The Political Economy of Statistical Capacity in Latin America
The Political Economy of Statistical Capacity in Latin America

Author: Eduardo Dargent

Publisher: Inter-American Development Bank

Published: 2018-05-21

Total Pages: 117

ISBN-13: 1597823201

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Why is there a disparity in the levels of technical and institutional capacity of national statistical offices (NSOs) in the Latin American and Caribbean region? There is a consensus about the importance of having up-to-date and quality official statistics. The data from censuses, household surveys, and administrative records are an essential input for decision-making, and for the design, implementation, and evaluation of public policies in a country. However, this recognition of the value of statistics does not necessarily translate into greater support for the institutions responsible for their production. To understand the disparity in the capacity of NSOs, the publication provides an innovative approach: it uses the theoretical framework of the study of State capacity, and it develops a methodological framework to compare the political economy factors that influence statistical capacity, through case studies in ten countries of the region: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, and Peru. Additionally, the publication offers a series of recommendations to strengthen the capacity of NSOs in the region, which include the implementation of institutional reforms to modernize the legal frameworks that govern NSOs in order to grant them more autonomy and allow them to assume a coordinating role of the national statistical system; the greater use of administrative records; the promotion of a dialogue between the NSOs and the community of data users; the establishment of links with non-governmental and international actors; and adherence to international standards and best practices for the production and dissemination of official statistics.

Progress, Poverty and Exclusion
Progress, Poverty and Exclusion

Author: Rosemary Thorp

Publisher: IDB

Published: 1998

Total Pages: 390

ISBN-13: 9781886938359

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A comprehensive Statistical Appendix provides regional and country-by-country data in such areas as GDP, manufacturing, sector productivity, prices, trade, income distribution and living standards."--BOOK JACKET.

Privatization in Latin America
Privatization in Latin America

Author: World Bank

Publisher: World Bank

Published: 2005

Total Pages: 506

ISBN-13: 9780821358825

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This publication examines the empirical evidence on the privatisation measures introduced in the Latin American region since the 1980s, in light of recent criticisms of the record of privatisation and allegations of corruption, abuse of market power and neglect of the poor. It includes case studies on the privatisation debate in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and Peru; and sets out recommendations for future reforms.

Globalizing Patient Capital
Globalizing Patient Capital

Author: Stephen B. Kaplan

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2021-07-15

Total Pages: 411

ISBN-13: 110718231X

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Examines China's overseas financial investments in the developing world, and its impact on national economic policymaking in the Americas.

Continuity Despite Change
Continuity Despite Change

Author: Matthew E. Carnes

Publisher: Stanford University Press

Published: 2014-08-13

Total Pages: 256

ISBN-13: 0804792429

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As the dust settles on nearly three decades of economic reform in Latin America, one of the most fundamental economic policy areas has changed far less than expected: labor regulation. To date, Latin America's labor laws remain both rigidly protective and remarkably diverse. Continuity Despite Change develops a new theoretical framework for understanding labor laws and their change through time, beginning by conceptualizing labor laws as comprehensive systems or "regimes." In this context, Matthew Carnes demonstrates that the reform measures introduced in the 1980s and 1990s have only marginally modified the labor laws from decades earlier. To explain this continuity, he argues that labor law development is constrained by long-term economic conditions and labor market institutions. He points specifically to two key factors—the distribution of worker skill levels and the organizational capacity of workers. Carnes presents cross-national statistical evidence from the eighteen major Latin American economies to show that the theory holds for the decades from the 1980s to the 2000s, a period in which many countries grappled with proposed changes to their labor laws. He then offers theoretically grounded narratives to explain the different labor law configurations and reform paths of Chile, Peru, and Argentina. His findings push for a rethinking of the impact of globalization on labor regulation, as economic and political institutions governing labor have proven to be more resilient than earlier studies have suggested.

The Political Economy of the Welfare State in Latin America
The Political Economy of the Welfare State in Latin America

Author: Alex Segura-Ubiergo

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2007-06-25

Total Pages: 25

ISBN-13: 1139464612

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This book is one of the first attempts to analyze how developing countries through the early twenty-first century have established systems of social protection, and how these systems have been affected by the processes of globalization and democratization. The book focuses on Latin America to identify factors associated with the evolution of welfare state policies during the pre-globalization period prior to 1979, whilst studying how globalization and democratization have affected governments' fiscal commitment to social spending. In contrast with the Western European experience, more developed welfare systems evolved in countries relatively closed to international trade, while the recent process of globalization that has swept the region has put substantial downward pressure on social security expenditures. Health and education spending has been relatively protected from greater exposure to international markets and has actually increased substantially with the shift to democracy.

Political economy of national agricultural statistics: The case of Niger
Political economy of national agricultural statistics: The case of Niger

Author: Benin, Samuel

Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst

Published: 2020-05-13

Total Pages: 29

ISBN-13:

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This paper conducts a political economy analysis to understand the factors that affect provision of and access to reliable agricultural statistics and data systems in Niger. A conceptual framework that identifies selected political economy aspects including political will, transparency and accountability, state capacity, and international commitments is developed. The predictions of the framework are tested using information collected through informal and formal interviews with professionals and staff of different institutions and organizations that provide or use agricultural statistics to analyze how different components of agricultural statistics and the underlying capacity and systems are differentially influenced by various political-economy factors. Implications for Niger and at the global level for developing an effective strategy to improve agricultural statistics and data (availability, quantity, and quality) that go beyond technological and methodological fixes are drawn.