This open access book offers innovative contributions to the climate-migration-health nexus and the role of regional governance in this nexus, emphasizing the importance of interregional cooperation in addressing these challenges. It considers climate change as an intensifier of leading to...

US imperial policy towards Latin America and the Caribbean is characterised by a combination of dominance ambitions and exclusivity claims. Through drastic coercive measures, Washington is forcing an economic transformation in Venezuela without paving the way for a political transition. At the...

Comparison of economies is essential for public policymaking but considerably hindered by the fact that statistics expressed in local currencies are not directly comparable. Market exchange rates give a distorted view, as they do not reflect the differences in price levels between countries.To...

China is the second largest trade partner and top sovereign creditor in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), and in 2023 was the third-largest source of new foreign direct investment (FDI) project announcements. Over half of the region's countries have joined the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)...

This paper assesses the vulnerability of Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) economies to external crises. It shows that while the average LAC economy has made significant strides to reduce vulnerability to crises to its historical minimum, there is still considerable room for improvement,...

Several studies have investigated the fiscal sustainability of Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) countries. However, country-specific analyses fail to account for common factors and cross-dependence, while a single-panel approach is inadequate due to the region's economic diversity. Building on...

Most barriers to trade in services stem from regulatory measures. This study assesses the degree of regulatory restrictiveness affecting trade in services across Latin America and the Caribbean and the degree of disparities in these measures. It then analyzes the impact of both the level of...

Competition is a core element of economic growth, but empirical evidence on how competition affects productivity is often limited. Competition and Productivity Growth in Latin America and the Caribbean presents new empirical research that shows how competition policy in the region has...

This report assesses the current performance of tourism in the Caribbean1 and, in light of the new trends, identifies future pathways and policies for sustainable growth in three targeted segments. These segments were selected to include the traditional markets of cruise and all-inclusive resort...

Most countries in Latin America and the Caribbean are implementing fast payment systems (FPS), often with the goal of enhancing access to and use of affordable financial services. FPS offer immediate transfer of funds on a 24x7 basis between end users. This paper assesses how FPS can promote...

Widening income disparities, higher corruption and larger informality in many emerging market and developing economies (EMDE) including Latin America, all with pressing and mounting fiscal problems, have rekindled interest in the empirical analysis of the key factors determining the occurrence...

A study conducted by the European Parliamentary Research Service (2023) notes that the European Union's (EU) relations with Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) countries are being affected by changes in global power, economic uncertainty, and security threats. The current working paper...

El Banco Mundial ha trabajado para fortalecer los registros sociales en ALC y a nivel mundial Décadas. La presente nota técnica tiene por objeto contribuir a reducir la la falta de conocimientos sobre el estado de la cuestión y los retos de la registros sociales en ALC, identificar dónde se...

This document analyzes the indirect costs of mental health for adolescents and young adults in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) region and its potential impact in lowering human capital in the region. It uses a broad definition of mental health conditions (MHC), classified into four...

After providing a general overview of the nature, pros, and cons of crypto assets and CBDCs, this paper focuses on documenting their recent experience in LAC. The region records a high interest in unbacked crypto assets and stablecoins and its authorities' policy responses have varied...

This paper investigates the impact of public-private partnership (PPP)-enabling conditions on infrastructure development in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). Using a unique longitudinal dataset, this study analyzes how institutional conditions in 26 LAC countries influenced PPP investment...

Despite its negative effects, the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated digital development in Latin America and the Caribbean. The rapid increase in connectivity and digital services helped mitigate the pandemic's negative impact on the labor markets, especially for those with enough flexibility to...

Background: The Port of Santa Marta, located on Colombia's northern Caribbean coast, plays a vital role in the country's maritime trade, particularly in the export of agricultural and perishable goods. This raises the question: how competitive is Santa Marta's container terminal compared to...

This publication provides you with a range of inspiring examples of how educational institutions are using Erasmus+ in Latin America and the Caribbean as a key instrument for building knowledge, skills and attitudes on one of the main overarching priorities of Erasmus+, namely the environment...

"Rethinking Taxation for Growth in Latin America and the Caribbean: Objectives, Behavioral Responses, and Technological Advances" argues for a shift beyond the traditional focus on collection efficiency and equity to explicitly include economic growth as a primary objective. It highlights how...

Plantation elites continued to dominate local colonial governments in the British West Indies even after the abolition of slavery in 1834, directing public spending towards maintaining public order and protecting their property. As such they resisted any reforms that threatened their power,...

This Selected Issues paper examines the impact of the energy transition (ET) and strategies to achieve it in the Easter Caribbean Currency Union (ECCU). Reducing energy dependence in the ECCU entails improving energy efficiency and shifting from fossil fuels to renewable energy (RE). This ET is...

This paper presents a detailed review report for the 2025 Discussion on Common Policies of Member Countries of the Easter Caribbean Currency Union (ECCU). The currency union has provided a strong anchor for macroeconomic stability. The ECCU has achieved a strong rebound from successive adverse...

ECCU countries are highly vulnerable to recurring and increasingly severe natural disasters. Evidence suggests that severe natural disaster have negative impacts on fiscal balances and debt in the region. This underscores the need for comprehensive disaster resilience strategies to mitigate...

This study explores the short-term welfare and distributive effects of selected fuel tax and subsidy reforms in six countries in the Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) region that are aimed at promoting the transformation of energy systems and have the potential to generate much-needed fiscal...

This study develops a multidimensional classification of Latin American and Caribbean countries based on a multidimensional set of economic, social, technological, and environmental indicators. This study develops a multidimensional assessment of the performance of Latin American and Caribbean...

Latin America and the Caribbean has lost not decades but a century of growth due to its inability to learn-to identify, adapt, and implement the new technologies emerging since the Second Industrial Revolution. Superstars like Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay fell behind peers like France and...

This survey examines the economic performance of economies of the Caribbean in 2022 and the first few months of 2023 and comprises five chapters. The first chapter gives an overview of global, regional and subregional economic performance in the Caribbean. The second provides an analysis of the...