<ul> <li>Chinese Taipei; Hong Kong, China; Korea and Singapore (the East Asian Newly Industrialised Countries or NICs) have been successful in attaining income convergence with high-income countries while Latin American countries remain caught in the Middle-Income Trap.</li> <li>The East Asian NICs pursued...</li></ul>

<ul> <li>There is no unique model of reform for infrastructure that is equally applicable to all countries.</li> <li>Fixed-line privatisation has often failed due to weak economic and institutional endowments.</li> <li>Governments and International Financial Institutions (IFIs) should consider alternative options to...</li></ul>

<ul><li>ASEAN countries should play a more active role in the international standard-setting process for carbon labelling.</li> <li>Fragmented, bottom-up approaches to carbon labelling may lead to a proliferation of different labelling schemes, acting as a constraint to ASEAN exports.</li> <li>Carbon labelling should be...</li></ul>

Income is very unequally distributed in Latin America - but so too are opportunities for upward mobility. Early childhood development is a powerful mechanism to level the social playing field. More and better secondary education is key. Better administration of schools, combining greater...

A strengthened social contract in Latin American countries relies on the improved quality of public services such as health and education, which would build a constituency for a broader tax base. Latin American middle-income sectors express strong support for democracy but they are critical of...

Informality remains pervasive in Latin American and Caribbean labour markets. Many "middle-sectors workers" (around the middle of the income distribution) are employed informally and contribute irregularly to a public or private pension. Governments should consider extending social pensions and...

Over the last five years, most Latin American governments have made considerable strides in managing the composition of their public debt, while reducing their foreign-currency exposure. Issuing public debt in local currency is not new for Latin America; what is new, however, is the widespread...

The idea of local “ownership” of development policies is now popular among the donor community, but without a reduction of conditionality on aid disbursements, enhanced ownership will be difficult to achieve. While there are still strong reasons for attaching certain kinds of conditionality...

Political and social troubles worsened in 2007, but the long term trend is positive. Progress towards democracy continues, despite some severe setbacks. Democratic institutions need to foster dialogue and social cohesion.

The “raw materials curse” is far from being an inevitability, as shown by Norway and Chile. Both examples offer valuable lessons to developing countries on how to sensibly manage mining and oil resources. Following Norway’s example, Chile could build upon its experience and become a key...