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131. Macroeconomic and Welfare Effects of Public Infrastructure Investment in Five Latin American Countries

Author:
Carlos Gustavo Machicado
Publication Date:
12-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Institute for Advanced Development Studies (INESAD)
Abstract:
It has been widely documented that investment in infrastructure is important for economic growth, but little work has been done in relation to the impact of infrastructure investment among other macroeconomic variables. This paper develops a Dynamic Stochastic General Equilibrium (DSGE) model of a small open economy to study the effects of public investment in infrastructure on output, consumption, private investment, trade balance and welfare. The model is parameterized and solved for five representative countries from The Initiative for the Integration of Regional Infrastructure in South America (IIRSA), which include: Bolivia, Chile, Brazil, Venezuela and Argentina. I also analyze the growth effects on GDP by increasing or decreasing the effectiveness index of infrastructure in each of these countries. Naturally output will grow at a larger rate, if infrastructure is handled with greater efficiency.
Topic:
Infrastructure, Economic Growth, Macroeconomics, Welfare, and Public Investment
Political Geography:
Brazil, Argentina, Latin America, Venezuela, Chile, and Bolivia

132. Latin American Catholicism in an Age of Religious and Political Pluralism: A Framework for Analysis

Author:
Frances Hagopian
Publication Date:
12-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Kellogg Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
This article identifies and proposes a framework to explain the responses of Latin America's Roman Catholic churches to a new strategic dilemma posed by religious and political pluralism. Because the church's goals of defending institutional interests, evangelizing, promoting public morality, and grounding public policy in Catholic social teaching cut across existing political cleavages, Church leaders must make strategic choices about which to emphasize in their messages to the faithful, investment of pastoral resources, and alliances. I develop a typology of Episcopal responses based on the cases of Argentina, Chile, Brazil, and Mexico, and explain strategic choices by the church's capacity to mobilize civil society, its degree of religious hegemony, and the ideological orientations of Catholics. The analysis draws from 620 Episcopal documents issued since 2000.
Topic:
Development, Government, and Religion
Political Geography:
Brazil, Argentina, South America, Latin America, Mexico, and Chile

133. Development in Chile 1990-2005: Lessons from a Positive Experience

Author:
lvaro Garca Hurtado
Publication Date:
02-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
United Nations University
Abstract:
Chile, in the last 15 years, has shown remarkable results in terms of growth, poverty reduction and democratic governance. This pa per reviews the structural changes that were behind these positive outcomes, as well as the pending challenges for Chile's development. Also shows that Chile did better in terms of growth than social integration and that this is related to the weak representation and participation of a wide majority in the national debate and decision making process. It also draws conclusions valid for other Latin American countries' development.
Topic:
International Relations, Development, and Economics
Political Geography:
South America and Chile

134. ¿Hacia una comunidad regional de seguridad? Las Fuerzas Armadas en la percepción de las elites parlamentarias en Argentina, Chile, Brasil, Uruguay y Paraguay

Author:
Ruth Fuchs
Publication Date:
07-2005
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
German Institute of Global and Area Studies
Abstract:
El presente trabajo analiza, desde una perspectiva comparada, las percepciones de las elites parlamentarias de los países miembros del MERCOSUR respecto a las Fuerzas Armadas y a cuestiones de seguridad y defensa. Ante la creciente cooperación en materia de seguridad, se indaga en el plano de los valores y convicciones de las elites políticas para buscar indicios relacionados con el desarrollo de una comunidad regional de seguridad en el sur de América Latina. A partir de los resultados de dos proyectos de investigación empírica sobre los sectores parlamentarios, el artículo identifica semejanzas y discrepancias entre las percepciones de los diputados y senadores de Argentina, Brasil, Chile, Paraguay y Uruguay, y discute las posibles consecuencias con miras a una profundización de la cooperación en materia de seguridad.
Topic:
Security, Defense Policy, Civil Society, and Government
Political Geography:
Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Latin America, Chile, and Paraguay

135. Prospects for Regional Free Trade in Asia

Author:
Gary Clyde Hufbauer and Yee Wong
Publication Date:
10-2005
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE)
Abstract:
Frustrated with lackluster momentum in the WTO Doha Round and the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, and mindful of free trade agreement (FTA) networks centered on the United States and Europe, Asian countries have joined the FTA game. By 2005, Asian countries (excluding China) had ratified 14 bilateral and regional FTAs and had negotiated but not implemented another seven. Asian nations are also actively negotiating some 23 bilateral and regional FTAs, many with non-Asian partners, including Australia, Canada, Chile, the European Union, India, and Qatar. China has been particularly active since 2000. It has completed three bilateral FTAs—Thailand in 2003 and Hong Kong and Macao in 2004—and is initiating another 17 bilateral and regional FTAs. However, a regional Asian economic bloc led by China seems distant, even though China accounts for about 30 percent of regional GDP. As in Europe and the Western Hemisphere, many Asian countries are pursuing FTAs with countries outside the region. On present evidence, the FTA process embraced with some enthusiasm in Asia, Europe, and the Western Hemisphere more closely resembles fingers reaching idiosycratically around the globe rather than politico-economic blocs centered respectively on Beijing, Brussels, and Washington.
Topic:
Economics, International Trade and Finance, and Regional Cooperation
Political Geography:
United States, China, Europe, Washington, Canada, India, Beijing, Asia, Australia, Qatar, Chile, Hong Kong, Brussels, and Macao

136. The South Korea-Chile Free Trade Agreement: Implications for Regional Economic Integration in East Asia

Author:
Youngshik D. Bong and Heoun Joo Jung
Publication Date:
03-2005
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
International Journal of Korean Studies
Institution:
International Council on Korean Studies
Abstract:
Regionalism has surfaced as one of the focal points in international relations in the new millennium. There has been a dramatic increase in the creation of new regional trading agreements (RTAs) in the past decade. By early 2004, the number of RTAs submitted to the World Trade Organization (WTO) has doubled in the past decade. More than 273 agreements have been negotiated, 190 of which have come into force.
Political Geography:
East Asia, South Korea, and Chile

137. The Middle East and Religious Fundamentalism as a Source of Identity-Based Conflicts

Author:
Dan Tschirgi
Publication Date:
12-2005
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Institution:
Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Abstract:
An understanding of religious fundamentalism as a source of conflict in the Middle East is significantly furthered by examining "asymmetrical threats" in other areas. This article suggests that a particular form of asymmetrical conflict ("Marginalized Violent Internal Conflict"[MVIC]) was proliferating well before September 11, 2001, and that examples appeared in Mexico and Egypt, as well as possibly in Nigeria, Chile and the Philippines. Arguing that the "War on Terrorism" may be the result of MVIC having been raised to the level of Marginalized Violent International Conflict, the author examines policy implications raised by the goal of global security.
Topic:
War
Political Geography:
Middle East, Philippines, Egypt, Mexico, Nigeria, and Chile

138. Why Is the World Bank Still Lending?

Author:
Adam Lerrick
Publication Date:
11-2005
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
Abstract:
World Bank money is building schools in China's impoverished western provinces, but the bill for interest charges is being mailed to the United Kingdom, attention Chancellor of Exchequer Gordon Brown. Mexico, Chile, and Brazil will soon be lining up for the same deal. This is but the latest scheme designed to preserve the World Bank's lending role at a time when the need and demand for its services are falling. Major middle-income countries, the cream of the bank's lending portfolio and where more than 80 percent of Latin Americans live, are curbing their borrowing and paying down their balances, setting off alarms at the bank. Net loan flows have shifted from a positive $10 billion in 1999–2001, to a negative $15 billion in 2002–2004.
Topic:
Debt, Development, Economics, and Third World
Political Geography:
China, United Kingdom, Brazil, Latin America, Mexico, and Chile

139. ¿Crisis en el Sindicalismo en América Latina?

Author:
Francisco Zapata
Publication Date:
01-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Kellogg Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
Economic adjustment policies, trade liberalization, privatization of State enterprise and transformation of labor markets and labor market institutions relate to a process of transition between a model of import substitution industrialization and a "new economic model" characterized by the transnationalization of Latin American internal markets. All these elements contribute to change the premises of the organization of unions and to weaken their role in the negotiation of salaries and working conditions, their intervention in the regulation of employment and their participation in the administration of social security and health benefits. On the basis of the cases of Brazil, Chile and Mexico, the presentation will provide a context in which to pose the question of the crisis of Latin American labor and examine some of the alternatives that are available for trade unions in the new economic conditions.
Topic:
Industrial Policy and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:
Brazil, South America, Central America, North America, Mexico, and Chile

140. Economic Survey of Chile, 2003

Publication Date:
11-2003
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Abstract:
A stable institutional framework in Chile has provided the foundations for growth and confidence of international markets. While a comprehensive social agenda is putting pressure on resources under the recent economic slow-down, the Chilean government should be praised for having maintained a sound fiscal and monetary stance and building on its unique institutional framework based on the freedom of choice. The current challenges are to strengthen the coherence of this development policy agenda with a vision to long-term growth and broader social consensus. Chile is a small open economy, for which international competitiveness is the cornerstone for sustainable growth. The latter is the outcome of the multiple policy synergies discussed above. The first important link is to continue preserving a sound macroeconomic framework avoiding distortions that may produce excessive real exchange rate appreciation, which could hinder the incentives to invest and expand employment in the tradable sector. The deepening of financial intermediation and development of risk capital are needed to support the emergence of new and more innovative firms. A better functioning of the labour market is critical to the development of the enterprise sector. In particular increased female labour participation would support the development of light industries and services. Investment in human capital, in particular education and workers' training, is needed to develop products with a higher technological content. The administrative conditions and regulation of product markets should also be improved, notably by reducing administrative barriers to enterprise creation and removing distortions in the tax treatment of cross-border interenterprise financial flows. These policy link-ages would help increase product variety and intra-industry trade that could contribute to reduce the vulnerabilities associated with an excessive reliance on natural resources and export concentration. In all these areas of reform, Chile is now in a position to emulate and converge towards the more advanced benchmark of OECD countries.
Topic:
Agriculture, Economics, Environment, Human Rights, International Organization, and Political Economy
Political Geography:
Chile