Why are growth rates in Latin America so disappointing? This book reviews the results of an ambitious research project to determine the binding constraints to growth, that is, the barrier whose removal would yield the greatest benefit in terms of growth. Included are case studies from seven...

Why are growth rates in Latin America so disappointing? This book reviews the results of an ambitious research project to determine the binding constraints to growth, that is, the barrier whose removal would yield the greatest benefit in terms of growth. Included are case studies from seven...

This presentation discusses the effects of the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) on foreign direct investment (FDI). In particular, the inflow of FDI from the United States and Canada towards Latin American countries is discussed along with an analysis of the role of regional integration...

This paper estimates the impact of the enforcement of core labor standards on FDI in the region and contains the following: 1) Introduction; 2) Survey of the literature on the determinants of FDI: theoretical models, empirical estimation of the determinants of FDI, and the few studies that have...

In this paper, the authors discuss in detail a number of channels through which RIA could affect the location of FDI. In addition to clarifying the main effects at play, this conceptual discussion should help lay down a roadmap for the empirical exercises that follow. First, a brief stylized...

In the first eight decades of the 20th century, Brazil ranked among the countries with highest growth rates in the world. During the period 1930-80, in particular, it managed to reduce its per capita income gap vis-à-vis industrialized economies and seemed poised to escape underdevelopment...

Although financial development is good for long-term growth, not all countries pursue policies that render full financial development. This paper builds on an extensive political economy literature to construct a theoretical model showing that the intensity of opposition to financial development...

This paper investigates the relevance of business saving for private saving and investment around the world by constructing and exploiting a broad international, unbalanced panel of 64 countries over 1990-2012. The paper shows that businesses are the main contributors to private and national...

This paper estimates the impact of relative price volatility on sector-level investment allocation using a panel of 65 countries with data for 26 manufacturing industries over the period 1985-2003. Results indicate that volatility distorts efficient investment allocation in that investment is...

This paper proposes a new taxonomy of Sudden Stops comprised of seven categories with definitions depending on the behavior of gross and net capital flows. The incidence of different types of Sudden Stops is tracked over time and the type of Sudden Stop related to economic performance. Sudden...