The relevance of transport costs has increased as liberalization continues to reduce artificial barriers to trade. Countries need to adopt policies to `get closer` to global markets. Can improvements in infrastructure and regulation reduce transport costs? Is it worthwhile to implement policies...

Baumol (1967) showed that the rate of growth of an economy slows down if a sector has lower productivity than others and the demand between goods is inelastic. This paper points out that trade is equivalent to technological progress in the tradable sector. Therefore an open economy has higher...

(Disponible en idioma inglés únicamente) Estudios de varios países han puesto al descubierto una relación negativa entre la desigualdad del ingreso y el crecimiento económico. El problema principal que hay con los análisis de varios países es la escasa calidad de los datos sobre la...

Our review of the main proposals on international financial architecture currently under consideration gives reasons for concern that excessive emphasis on improving stability by impeding capital flows will have a deleterious development impact. Sustainable development requires initiatives...

El desempleo es uno de los fenómenos más temidos de nuestros tiempos. Pocos fenómenos económicos son reportados tan amplia y sistemáticamente por la prensa, y menos aún generan tal nivel de debate en la opinión pública. Hay razones para este nivel de interés. Los costos económicos de...

(Disponible en Inglés únicamente) La transición a una estrategia de desarrollo impulsada por el mercado en América Latina durante más de una década ha redefinido las estrategias de negocios de las empresas y ha remodelado el papel tradicional del Estado como garante del empleo, la...

This paper analyzes exchange rate policies in Chile since the 1960s. A brief overview of main policies is presented. Particular attention is paid to the two episodes of fixed-exchange rate as well as the reasons why policy makers may have arrived to those decisions. The paper also examines the...

Export Pioneers in Latin America analyzes a series of case studies of successful new export activities throughout the region to learn how pioneers jump-start a virtuous process leading to economic transformation. The cases of blueberries in Argentina, avocados in Mexico, and aircraft in Brazil...

This paper analyzes the problem of sub-national revenue mobilization in Peru and proposes several policy reforms to improve collection performance while maintaining a sound revenue structure. In particular, the paper analyzes the current revenues of regional and municipal governments and...

This paper provides a rationale for developing countries to announce future credible commitments to reduce GHG emissions even if these are not to materialize in the short run, and for domestic reasons only. A simple framework is presented in which it is shown that it may be costly for an economy...