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.

Results-based management (RBM) is a public management strategy that involves decision making based on reliable information regarding the effects of governmental actions on society. It has been adopted in various developed countries as a way of improving efficiency and effectiveness in public policy. In Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) countries, governments and public managers show increasing interest in this management strategy. Given the relative novelty of RBM in the region, however, there is scant literature on the subject. This book is intended to fill this gap in two ways. First, it seeks to describe some of the basic RBM concepts and adapt them according to regional characteristics. Second, it presents an assessment, based on studies carried out in 25 countries, of the challenges facing LAC countries and their capacity to implement results-based public management.

Publisher Description.

Shallow capital markets are a key bottleneck for private sector development in Latin America. Still, there is not a large literature on capital markets and corporate governance, or on the politics of regulatory reform and business associations, focused on this region. To help address this gap, this new book introduces private equity into the financial development debate through a Latin American lens. The author looks at the cases of Brazil, Mexico, Chile, Colombia, and Argentina. And proposes a shift in the financial development discussion from institutional explanations focused only on rules to an actor-based argument centered on the role of institutional investors, in particular pension funds .

How do households consume and spend on energy? What are the drivers of their spending and consumption patterns? How does energy consumption has evolved? What is to be expected as the region climbs the development ladder? What are the distributive implications of different energy pricing approaches? This book looks at these questions and examines which policies work in reducing energy poverty and increasing energy savings. The authors unveil the growing household demand of better quality of energy and show that to achieve more cost-effective and progressive public policies, it is necessary to strengthen the transparency and sustainability of energy pricing while having into account the consumer behavioral responses. This volume is a resource for designing energy policies based on an empirical understanding of the household’s energy needs.