriosis in ruminants in Switzerland is likely to be underestimated, propositions concerning improvement options for surveillance of listeriosis in ruminants are provided.

The Continuing Practice and Impact of Discrimination

This chapter provides a detailed discussion of the evidence on housing and mortgage lending discrimination, as well as the potential impacts of such discrimination on minority outcomes like homeownership and neighborhood environment. The paper begins by discussing conceptual issues surrounding empirical analyses of discrimination including explanations for why discrimination takes place, defining different forms of discrimination, and the appropriate interpretation of observed racial and ethnic differences in treatment or outcomes. Next, the paper reviews evidence on housing market discrimination starting with evidence of segregation and price differences in the housing market and followed by direct evidence of discrimination by real estate agents in paired testing studies. Finally, mortgage market discrimination and barriers in access to mortgage credit are discussed. This discussion begins with an assessment of the role credit barriers play in explaining racial and ethnic differences in homeownership and follows with discussions of analyses of underwriting and the price of credit based on administrative and private sector data sources including analyses of the subprime market. The paper concludes that housing discrimination has declined especially in the market for owner-occupied housing and does not appear to play a large role in limiting the neighborhood choices of minority households or the concentration of minorities into central cities. On the other hand, the patterns of racial centralization and lower home ownership rates of African-Americans appear to be related to each other, and lower minority homeownership rates are in part attributable to barriers in the market for mortgage credit. The paper presents considerable evidence of racial and ethnic differences in mortgage underwriting, as well as additional evidence suggesting these differences may be attributable to differential provision of coaching, assistance, and support by loan officers. At this point, innovation in loan products, the shift towards risk based pricing, and growth of the subprime market have not mitigated the role credit barriers play in explaining racial and ethnic differences in homeownership. Further, the growth of the subprime lending industry appears to have segmented the mortgage market in terms of geography leading to increased costs of relying on local/neighborhood sources of mortgage credit and affecting the integrity of many low-income minority neighborhoods through increased foreclosure rates.

The Effects of Credit Risk on Dynamic Portfolio Management: A New Computational Approach

The study investigates the role of credit risk in a continuous time stochastic asset allocation model, since the traditional dynamic framework does not provide credit risk flexibility. The general model of the study extends the traditional dynamic efficiency framework by explicitly deriving the optimal value function for the infinite horizon stochastic control problem via a weighted volatility measure of market and credit risk. The model's optimal strategy was then compared to that obtained from a benchmark Markowitz-type dynamic optimization framework to determine which specification adequately reflects the optimal terminal investment returns and strategy under credit and market risks. The paper shows that an investor's optimal terminal return is lower than typically indicated under the traditional mean-variance framework during periods of elevated credit risk. Hence I conclude that, while the traditional dynamic mean-variance approach may indicate the ideal, in the presence of credit-risk it does not accurately reflect the observed optimal returns, terminal wealth and portfolio selection strategies.

The relationship between physical activity and perceived built environment factors among adult Mexican Americans living in Brownsville, Texas

Background. Physical Activity (PA) is a central part in the fight to reduce obesity rates that are higher in Mexican Americans in the United States than any other ethnic groups. More than half of all Americans do not meet the daily PA recommendations and 48% of Mexican Americans do not exercise. The built environment is believed to affect participation in physical activity. The influence of the built environmental on physical activity levels in low-income Mexican Americans living along the Texas-Mexico border has not been investigated. ^ Purpose. The purpose of this secondary data analysis was trifold: (1) to determine the levels of self-reported PA in adults living in Brownsville, Texas; (2) to characterize the perceptions of this population regarding the built environment; and (3) to determine the association between self-reported PA and the built environment in Mexican Americans living in Brownsville, Texas. ^ Methods. 400 participants from the Tu Salud ¡Sí Cuenta! (TSSC) community-wide campaign were included in this secondary data analysis. Percentages for level of physical activity and the built environment were calculated using SPSS. Perceptions of the built environment were assessed by 14 items. Logistic regression analysis was used to assess the relationship between physical activity and built environment. All models were adjusted for age, gender, and level of education. ^ Results. The majority of men (41.97%) and women (59%), combined (56.7%)did not meet the 2008 PA Guidelines for Americans. We analyzed 14 built environment variables to characterize participants’ perceptions of the built environment. We conducted odds ratio (OR) to find if those who met PA levels associated the built environment such as neighborhood shops ([OR:1.806], CI:1.074,3.038 ]) bus stops ([OR:1.436], CI:.806,2.558) unattended stray dogs ([OR: 1.806], CI:1. 074,3.038), sidewalk access ([OR: .858],CI:.437,1.686), access to free parks ([OR:.549],CI:.335,.900) heavy traffic in neighborhood ([OR:.802], CI:.501,1.285), crime rate ([OR:.779], CI:.494,1.228) ranked the highest by mean score. The association between physical activity and the perceived built environment factors for Mexican Americans participating in the TSSCStudy were weakly associated. ^ Conclusions. This study provides evidence that PA levels are low in this Mexican American population. The built environment factors assessed in this study characterized the need for further studies of the variables that are seen as important to the Mexican American population. Lastly, the association of PA levels to the built environment was weak overall and further studies are recommended of the built environment.^

THE EFFECT OF PERSON-ENVIRONMENT INTERACTION ON ANXIETY, DEPRESSION, AND SUBJECTIVE DISTRESS OF OPTOMETRY STUDENTS

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether an incongruence between personality characteristics of individuals and concomitant charcteristics of health professional training environments on salient dimensions contributes to aspects of mental health. The dimensions examined were practical-theoretical orientation and the degree of structure-unstructure. They were selected for study as they are particularly important attributes of students and of learning environments. It was proposed that when the demand of the environment is disparate from the proclivities of the individual, strain arises. This strain was hypothesized to contribute to anxiety, depression, and subjective distress.^ Select subscales on the Omnibus Personality Inventory (OPI) were the operationalized measures for the personality component of the dimensions studied. An environmental index was developed to assess students' perceptions of the learning environment on these same dimensions. The Beck Depression Inventory, State-Trait Anxiety Inventory and General Well-Being schedule measured the outcome variables.^ A congruence model was employed to determine person-environment (P-E) interaction. Scores on the scales of the OPI and the environmental index were divided into high, medium, and low based on the range of scores. Congruence was defined as a match between the level of personality need and the complementary level of the perception of the environment. Alternatively, incongruence was defined as a mismatch between the person and the environment. The consistent category was compared to the inconsistent categories by an analysis of variance procedure. Furthermore, analyses of covariance were conducted with perceived supportiveness of the learning environment and life events external to the learning environment as the covariates. These factors were considered critical influences affecting the outcome measures.^ One hundred and eighty-five students (49% of the population) at the College of Optometry at the University of Houston participated in the study. Students in all four years of the program were equally represented in the study. However, the sample differed from the total population on representation by sex, marital status, and undergraduate major.^ The results of the study did not support the hypotheses. Further, after having adjusted for perceived supportiveness and life events external to the learning environment, there were no statistically significant differences between the congruent category and incongruent categories. Means indicated than the study sample experienced significantly lower depression and subjective distress than the normative samples.^ Results are interpreted in light of their utility for future study design in the investigation of the effects of P-E interaction. Emphasized is the question of the feasibility of testing a P-E interaction model with extant groups. Recommendations for subsequent research are proposed in light of the exploratory nature of the methodology. ^

Adolescents' and young adults' physical activity related to built environment

Objetivos: este trabajo tiene como objetivo analizar los niveles de actividad fisicas en estudiantes de escuelas secundarias y estudiantes universitarios; estimar su percepción del entorno contruído en relación con la actividad física, y evaluar la relación entre la educación física y el entorno contruído. Metodología: Se aplicó un estudio sociológico trasversal con diseño no experimental. Se completaron el cuestionario internacional de actividad física y el cuestionario de caraterísticas de entorno contruído con una muestra de 1.862 alumnos de escuelas secundarias y universidad en Granada, España. Resultados: los alumnos de la escuela secundaria fueron significativamente más activos que los estudiantes universitarios, quienes alcanzaron niveles insuficientes de actividad física. Sin embargo, consideraron Granada un buen contexto para hacer ejercicio al aire libre. No se encontraron relaciones entre los niveles de actividad física y el entorno contruído. Conclusión: la discrepancia de resultados entre los niveles de actividad física y la percepción del entorno contruído sugieren la necesidad de intervenciones focalizadas en hacer que los jóvenes se den cuenta de las posibilidades que el medio les ofrece para ejercitarse. En consecuencia, el medio puede tener un impacto en la salud al mismo tiempo que los jóvenes aprenden a respetarlo

Adolescents' and young adults' physical activity related to built environment

Objetivos: este trabajo tiene como objetivo analizar los niveles de actividad fisicas en estudiantes de escuelas secundarias y estudiantes universitarios; estimar su percepción del entorno contruído en relación con la actividad física, y evaluar la relación entre la educación física y el entorno contruído. Metodología: Se aplicó un estudio sociológico trasversal con diseño no experimental. Se completaron el cuestionario internacional de actividad física y el cuestionario de caraterísticas de entorno contruído con una muestra de 1.862 alumnos de escuelas secundarias y universidad en Granada, España. Resultados: los alumnos de la escuela secundaria fueron significativamente más activos que los estudiantes universitarios, quienes alcanzaron niveles insuficientes de actividad física. Sin embargo, consideraron Granada un buen contexto para hacer ejercicio al aire libre. No se encontraron relaciones entre los niveles de actividad física y el entorno contruído. Conclusión: la discrepancia de resultados entre los niveles de actividad física y la percepción del entorno contruído sugieren la necesidad de intervenciones focalizadas en hacer que los jóvenes se den cuenta de las posibilidades que el medio les ofrece para ejercitarse. En consecuencia, el medio puede tener un impacto en la salud al mismo tiempo que los jóvenes aprenden a respetarlo

Adolescents' and young adults' physical activity related to built environment

Objetivos: este trabajo tiene como objetivo analizar los niveles de actividad fisicas en estudiantes de escuelas secundarias y estudiantes universitarios; estimar su percepción del entorno contruído en relación con la actividad física, y evaluar la relación entre la educación física y el entorno contruído. Metodología: Se aplicó un estudio sociológico trasversal con diseño no experimental. Se completaron el cuestionario internacional de actividad física y el cuestionario de caraterísticas de entorno contruído con una muestra de 1.862 alumnos de escuelas secundarias y universidad en Granada, España. Resultados: los alumnos de la escuela secundaria fueron significativamente más activos que los estudiantes universitarios, quienes alcanzaron niveles insuficientes de actividad física. Sin embargo, consideraron Granada un buen contexto para hacer ejercicio al aire libre. No se encontraron relaciones entre los niveles de actividad física y el entorno contruído. Conclusión: la discrepancia de resultados entre los niveles de actividad física y la percepción del entorno contruído sugieren la necesidad de intervenciones focalizadas en hacer que los jóvenes se den cuenta de las posibilidades que el medio les ofrece para ejercitarse. En consecuencia, el medio puede tener un impacto en la salud al mismo tiempo que los jóvenes aprenden a respetarlo