Smart News & Research for Latin America's Changemakers
As the tragicomedy of the 2015-2016 election season plays out, falsehoods, hyperbole and mean-spirited attacks among contenders will proliferate. The issue of trade (along with illegal immigration) will be the proverbial whipping boy in this contest. While the contenders choose not to be fully informed of the facts, there is no excuse for individual citizens not to be.
In a series of posts—this our first—we will assess whether it is not only desirable but also possible that the two divergent trade blocs of Pacific Alliance and MERCOSUR in Latin America can converge as Chile is now pushing. Or is this just another exercise in empty political posturing?
In the final stages of the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations, the U.S. is still pushing for the elimination of safeguards to regulate capital inflows and capital flight. Those controls have mitigated past crises and prevent others in economies that for decades have been buffeted by financial instability.
In 2013, Uruguay became the first country in the world to legalize the possession, cultivation and distribution of marijuana. The bold move unlocked the discussion on drug policy reform in the Americas. But is it working in its purported objectives in reducing violence, illegality and health risks?
Latin America invests about 2% of GDP on infrastructure. Between 1992 and 2011 China invested an average of 8.5% of GDP in infrastructure per year. Given the demonstrated effects of infrastructure on development and poverty reduction, it’s time for the region to make a concerted effort to attract foreign investors.
India is looking to adopt Latin America’s famous and popular conditional cash transfer (CCT) programs. But are they transferable to a country of 1.2 billion people, in which 363 million of them live below the poverty line, 260 million live in rural areas?
A snapshot of the World Bank’s data on financial inclusion in Latin America.
When analyzing Latin America, it is high time we stopped using the imagery of a “pink tide” and stop depicting the region in “good lefts” or “bad lefts.” Despite the rhetoric we often hear from politicians and pundits alike, with few exceptions we are entering an era of pragmatism and centrism.
Today we have a real opportunity to assess how southern regionalism become political spaces where policies are redefined and the norms of global political economy can be renegotiated.
Si bien la gente aparece molesta con los escándalos de corrupción, estos escándalos no son peores que otros problemas de tráfico de influencias y conflictos de interés que surgieron en años recientes. La diferencia ahora está en que la economía ya no crece.