The topics covered in the chapters of the report were presented and discussed in a conference organized by the IDB in Port of Spain on July 13th, 2004. After more than a decade of economic growth and despite encouraging prospects for the future, the Trinidad and Tobagp economy remains overly...

Revitalizing the Jamaican Economy: Policies for Sustained Growth aims to improve our understanding of the constraints to social and economic development in Jamaica. It also proposes practical solutions to overcome some of those problems. This book is a collection of studies commissioned by the...

This paper analyzes the aggregate effects of a revenue neutral fiscal-cum-social policy reform in a typical developing country that consists of two main changes: (1) the implementation of universal social insurance to replace the current dual social protection system (i.e., a reconfiguration of...

This working paper advances research on inequality with unique, new data on income distribution in 61 countries, including 20 Latin American countries, to explore the effects of political parties on redistribution. First, consistent with a central, but still contested, assumption of the...

This working paper empirically documents the size of (2) in the rural sector and investigates its consequences for rural development (agricultural growth, patterns of growth and rural poverty) for ten Latin American countries over 1985-2000. The paper provides econometric evidence suggesting...

This technical note discusses the civil servant pension system in Brazil over the past two decades. Since 1998 the Brazilian government has been implementing reforms to increase the financial sustainability of its pension schemes - seeking to contain pension deficits without hurting acquired...

This presentation provides a summary of the mission and lending portfolios of key development institutions in the Latin American and Caribbean region, including the Andean Finance Corporation (CAF), Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI), Financial Fund for the Development of the...

This technical note will examine the development of the fuel ethanol industry in the United States, biodiesel in the European Union, and fuel ethanol and biodiesel in Brazil, in an effort to understand how the biofuel industry has developed in these regions. It will also evaluate the enabling...

High government debts, weak economic growth, vulnerability to external shocks and the design of sound fiscal consolidation strategies are among the most critical issues that some of the Caribbean countries have currently to deal with. Stabilization programs may harm economic growth but, under...

This study performs an up-to-date diagnostic of the Brazilian tax system in order to provide a basis for reform discussions among technical analysts, authorities and congressmen. It is based on the analysis and categorization of information on taxation in Brazil. Its focus is on the current...