Structured Finance in Latin America explores how structured finance mechanisms can channel pension savings to support projects in underserved sectors, deepen capital markets, and contribute to investment and economic growth. Private pension funds have been accumulating assets rapidly in the wake of pension system reforms in many Latin American countries. Strict investment regulations to protect workers' savings have limited their investment in highly creditworthy domestic securities, yet pension fund demand for new securities has outstripped issuance of eligible traditional corporate debt instruments. This has contributed to a high concentration of pension fund assets in public debt. Innovative structured finance mechanisms can help bring to the market a new set of creditworthy securities backed by pools of loans to small borrowers, mortgage loans or the expected proceeds of large infrastructure projects. These mechanisms create new investment opportunities for pension funds, while establishing additional sources of funding for underserved market segments. Policy makers and regulatory authorities have a catalytic role to play in the development of structured finance securities by establishing a conducive legal, regulatory, and tax framework. Structured Finance in Latin America serves as a practical guide for development practitioners, policy makers, and others working in government, international or nongovernmental organizations, and financial institutions, who focus on finance and investment; infrastructure, transport, and urban development; housing finance; small and medium-sized enterprise development; and pension reform.

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Encroaching work demands—coupled with domestic chores, overbooked schedules, and the incessant pinging of our devices—have taken a toll on what used to be our free time: the weekend. With no space to tune out and recharge, every aspect of our lives is suffering: our health is deteriorating, our social networks (the face-to-face kind) are dissolving, and our productivity is down. The notion of working less and living more, once considered an American virtue, has given way to the belief that you must be “on” 24/7. Award-winning journalist Katrina Onstad, pushes back against this all-work, no-fun ethos. Tired of suffering from Sunday night letdown, she digs into the history, positive psychology, and cultural anthropology of the great missing weekend and how we can revive it. Onstad follows the trail of people, companies, and countries who are vigilantly protecting their time off for joy, adventure, and most important, purpose. Filled with personal and professional inspiration, The Weekend Effect is a thoughtful, well-researched argument to take back those precious 48 hours, and ultimately, to save ourselves.

In an efficient market, all stocks should be valued at a price that is consistent with available information. But as financial expert Singal points out, there are circumstances under which certain stocks sell at a price higher or lower than the right price. Here he discusses ten such anomalous prices and shows how investors might--or might not--be able to exploit these situations for profit.

This report reflects long-term, in-depth discussion and debate by participants in the Latin American Roundtable on Corporate Governance.

The Efficient Market Hypothesis believes that it is impossible for an investor to outperform the market because all available information is already built into stock prices. However, some anomalies could persist in stock markets while some other anomalies could appear, disappear and re-appear again without any warning. A Special Issue on "Efficiency and Anomalies in Stock Markets" will be devoted to advancements in the theoretical development of market efficiency and anomaly in the Stock Market, as well as applications in Stock Market efficiency and anomalies.