The signing of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was expected to signal the beginning of a new era of close co-operation between Mexico and the United States. Subsequent events, however, have introduced new tensions into the relationship. The 1995 economic collapse in Mexico sharply curtailed economic growth and lowered the demand for U.S. exports. The result has been a substantial deficit in U.S. trade with Mexico and renewed arguments that trade with Mexico reduces the employment opportunities of low-skilled workers in the United States. Immigration, both legal and illegal,...
The signing of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was expected to signal the beginning of a new era of close co-operation between Mexico ...
Many of the rules that govern labor markets in Latin America (and elsewhere) raise labor costs, create barriers to entry, and introduce rigidities in the employment structure. These include the exceedingly restrictive regulations on hiring and firing practices, as well as burdensome social insurance schemes. Such labor market regulations contribute to an over-expansion of precarious forms of employment and to rural poverty, and hinder countries from responding rapidly to new challenges from increased foreign competition.
At the same time, other norms can reduce costs and raise...
Many of the rules that govern labor markets in Latin America (and elsewhere) raise labor costs, create barriers to entry, and introduce rigidities ...
This study features six essays which review the available literature on the effects of NAFTA on growth, employment, income distribution, specific industries, and agriculture in the three countries, as well as the implications for the world trading system and non-NAFTA countries.
This study features six essays which review the available literature on the effects of NAFTA on growth, employment, income distribution, specific indu...
Concern about the pervasiveness of poverty and income inequality in Latin America goes beyond the issue of social justice. The persistence of mass poverty and inequality pits different social groups against one another and leads to a polarization that makes consistent economic policy formation difficult. National productivity may also suffer in economies with poorly educated workforces lacking adequate health care. Statistics on poverty and inequality in Latin America are rudimentary and often conflicting. Yet it is known that poverty became more widespread in the region during the last...
Concern about the pervasiveness of poverty and income inequality in Latin America goes beyond the issue of social justice. The persistence of mass pov...
Today Mexico is viewed as a success story in the management of economic adjustment and structural reform. Inflation is under control, capital and foreign investment are returning, and out growth has increased. Mexico's recovery, however, has been neither smooth nor rapid. In mid-1982, Mexico was in deep economic crisis compounded by an unfavorable international environment. Mexico was saddled with a large foreign debt, world interest rates were high, commercial banks had stopped lending, and the price for oil was dropping. Conditions at home were no better with rampant inflation, increasing...
Today Mexico is viewed as a success story in the management of economic adjustment and structural reform. Inflation is under control, capital and fore...
The poor in developing countries are particularly vulnerable to adverse shocks. They have little or no access to public social insurance, are unlikely to save in adequate amounts to rely fully on self-insurance or informal insurance, face restricted access to private market insurance or credit mechanisms, and have little or no political voice to demand the protection of safety net programs. In this book, the authors analyze the best ways to help the poor manage risks such as health shocks, unemployment, sudden drops in income, and old age. Unemployment benefits, employment programs,...
The poor in developing countries are particularly vulnerable to adverse shocks. They have little or no access to public social insurance, are unlik...
Nora Lustig Franois Bourguignon Francisco H. G. Ferreira
Economists have had much to say about what causes aggregate economic growth, but they have been more reticent about the distributional dimension of that growth. To understand development and the process of poverty reduction requires understanding not only how total income grows, but also how its distribution behaves over time. 'The Microeconomics of Income Distribution Dynamics in East Asia and Latin America' is a major new contribution to that process. The authors propose a decomposition of differences in entire distributions of household incomes, shedding new light on the powerful, and...
Economists have had much to say about what causes aggregate economic growth, but they have been more reticent about the distributional dimension of th...
Poverty reduction challenges in the twenty-first century are not the same as those from the previous century. The shift is due in no small part to climate change and climate-related weather disasters, such as extreme flood and drought. The magnitude and frequency of such events are only expected to increase in the coming decades, affecting more and more impoverished people across the globe. Poverty Reduction in a Changing Climate, edited by Hari Bansha Dulal, is a work which discusses the new innovations and funding mechanisms which have emerged in response to the rise of climate-related...
Poverty reduction challenges in the twenty-first century are not the same as those from the previous century. The shift is due in no small part to cli...
Presents country studies that apply comprehensive and comparable fiscal incidence analysis using the Commitment to Equity approach to examine how taxation and public expenditures affect income inequality and poverty.
Presents country studies that apply comprehensive and comparable fiscal incidence analysis using the Commitment to Equity approach to examine how taxa...
