This book is open access under a CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 IGO license. The Early Years analyzes the development of Latin American and Caribbean children and makes a compelling case for government intervention in what is instinctively a family affair. Spending on effective programs for young children is an investment that, if done well, will have very high returns, while failure to implement such programs will lower the returns on the hefty investments being made in primary, secondary, and higher education. Policies for young children belong at the core of a country's development agenda, alongside policies to develop infrastructure and strengthen institutions. However, if the services provided (or funded) by governments are to benefit children, they must be substantially better than what is currently being delivered in the region. This book offers suggestions for improving public policy in this critical area.

Productive transformation requires seizing the opportunities available and opening new ones in a competitive world. Rethinking Productive Development examines the market failures impeding transformation and the government failures that may make the policy remedies worse than the market illness. To address market failures, the authors propose a simple conceptual framework based on the scope and nature of the policy approach. They then systematically analyze country policies through this lens in key areas such as innovation, new firms, financing, human capital, and internationalization to show the power of this way of thinking. Still, the book warns that policymakers cannot be sure what the right policy interventions are and must set up a process to discover them that calls for public-private collaboration. Recognizing that the risk of capture needs to be checked and that even the best policies will fail without the technical, organizational, and political capacity to implement them, the book concludes with ideas on how to design institutions fostering the right incentives and how to grow public sector capabilities over time.

Product Description: Interest in learning how to make the most of the potential developmental benefits of remittance flows has grown worldwide. Financing the Family adds to that body of knowledge with a summary of recent research that emphasizes experimental approaches, focuses on Central America, and analyzes the impact of the recent financial crisis...read more

This book offers a step forward in finding out how the new decentralized institutional arrangements affect local economic development. In particular, it analyzes how local governments can use their increasing powers and responsibilities to improve productivity and quality of life in their territories.

Product Description: Development Connections takes stock of recent advances in what is broadly known as Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). The authors seek to discover how information and telecommunication technologies affect both the public and private sectors in Latin America and how they can optimize ICT returns to society...read more

Product Description: Age of Productivity offers a look at how the low productivity in Latin America and the Caribbean is preventing the region from catching up with the developed world. The authors look beyond the traditional macro explanations and dig all the way down to the industry and firm level to uncover the causes...read more

Product Description: Living with Debt focuses on how to manage sovereign debt safely and effectively. The report traces the history of sovereign borrowing in Latin America, releases a new data set on public debt, and analyzes the evolution of debt, highlighting the recent trend toward higher levels of domestic debt and lower external borrowing...read more

Product Description: There is a widespread perception that the structural reforms implemented in Latin America in the 1990s have failed to spur employment growth. This perception is fueled by rising unemployment, slow wage growth, rising wage inequalities and a heightened sense of economic insecurity...read more

Product Description: The spread of democracy over the past two decades in Latin America has contributed significantly to ensuring fundamental political freedom, civil liberties and human rights. Democracies in Development -- published in cooperation with the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance -- makes it clear that a legitimate and effective democracy is also essential for sustainable economic and social development...read more (view table of contents, read Amazon.com's description)

Product Description: Although regional integration initiatives have a long history in the world economy, these efforts have expanded significantly since the 1990s. In Latin America and the Caribbean, a wave of regional integration initiatives has included free trade areas, customs unions, and steps towards common markets...read more (view table of contents, read Amazon.com's description)

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Product Description: On either side of the globe, poor people often do not have access to the health services they need. Improvements in health care systems in Asia have lagged behind economic development, and progress in expanding health coverage in Latin America has been skewed across income levels...read more

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Product Description: Competing in the world economy does not automatically boost a nation's productivity and restructure its economy. Such progress requires mobilizing capital, employment, technology and knowledge. Opportunities beyond the business realm must be fully exploited to the benefit of society as a whole...read more (view table of contents, read Amazon.com's description)

Product Description: Exchange rates have been central to the course of economic development in Latin America from the heyday of import substitution to the rapid expansion of foreign debt in the 1970s, and from the debt crisis and its troubled aftermath to renewed growth and borrowing in the 1990s...read more (view table of contents, read Amazon.com's description)

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Product Description: Credit unions, the most important source of credit for microenterprises in Latin America, reach the poor in large numbers and have great potential for expansion and growth. When donor funding and subsidies began to dry up in the mid-1980s, and competition from commercial banks intensified in the 1990s, many credit unions throughout the region found themselves facing a profound crisis...read more

Product Description: This comprehensive guide is designed to help businesses and financial institutions operating in emerging markets incorporate modern risk management techniques into their decisionmaking. It looks at market, credit, operational and legal risks and proposes solutions to risk management issues as they apply specifically to emerging markets...read more (view table of contents, read Amazon.com's description)

Product Description: Latin America has one of the highest deforestation rates in the world, and its forests are exploited for the benefit of both rich and poor. In several countries of the region, current policies favor the conversion of natural forests to other uses and the establishment of tree plantations...read more (view table of contents, read Amazon.com's description)

Product Description: Privatization of infrastructure for water, electricity, transportation, and communications services has gained momentum in Latin America and the Caribbean over the past decade. Success has often depended on the extent to which countries implement the institutional and regulatory reforms essential to attract private investment...read more (view table of contents, read Amazon.com's description)