Latin America and the Caribbean does not have the infrastructure it needs, or deserves, given its income. Many argue that the solution is to spend more; by contrast, this report has one main message: Latin America can dramatically narrow its infrastructure service gap by spending efficiently on the right things.

Why should people - and economies - save? This book on the savings problem in Latin America and the Caribbean suggests that, while saving to survive the bad times is important, saving to thrive in the good times is what really counts. People must save to invest in health and education, live productive and fulfilling lives, and make the most of their retirement years. Firms must save to grow their enterprises, employ more workers in better jobs, and produce quality goods. Governments must s...

This book analyzes recent labor market trends in Latin American countries and the factors that underlie the failure to create more and more productive and rewarding jobs, a failure with substantial political and social costs. The authors analyze how growth and job creation in the region's economies compare with other emerging countries, the impact of job creation and destruction on productivity growth and the creation of "good" jobs, and the relative importance and role of labor market p...

90 miles off the coast of Florida a new revolution is afoot. This time instead of guerillas marching through the streets of Havana, it is a global economy that will revolutionize Cuba. Now open to the world, how will this nascent economy develop?Open for Business: The Cuban Economy after Castro, Richard Feinberg’s new book, examines the Cuban economy from its long held and outdated economic model to its early steps into developing a dynamic market economy. He examines key ...

Did you know this?In 2006, U.S. exporters shipped four and a half times as much product to Latin America as to China.Latin America has more than 500 million consumers ready to buy U.S. manufactured goods.Now is the time to enter this emerging new market-but doing business in Latin America is not always easy.In An American's Guide to Doing Business in Latin America, author and international trade expert Lawrence W. Tuller shows you how...

Since 1980, China has evolved from a poor and mostly rural society into one of the largest economies in the world. As it grew into a major industrial power, it demanded enormous amounts of steel for new factories and cities, copper for electronic wires, petroleum for cars and manufacturing plants, and soybeans and cattle to feed its workers. By the 1990s, many Latin American countries were riding China's coattails and beginning to prosper from the new demand. Ever since China entered the W...

This Peru Country Program Evaluation for the World Bank Group 2003-2009 is part of IEG?s country program evaluation series. To date IEG?s in-depth country evaluations have comprised IEG-WB Country Assistance Evaluations (CAEs) and IEG-IFC Country Impact Reviews (CIRs). Both the CAEs and CIRs have involved comprehensive evaluations of the respective institutions? activities in a country. In a pilot approach this evaluation was prepared by a single IEG team that looked at development interventi...

Strong growth and remarkable social progress over the past two decades have made Brazil one of the world’s leading economies, despite the deep recession that the economy is now emerging from. However, inequality remains high and fiscal accounts have deteriorated substantially, calling for wide-ranging reforms to sustain progress on inclusive growth. A better focus of social expenditures towards the poor would reduce inequality and ensure sustainability of public debt at the same time. This...

The book presents contributions from Brazilian experts on the regulation of different energy sources. Focusing on describing and discussing the fundamental issues related to the legal regulation of each of the sources that compose Brazil's energy matrix, it also analyzes economic and strategic aspects and identifies the main current problems related to the exploration for and production of each energy source. The book offers a clear and detailed overview of energy law and regulation for po...

Winning: Management Lessons Outside the Classroom contains profiles of Management Association of the Philippines Management Man of the Year (MAP-MMY) awardees, exceptional Filipino managers who have served as an inspiration and role model for their respective clients and employees as well as fellow managers. Through their example, wisdom, hard work, and their emphasis on the importance of their people, these distinguished, influential executives have led and helped their people in thriving...

The importance of moving toward high-quality, global standards of accounting and auditing has never been clearer. In the midst of the global financial and economic crisis, the leaders of the Group of 20 met and issued their "Declaration on Strengthening the Financial System," placing significant emphasis on sound accounting and auditing standards as a critical piece of the international financial architecture.Transparent and reliable corporate financial reporting underpins much of the Latin A...

The wave of liberalization that swept world markets in the 1980s and 90s altered the ways that governments manage their economies. Reinventing State Capitalism analyzes the rise of new species of state capitalism in which governments interact with private investors either as majority or minority shareholders in publicly-traded corporations or as financial backers of purely private firms (the so-called “national champions”). Focusing on a detailed quantitative assessment of Brazil’...