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- Volume 2008, Issue 95, 2008
CEPAL Review - Volume 2008, Issue 95, 2008
Volume 2008, Issue 95, 2008
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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The emergence of Latin multinationals
Author: Javier SantisoThe corporate world has changed remarkably in the past 10 years. New multinationals are appearing in countries with emerging markets such as Brazil, India, China, South Africa and Mexico, which are not only top recipients of foreign capital, but have fast become major investors themselves. An important part of the remarkable story of emerging multinationals has been the eruption of world-class Latin multinationals (or multilatinas) from Mexico and Brazil, in particular, following the path taken by their Spanish counterparts in the 1990s. In all these cases, classical push and pull factors have been driving their emergence. But a decisive helping hand for these multilatinas over the past decade has been the declining cost of capital. This financial dimension is driving the leap from overseas sales to overseas acquisitions, a phenomenon that will be explored in this article.
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The new urban poverty: Global, regional and Argentine dynamics during the last two decades
Authors: Gabriel Kessler and María Mercedes di VirgilioThis article analyses the various dimensions of the “new poverty” which emerged during the 1980s and 1990s. It begins with a review of the definitions of the term in Europe, the United States and several Latin American countries. The case of Argentina is then examined, paying close attention to the pauperization of the middle class in that country at several points between the mid-1970s and the crisis of 2001. Structural poverty —an older phenomenon— is used as a point of reference to describe the characteristics of the new impoverishment, the adaptation strategies evolved to address it using cultural and social capital, the erosion of collective social identity and the urban dimension of pauperization. The article concludes with an analysis of the transformations experienced by the new poor since the issue was first examined, as well as the specific challenges it poses for public policy.
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Economic regulation to supplement bidding for public works contracts
Author: Eugenio Rivera UrrutiaConcessions for public works projects have enabled Chile to modernize its infrastructure; however, these arrangements have also raised certain issues that make it necessary to change the rules governing the system. The main problem has been the addition of numerous supplementary agreements to the original contracts. Under the present system, renegotiations are not conducted according to criteria of economic efficiency, and they can therefore affect public finance and lead to opportunistic behaviour, affecting the efficacy of the bidding process. A regulatory system allowing for compensation of investors when it is not feasible to put out a new tender is more consistent with economic theory and provides a better way to assess the economic value of a project that has been changed. Bidding does not replace regulation: rather, because contracts are bound to be incomplete, the two methods complement each other as mechanisms for including private investment in public projects.
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The relation between foreign-exchange and banking crises in emerging countries: Information and expectations problems
Authors: Daniel Sotelsek and Lilianne PavónThe banking system has played a key role in balance-of-payments crises in a number of emerging countries. This article reviews three types of models which analyse the different factors involved in recent foreign-exchange crises. These usually stem at least partly from balance-of-payments problems; financial vulnerability causes the currency to collapse and undermines the banking system, thus generating a vicious circle. This paper shows that financial stability is by no means guaranteed, particularly in a globalized financial system. Emerging countries have to strike a balance between economic and financial stabilization, while maintaining their share of new capital flows. Although a difficult task, this is essential for avoiding a repeat of past crisis episodes, the threat of which apparently cannot be ruled out.
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Mexico’s slow-growth paradox
Author: Carlos IbarraThis paper analyzes the problem of slow economic growth In Mexico. It decomposes the growth of output from the demand side and reveals the critical rote played by the sluggish performance of investment. Using econometric tools, it argues that this sluggishness can be explained in part by the peso’s appreciation during disinflation and its adverse impact on investment profitability. Finally, it shows that the problem has been complicated by a long-run decline in the GDP/capital ratio.
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Globalization and regional development: The economic performance of Chile’s regions, 1990-2002
Authors: Juan Carlos Ramírez J. and Iván Silva LiraCloser integration of the Chilean economy into the world economy, based primarily on use of the country’s comparative advantages, has contributed significantly to the changes observed in the performance and the relative positioning of the regions of Chile. This article examines and compares the dynamics of growth in these regions and explains their differing performance. The faster-growing regions have become integrated into the world economy thanks to their renewable and non-renewable natural resources, the development of agro-industrial exports and the presence of cities that have linkages with the global economy as providers of financial and commercial services. Growth in some of the regions has not necessarily translated into social improvements, and this demonstrates the need for explicit social policies.
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The financial protection impact of the public health system and private insurance in Brazil
Authors: Antônio M. Bós and Hugh R. WatersThis research assesses the effectiveness of the Brazilian public health system and of private insurance in Brazil in providing financial protection in health care. The determinants of catastrophic health expenditures are estimated by probit regressions with Heckman selection adjustment controlling for health-care need. Findings show that the public system provides a significant reduction (47%) in the probability of a household having catastrophic health expenditures, and that private insurance makes such expenditures more likely by 36%. Recommendations include improvements in the quantity, accessibility, quality and reliability of public providers, more appropriate provision of drugs by the public system and tighter regulation of private insurance.
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The impact of gender discrimination on poverty in Brazil
Authors: Rosycler Cristina Santos Simão and Sandro Eduardo MonsuetoThis paper analyses the effects of gender discrimination on poverty in Brazil between 1992 and 2001, using data obtained from the National Household Survey. A counterfactual distribution of per capita household income was estimated, based on a hypothetical scenario in which the labour market pays equal wages to men and women in accordance with their qualifications. The results show that, when gender discrimination is eliminated, the percentage of poor persons tends to decline by an average of 10%. Results were even more striking among the most vulnerable segments of the population, such as members of households headed by black women who lack a formal employment contract or union membership.
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Bank consolidation and credit concentration in Brazil (1995-2004)
Authors: Daniel B. de Castro Almeida and Frederico G. JaymeSince monetary stabilization in 1994, bank consolidation has been gathering pace in Brazil as part of a global concentration trend following bank deregulation processes. This article analyses the effect of bank concentration on lending in Brazil in the period 1995-2004, distinguishing two stages and estimating panel data for Brazil’s 27 federative units. The results support the hypothesis that the process of consolidation in the Brazilian banking sector has an adverse effect on lending, which mainly harms the less developed regions of the country.
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