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Book Economic Reforms and Total Factor Productivity Growth in Latin America and the Caribbean 1950 95

Download or read book Economic Reforms and Total Factor Productivity Growth in Latin America and the Caribbean 1950 95 written by Pablo Fajnzylber and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page 24 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On average, economic reforms in Latin America and the Caribbean have been associated with a 1.5 percent yearly increase in the growth rate of total factor productivity. But there are important differences across countries, and in some cases economic reforms have been associated with lower growth in total factor productivity.Fajnzylber and Lederman rely on a series of growth accounting exercises to determine whether the growth rate of total factor productivity (TFP) or the unexplained portion of GDP growth (after controlling for the accumulation of capital per worker) in 18 Latin American and Caribbean economies has benefited from economic reform. They use Sachs and Warner (1995) criteria to identify the years of economic reform. They apply growth decomposition analysis and econometric tests to determine whether TFP growth has been significantly higher during periods of economic reform.Although the growth decomposition analysis assumes that the capital share of output is constant across Latin American countries, the econometric estimates allow for cross-country differences. In ordinary least squares (OLS) regressions and seemingly unrelated regressions (SUR), two alternative dummy variables are used to control for the effects of business-cycle fluctuations on observed rates of TFP growth. In addition, the SUR regressions consider the possibility that Latin American economies face common shocks.Finally, panel regressions are based on five-year averages of the growth rates of GDP and capital per worker. The authors find that, on average, economic reforms have been associated with a 1.5 percent yearly increase in the rate of TFP growth. But there are important differences across countries and in some cases economic reforms have been associated with lower TFP growth.This paper - a product of the Poverty Reduction and Economic Management Sector Unit, Latin America and the Caribbean Region - is part of a larger effort in the Bank to undertake regional studies to shed light on policy-relevant issues.

Book Economic Growth in Latin America and the Caribbean

Download or read book Economic Growth in Latin America and the Caribbean written by Norman Loayza and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2005-01-01 with total page 169 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Several countries in Latin America and the Caribbean are suffering severe economic downturns and the success of market-oriented reforms is being called into question. This report seeks to contribute to the debate by examining the nature of economic growth in the region. The aim is threefold: to describe the basic characteristics of growth; explain differences across countries and to forecast changes over the next decade.

Book Economic Growth in Latin America

Download or read book Economic Growth in Latin America written by Mr.Jose De Gregorio and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 1991-07-01 with total page 57 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This paper studies growth determinants in 12 Latin American countries during the period 1950-85. In a simple growth accounting framework, the share of labor in income is found to be lower in the sample group than in developed countries, while factor productivity growth accounts for a larger proportion of growth in the fastest growing countries in the sample. Using panel data, macroeconomic stability is found to play, in addition to investment (physical and human), a crucial role in growth. To a lesser extent, growth is negatively correlated with government consumption and political instability. The terms of trade appear to have no significant effect on growth.

Book Vanishing Growth in Latin America

Download or read book Vanishing Growth in Latin America written by Andrés Solimano and published by Edward Elgar Publishing. This book was released on 2006 with total page 270 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Economic growth in Latin America and the rise of material welfare has lagged behind that of more dynamic areas of the world economy. This book aims to determine the role of economic reforms, external conditions, factor accumulation, income inequality, political instability and productivity in explaining GDP increases.

Book Growth Employment and Equity

Download or read book Growth Employment and Equity written by Barbara Stallings and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2010-12-01 with total page 271 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Brookings Institution Press and Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) publication In the last ten to fifteen years, the Latin American and Caribbean region has undergone the most significant transformation of economic policy since World War II. Through a series of structural reforms, an increasing number of countries have moved from closed, state-dominated economies to ones that are more market oriented and open to the rest of the world. Policymakers expected that these changes, in conjunction with lower rates of inflation and increased spending in the social area, would speed up economic growth, increase productivity, and lead to the creation of more jobs and greater equality. Have those expectations been fulfilled? Analyzing the impact of the reforms in nine countries (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Jamaica, Mexico, Peru), this study provides a detailed picture of progress to date. At the overall regional level, the book suggests, the reforms have had a surprisingly small impact: a small positive impact on investment and growth, and a small negative impact on employment and income distribution. But at the country, sectoral, and microeconomic levels, it finds evidence of strong effects, with some units doing very well and others falling behind.

Book The Economic Development of Latin America in the Twentieth Century

Download or read book The Economic Development of Latin America in the Twentieth Century written by André A. Hofman and published by Edward Elgar Publishing. This book was released on 2000 with total page 344 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Hofman, a researcher with the Chile-based Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, uses growth accounting methods and previously unavailable long-term series data to assess the economic performance of the region during the century from a comparative and historical perspective. In particular he compares Latin American economies to those of advanced capitalist economies, to newly industrialized economies, and to Spain and Portugal because of the historical ties. He looks at the reasons for the poor or negative growth during the 1980s and the apparent recovery in the 1990s and at such problems as debt, income inequality, high inflation, cyclical instability, and political and policy instability. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Book Long Run Economic Development in Latin America in a Comparative Perspective

Download or read book Long Run Economic Development in Latin America in a Comparative Perspective written by André A. Hofman and published by United Nations Publications. This book was released on 2001 with total page 48 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This paper describes trends in economic growth and it's causes in several Latin American countries in the 20th century. This paper stresses that the proximate causes of economic growth are not independent of the ultimate causes of growth. Proximate causes of economic growth are those areas of causality where models and quantification is possible. Ultimate causes of economic growth are much more difficult to quantify. The paper concludes with a description of some of the most important characteristics of economic development in the region.

Book Understanding the Income and Efficiency Gap in Latin America and the Caribbean

Download or read book Understanding the Income and Efficiency Gap in Latin America and the Caribbean written by Jorge Thompson Araujo and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2016-03-28 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The countries of the Latin America and Caribbean region (LAC), like other emerging economies, have benefited from a decade of remarkable growth and some income per capita convergence towards the United States and other industrialized countries. However, even nearly ten years of solid growth in the first decade of the 21st century could not guarantee that LAC would move on to a sustained long-term income convergence path. In fact, despite this recent progress, LAC still faces a significant per capita income gap with the developed world. The papers in this volume contribute to the ongoing debate on the reasons for this persistent income gap and the potential drivers of convergence, and propose some broad avenues for reform. This volume presents new macro-, sectoral-, and micro-level evidence that: (i) differences in total factor productivity (TFP), or efficiency in using the production factors, such as physical and human capital, explain a large part of LAC's persistent income gap; and (ii) resource misallocation is the main factor behind LAC's large efficiency gap. At the same time, the findings of this volume indicate there is significant room for further economic growth gains from technology adoption and innovation more broadly. In fact, the quality of the available technology in LAC is low, and there is very little innovation. Although firms can use innovation to reach productivity at the global productivity frontier, weak institutions reduce incentives to innovate. This volume also proposes that the main priorities for improving resource allocation and the incentives to innovate include: (i) enhancing market competition in key network industries (transport, financial, telecommunications, logistics, communication and distribution services); (ii) increasing labor market flexibility (including skill-mismatches and social barriers); (iii) removing informational frictions (including complex tax regimes and credit rationing); (iv) strengthening property rights; and (v) improving the rule of law.

Book Structural Reforms Productivity and Technological Change in Latin America

Download or read book Structural Reforms Productivity and Technological Change in Latin America written by Jorge M. Katz and published by United Nations Publications. This book was released on 2001 with total page 164 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the last ten to fifteen years, profound structural reforms have moved Latin America and the Caribbean from closed, state-dominated economies to ones that are more market-oriented and open. Policymakers expected that these changes would speed up growth. This book is part of a multi-year project to determine whether these expectation have been fulfilled. Focusing on technological change, the impact of the reforms on the process of innovation is examined. It notes that the development process is proving to be highly heterogenous across industries, regions and firms and can be described as strongly inequitable. This differentiation that has emerged has implications for job creation, trade balance, and the role of small and medium sized firms. This ultimately suggests, amongst other things, the need for policies to better spread the use of new technologies.

Book Firm Innovation and Productivity in Latin America and the Caribbean

Download or read book Firm Innovation and Productivity in Latin America and the Caribbean written by Inter-American Development Bank and published by Springer. This book was released on 2016-07-01 with total page 366 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume uses the study of firm dynamics to investigate the factors preventing faster productivity growth in Latin America and the Caribbean, pushing past the limits of traditional macroeconomic analyses. Each chapter is dedicated to an examination of a different factor affecting firm productivity - innovation, ICT usage, on-the-job-training, firm age, access to credit, and international linkages - highlighting the differences in firm characteristics, behaviors, and strategies. By showcasing this remarkable heterogeneity, this collection challenges regional policymakers to look beyond one-size-fits-all solutions and create balanced policy mixes tailored to distinct firm needs. This book is open access under a CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 IGO license.

Book Globalization and Development

Download or read book Globalization and Development written by José Antonio Ocampo and published by Stanford University Press. This book was released on 2003 with total page 238 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Globalization and Development draws upon the experiences of the Latin American and Caribbean region to provide a multidimensional assessment of the globalization process from the perspective of developing countries. Based on a study by the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), this book gives a historical overview of economic development in the region and presents both an economic and noneconomic agenda that addresses disparity, respects diversity, and fosters complementarity among regional, national, and international institutions. For orders originating outside of North America, please visit the World Bank website for a list of distributors and geographic discounts at http://publications.worldbank.org/howtoorder or e-mail [email protected].

Book The Age of Productivity

Download or read book The Age of Productivity written by Inter-American Development Bank and published by Palgrave MacMillan. This book was released on 2010-03-15 with total page 376 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Productivity, the main driver of economic prosperity, is languishing in Latin America and the Caribbean and is preventing the region from catching up with the developed world. Asking why the region is falling farther and farther behind, this book looks beyond the traditional macro explanations and digs all the way down to the industry and firm level to uncover the causes of this low productivity. It provides tools to ponder productivity growth beyond conventional aggregate analysis, focusing on the extreme heterogeneity of sectors and firms while emphasizing the importance of policies that allow high productivity firms to thrive and expand. While it certainly considers the plight of manufacturing, the book zeros in on the critical services sectors, particularly those, such as transportation and retail, with important repercussions on the rest of the economy. It challenges the argument that the region is condemned to stagnation and examines a number of policy levers that can transform the economies of the region.--Publisher's description.