There is a large and extensive literature examining the strength of agglomeration economies and, more generally, the determinants of spatial variations in productivity for developed countries. However, the corresponding literature for developing countries is comparatively scant. This paper...

After a growth recovery, with an expansion of 1.1 percent in 2017, the region has encountered somebumps in the road. The Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) region is expected to grow at a modest rateof 0.6 percent in 2018 and 1.6 percent in 2019. This slowdown in the region's recovery is...

The objective of this paper is to study the evolution of the incidence and profile of nonstandard workers in selected countries in Latin America and the Caribbean and Europe and Central Asia in the past two decades. The analysis of the profile of this group of workers focuses on three key...

Inequality of opportunity : what it is, how it can be measured, and why it matters -- A human opportunity index for children -- Uses and policy applications of the human opportunity index -- Inequality of economic opportunity in seven Latin American countries -- Inequality of opportunity in...

After a growth slowdown that lasted six years, the Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) region has finally turned the corner and resumed growth at a modest rate of 1.1 percent in 2017 and 1.8 percent expected in 2018. This reflects a more favorable external environment, particularly a recovery...

While adoption of new technologies is understood to enhance long-term growth and average per-capita incomes, its impact on lower-skilled workers is more complex and merits clarification. Concerns abound that advanced technologies developed in high-income countries would inexorably lead to job...

After mediocre growth in 2018 of 0.7 percent. LAC is expected to perform only marginally better in 2019(growth of 0.9 percent) followed by a much more solid growth of 2.1 percent in 2020. LAC will face bothinternal and external challenges during 2019. On the domestic front. the recession in...

Policy makers in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) often complain that poor fiscal performance in their countries is a result of a high degree of spending rigidity. Despite being a common complaint, the issue has remained largely ignored by the literature because of the lack of adequate...

Following the collapse of commodity prices in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) in 2014-15, many countries in the region were unable to cushion the impact of the shock in order to experience a more gradual adjustment, to a large extent because they had not built adequate fiscal buffers...