As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, governments and central banks worldwide implemented a wide range of policies to support households and businesses, among them a series of measures to support the availability of credit. This paper quantitatively assesses how monetary and regulatory policy...

This paper explores international trade data, classified by technology-intensiveness and type of products, to identify stylized facts, strengths, and weaknesses of the trade patterns in the region of Central America and the Dominican Republic between 1975 and 2016. I focus the analysis not only...

The Washington, DC, metropolitan area, encompassing parts of DC, Maryland, and Virginia (DMV), receives immigrants from all over the world, especially Central America. This includes minors who face unique struggles before, during, and after their migration journeys. In this paper, we utilize...

Social Protection and Labor (SPL) Systems help individuals and societies manage risk and volatility and protect them from poverty through instruments that address the challenges of resilience, equity and opportunity. SPL systems include social safety nets, social insurance, and labor market...

This note aims to close the knowledge gap about the effectiveness and capacity of labor migration sending systems in NCA countries. The report assesses whether NCA countries have the fundamental elements of an effective labor migration sending system, identifies the missing elements, and offers...

This paper explores the potential growth of Central America and the Dominican Republic after the 2008-2009 crisis to shed light on their 2020 pre-pandemic macroeconomic vulnerability and to ascertain that the observed path is deviating more than before from its potential. Using Hodrick-Prescott...

Very few labor-based pathways for regular migration are available for people in Northern Central America, often called the 'Northern Triangle' of Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador. This note briefly summarizes the state of labor-based migration channels in the region. It then argues that...

This study considers the economic impact of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) on commercial enterprises in four Central American countries - El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. At the time of analysis, neither the pandemic nor its economic consequences had fully run their course....

Using United States Census data between 1970 and 2017, we analyze the economic assimilation of subsequent arrival cohorts of Mexicans and Central Americans by comparing their earnings and employment probability to those of natives with similar age and education. We find that, on average, these...

This white paper provides a high-level summary of the research. Using a mixed methods comparative case study approach, I explore the impacts of county-level sanctuary ordinances on the entrepreneurial activities of Mexican and Central American immigrants in the U.S. I find that although...

Despite the well-documented human costs of the war on drugs, and the growing evidence of the environmental impacts of illicit economies, the militarized repression of the illicit drug trade remains a central hemispheric security and cooperation strategy in Northern and Central American...

Honduras has been Central America’s focal point for drug trafficking towards the United States for years as the region’s main transit country. Recent court cases held in the United States have revealed the symbiotic relationship between state actors, business elites and drug trafficking...

Cocaine trafficking has a significant but understudied influence on Central American economies. The economic implications of this trade have repercussions for both regional development and drug control policy debates, and therefore deserve greater attention. Towards that end, in this paper we...

This report explores the agrologistics challenges and opportunities faced by agri-food systems in three countries in Northern Central America (NCA), namely El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, with a specific focus on the impacts on family farming systems. As an overarching principle guiding the...

The paper assembles and harmonizes sectoral data from several sources to study the industrial trends in six Central American economies. The industrial employment share contracted by 2.5 percentage points on average over the past two decades. This deindustrialization was not trade-driven in which...

In the light of a changing climate, resilient coffee varieties and adoption of improved agricultural practices are needed. Agronomic studies have promoted the first generation of Coffea arabica hybrid cultivars (F1 hybrids) as resistant to pest and diseases and able to grow under shade. Thus,...

This research explores the competitive environment for urban formal sector firms competing against peer formal sector firms behaving informally in Central America. Explored is the upper bound of the formal-informal continuum in a regional economic environment of persistent and widespread...

The pandemic has urged countries around the globe to mobilize financing to support the recovery. This is even more relevant in Central America, where the policy response to cushion the pandemic’s economic and social impact has accentuated pre-existing debt vulnerabilities. This paper documents...

This paper analyzes the potential for fintech to facilitate cheaper and more efficient remittances, and to enhance financial inclusion in Central America. Digital remittances remain nascent in the region, primarily reflecting behavioral inertia, small cost advantages of digital over traditional...

From 1995 to 2015, Costa Rica, El Salvador, and Panama witnessed phenomenal shifts in labor market participation and occupational distribution of women. The occupational changes suggest that many talented women in the mid-1990s were in professions that did not conform to their comparative...

The topics discussed in this report are tax regimes for small taxpayers (Chapter II) and the tax treatment of special economic zones (Chapter III). Although these aspects of the tax system have little direct effect on public finances, they affect many people and how those people make decisions...

The pandemic interrupted ten years of growth, but El Salvador is rebounding quickly. Robust external demand, resilient remittances, and a sound management of the pandemic-with the help of a disbursement under the Rapid Financing Instrument (RFI) (SDR287.2 million or USD 389 million) approved in...

Climate change adaptation has long been established as a regional and national priority in Central American countries. Korea, as a responsible middle power in global governance, should not hesitate to play a more active role in tackling their adaptation challenges. This brief summarizes a number...

This study considers the economic impact of Covid-19 on enterprises in four Central American countries â⠬â El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. At the time of the analysis neither the pandemic nor its economic consequences had fully run their course. It is not, therefore, a...

In contrast to expectations, remittances to Central America and the Caribbean (CAC) surprised positively during 2020 and 2021. This study revisits the key macro indicators driving remittances, looks at the heterogeneous impacts of the global financial crisis (GFC) and COVID shocks, then uses...

In this article, we seek to classify the national culture of Belize through the typologies offered by Geert Hofstede (1980) and Edward T. Hall (1960). The classification allows comparative use of existing cultural data for most other nations and world regions important in navigating cultural...

This study uses changes in the Human Development Index (HDI) between 2019 and 2021 as an early (and incomplete) indicator of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the countries of Central America and the Caribbean (CAC). The HDI, which has been published annually by the United Nations...

Central America is one of the world’s most vulnerable regions to extreme climate events. The literature estimates the macroeconomic effects of climate events mainly using annual data, which might underestimate the true effects as these extreme events tend to be short-lived and generate...

This paper investigates factors that predict variation in digital and non-digital remittance fees over time and across countries, exploring differences between CAPDR and other regions. The paper fills a void in the literature on how country- and corridor-specific factors relate to remittance...

The paper assembles and harmonizes sectoral data from several sources to study the industrial trends in six Central American economies. The industrial employment share contracted by 2.5 percentage points on average in the last two decades. This deindustrialization was not trade-driven in which...

Very few labor-based pathways for regular migration are available for people in Northern Central America, often called the 'Northern Triangle' of Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador. This note briefly summarizes the state of labor-based migration channels in the region. It then argues that...

The Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic has had widespread negative effects in developing countries around the world, generating an unprecedented shock. Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) was a particularly affected region, recording a significant contraction in regional GDP and international...

With data from the World Bank Enterprise Survey, this paper examines how firm-level resilience capabilities interact with government support in the reduction of lay-offs among formal firms in Central America. We estimate two latent variables to approximate resilience-related capabilities before...

The Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine marked a turning point in American foreign policy. In 1904, President Roosevelt announced that, not only were European powers not welcome in the Americas, but that the U.S. had the right to intervene in the affairs of Central American and Caribbean...

This paper argues that structural weaknesses may make private investment particularly sensitive to business confidence relative to other traditional investment drivers and global shocks. It gauges the importance of confidence over recent years in selected countries in Central America, including...

COVID-19 is a menace to those who haven't a chance to easily access COVID-19 vaccines everywhere and anytime, especially in developing countries. We want to go far in this research to effectively propose a well-organized COVID-19 vaccination campaign for the faster recovery from this global...

El Proyecto Mesoamérica (PM, antes Plan Puebla Panamá) tiene como objetivo general contribuir con el proceso de integración y desarrollo de los países de la región. Su objetivo específico es conceptualizar, gestionar financiamiento, y apoyar la ejecución de propuestas y proyectos de...

This paper analyzes Central America's track record on inequality, poverty, and quality of fiscal adjustment in relation to economic growth; health and education outcomes; adequacy of social safety nets; and governance. It then assesses the degree to which the track record can be traced to...

The protracted pandemic and two tropical storms have hit Honduras hard. Despite authorities' responses, these shocks continue to weigh on activity; reconstruction needs are high while the outlook remains uncertain. The authorities plan to rebuild a more climate-resilient economy, given Honduras'...

The pandemic has urged countries around the globe to mobilize financing to support the recovery. This is even more relevant in Central America, where the policy response to cushion the pandemic's economic and social impact has accentuated pre-existing debt vulnerabilities. This paper documents...