Political economy scholarship suggests that private sector investment, and thus economic growth, is more likely to occur when formal institutions allow states to provide investors with credible commitments to protect property rights. This book argues that this maxim does not hold for infrastructure privatization programs. Rather, differences in firm organizational structure better explain the viability of privatization contracts in weak institutional environments. Domestic investors - or, ...

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...

Latin America suffered a profound state crisis in the 1980s, which prompted not only the wave of macroeconomic and deregulation reforms known as the Washington Consensus, but also a wide variety of institutional or "second generation" reforms. The State of State Reform in Latin America reviews and assesses the outcomes of these less studied institutional reforms. This book examines four major areas of institutional reform: a) political institutions and the state organization; b) fiscal instit...

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...

Economic Policy and Human Rights presents a powerful critique of three decades of neoliberal economic policies, assessed from the perspective of human rights norms. In doing so, it brings together two areas of thought and action that have hitherto been separate: progressive economics concerned with promoting economic justice and human development; and human rights analysis and advocacy.Focussing on in-depth comparative case studies of the USA and Mexico and looking at issues such a...

Following some historical background, this paper describes how corruption is manifested in Paraguay. The paper distinguishes between factors that explain the growth performance of Paraguay since 1960 (where corruption does not directly enter as a significant factor) and factors that explain the relative level of income of Paraguay in the past 40 or 50 years compared with other countries. It then illustrates how Paraguay's weak institutions may have led to long-term growth below its potential....

The Political Economy of Resources and Development offers a unique and multidisciplinary perspective on how the commodity boom of the mid-2000s reshaped the model of development throughout Latin America and elsewhere in the developing world. Governments increased taxes and royalties on the resource sector, the nationalization of foreign firms returned to the mainstream economic policy agenda, and public spending on social and developmental goals surged. These trends, often described as res...

Ben Ross Schneider's volume, New Order and Progress takes a thorough look at the political economy of Brazil. The distinctive perspective of the 11 chapters is historical, comparative, and theoretical. Collectively, the chapters offer sobering insight into why Brazil has not been the rising economic star of the BRIC that many predicted it would be, but also documents the gains that Brazil has made toward greater equality and stability. The book is grouped into four parts covering ...

Brazil has one of the world’s fastest growing economies and a fascinating history underpinning its evolution. This book presents an analysis of the state’s role in monetary policy, from the latter days of Portuguese rule, to the present day. Based on a variety of unknown archival sources, this study offers an alternative explanation for the rise and fall of Brazilian currencies.Monetary statecraft is a theory that accounts for the open ended, autonomous character of politics, the c...

Latin America's recent development performance calls for a multidisciplinary analytical tool kit. This handbook accordingly adopts a political-economy perspective to understand Latin American economies. This perspective is not new to the region; indeed, this volume consciously follows the approach pioneered by political economist Albert O. Hirschman a half century ago. But the nature of the political and economic processes at work in Latin America has changed dramatically since Hirschman's...

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...