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- Volume 1997, Issue 61, 1997
CEPAL Review - Volume 1997, Issue 61, 1997
Volume 1997, Issue 61, 1997
Cepal Review is the leading journal for the study of economic and social development issues in Latin America and the Caribbean. Edited by the Economic Commission for Latin America, each issue focuses on economic trends, industrialization, income distribution, technological development and monetary systems, as well as the implementation of reforms and transfer of technology. Written in English and Spanish (Revista De La Cepal), each tri-annual issue brings you approximately 12 studies and essays undertaken by authoritative experts or gathered from conference proceedings.
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Three forms of social coordination
Author: Norbert LechnerModernization brings with it a rapid process of differentiation which increases the dynamism of society but also aggravates the phenomena of disintegration and fragmentation. These opposing sides of the process give rise to uncertainty and a sense of defence-lessness. The protective aura of the State fades away, while at the same time the very notion of society becomes empty and unsubstantial. There is a general feeling of uneasiness, in which all evils tend to be blamed on “bad government” and the imperfections of social life are seen as the direct consequence of political ineptitude. However, the natural concern to tackle the (very obvious) problems of governance may prevent us from seeing the real underlying conditions.
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Social rifts in Colombia
Author: Juan Luis Londono de la CuestaThis article analyses the levels and evolution of social inequalities in Colombia over the last 25 years, describing the main recent trends in Colombian social development, comparing them with past periods, and contrasting them with those of other countries. First of all, a recent estimate of income distribution and the rest of the social indicators is given. Next, trends in the distribution of monetary income over the period 1938-1993 are analysed, the impact of social expenditure on secondary income distribution is examined, and on this basis trends in the distribution of income effectively received by individuals are evaluated. The evolution of poverty and other indicators of well-being is then described and compared.
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The United States to the rescue: Financial assistance to Mexico in 1982 and 1995
Author: Nora LustigThis article analyses the financial rescue measures taken by the United States in the Mexican payments crises of August 1982 and January 1995. On both occasions, Mexico was on the brink of suspending payments on its external debt, and both times this was avoided thanks to rescue measures. The implications of the two financial rescue programmes were very different, however. The measures taken in August 1982 were followed by a period of many years in which Mexico was practically excluded from private loan markets. In contrast, the 1995 rescue programme was quickly followed by renewed access by Mexico to private capital markets.
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Convertibility and the banking system in Argentina
Author: Alfredo F. CalcagnoThe system of currency convertibility has shown that it is effective in overcoming inflation in Argentina, but its capacity for supporting a stable growth process and acting as a monetary and exchange-rate system which does not involve intervention and heavy costs on the part of the State is currently being questioned. The present article deals with this aspect on the basis of an analysis of the 1991-1995 period and identifies some key features of the functioning of the system: its reactions to movements of foreign capital; its interrelations with the domestic banking system; the extent to which it is capable of operating automatically without any need for a lender of last resort, as claimed in the theory on which it is based; and the degree to which the currency issued really has effective backing to ensure its convertibility.
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Manufactured exports from small Latin American economies: The challenges ahead
Authors: Rudolf M. Buitelaar and Pitou van DijckThis article explores the challenges that small, less industrialized Latin American countries face in achieving sustained growth of manufactured exports. The improvement of export performance was one of the aims of the policy reforms adopted since the 1980s in line with the so-called Washington Consensus. The economic environment for manufacturing firms improved significantly, and growth of industrial production and exports was stimulated. Nevertheless, the manufacturing sector has not yet become a major engine of growth, and industrial exports have only recently started to increase. Moreover, manufactured exports depend to a high degree on strategies of foreign firms and arc mainly concentrated in relatively less dynamic sectors of world trade. Notwithstanding the broadness and comprehensiveness of the Washington Consensus, additional measures are needed in order to achieve the systemic competitiveness of manufacturing industries.
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Why doesn’t investment in public transport reduce urban traffic congestion?
Author: Ian ThomsonThere is urban traffic congestion in most parts of the world, including Latin America. Among the measures aimed at solving this problem, many cities have built suburban railways or metros. However, these have had little or no effect, as is shown by studies which indicate that investments in the public transport system are incapable of solving this problem on their cars. This article takes the view that when a new metro line or similar system is opened, many travellers who previously used the buses transfer to it, as do a few who previously used their cars.
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Notes on the measurement of poverty by the income method
Author: Juan Carlos FeresThe fact that different studies seeking to measure poverty in a given country often give differing results, although they apparently use the same method and the same data sources, has long given rise to a feeling of confusion among both experts in the field and the public in general. Such discrepancies (regarding the size of the phenomenon and the characteristics of households considered to be poor) reduce the credibility and technical reliability of these measurements, shed doubts on estimates of the level and evolution of poverty, and hinder international comparisons. This is why it is important to foster greater consensus among researchers regarding the criteria and procedures to be used, with a view to progressing towards a common pattern which will make the measurements more consistent and homogeneous and guarantee their effective comparability.
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Fiscal policy and the economic cycle in Chile
Authors: Carlos Budnevich and Guillermo Le Fort V.This article studies the effect of the stabilization of fiscal expenditure and the anti-cyclical use of taxes as stabilization variables in the Chilean economy, through the calibration of a basic macro-economic model adapted to the actual conditions of that economy. The results show that some 25% of the variability of economic growth could be eliminated by obviating fiscal cyclical impulses through constant growth of public investment and consumption and through anti-cyclical taxes. On the one hand, it is proposed that a system of stabilization of the growth of fiscal expenditure should be established, through a system of rules and degrees of flexibility subject to specific clauses.
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The restructuring of the Brazilian industrial groups between 1980 and 1993
Author: Ricardo M. RuizThis article analyses the strategies applied by the Brazilian industrial groups during the period 1980-1993: that is to say, before the Real Plan was put into effect. After some introductory comments regarding the debate on economic groups, hypotheses are presented on the evolution of the Brazilian industrial groups in the 1980s and early 1990s; the main elements in the Brazilian economy which conditioned the restructuring strategies of the groups arc identified, and these strategies are categorized on the basis of this analysis and of the hypotheses put forward in the introductory section.
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Restructuring of production and territorial change: A second industrialization hub in Northern Mexico
Authors: Tito Alegría, Jorge Carrillo and Jorge Alonso EstradaThis article takes the view that the restructuring of industry in Mexico is taking place in two different territorial environments which, to some extent, have independent development paths: on the one hand, there is the territorial environment shaped in accordance with the logic of northern border industrialization, while on the other hand there is the territorial environment of the industries set up during the import substitution industrialization phase, concentrated in the metropolitan areas of Central Mexico. In the authors’ opinion, these arc parallel but different industrialization paths, with different processes and forms of social organization of production in their territories: consequently, in order to understand the true significance of the restructuring of production it is necessary to study the logic of the industrial sectors and that of the territory simultaneously, since the course of events with regard to industrial restructuring is strongly affected by regional and local dynamics.
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