Research on teacher preparation programs (TPPs) continues to debate the extent to which program quality meaningfully shapes teacher effectiveness. While early evidence from highincome contexts documented nontrivial differences across programs, more recent studies suggest that most variation in...

This study examines how firms' financial heterogeneity shapes the transmission of monetary policy to investment in Latin American economies. It develops an extended theoretical model with heterogeneous firms, calibrated for Latin American economies, and validates it empirically through local...

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)...

In Latin America, Mexico (2020), Chile (2022) and Colombia (2022) have all officially committed to a feminist foreign policy (FFP). The introduction of a feminist approach to foreign policy should be seen in the context of a growing awareness of gender issues in international, regional and...

In this study, we explore the relationship between town size and subjective well-being (SWB) in Latin America. We utilize data from the Latinobarómetro survey from 2005 to 2015, employing multilevel modeling to analyze individual responses to life satisfaction as an indicator of SWB. We refine...

Conditional cash transfer (CCT) programmes aim to break the intergenerational transmission of poverty by fostering human capital accumulation among children in vulnerable households. However, due to data limitations, evidence on their long-run effects remains scarce. This paper contributes to...

Even though sustainable resource use has become a strategic priority, there remains limited empirical evidence on how board diversity influences water and energy efficiency, particularly in emerging economies such as those in Latin America. Accordingly, this study investigates the relationship...

We study how individuals in six Latin American countries value public versus private provision of education and healthcare using a survey experiment. Respondents were randomly assigned to vignettes that vary income, service quality, and provider type. Perceived quality is the main driver of...

This paper studies trust, reciprocity, and bargaining using a large-scale online experiment conducted in six Latin American countries. Participants played trust and ultimatum games under randomly assigned conditions in which the gender of their counterpart was either disclosed or withheld. On...

Recidivism is a persistent challenge for criminal justice systems worldwide, yet evidence from Latin America remains scarce. This study addresses that gap through three contributions. First, it reviews the individual, institutional, and contextual determinants of recidivism, with special...

In Latin America, Mexico (2020), Chile (2022) and Colombia (2022) have all officially committed to a feminist foreign policy (FFP). The introduction of a feminist approach to foreign policy should be seen in the context of a growing awareness of gender issues in international, regional and...

This study explores the gendered impacts of violent crime on economic opportunities in Latin America and the Caribbean. While both men and women experience violent crime, their exposure to violent crime and the consequences they suffer differ. Women are disproportionately affected by intimate...

Studies across countries find that single-mother households are socioeconomically disadvantaged. However, the heterogeneity of these households is regularly overlooked in the literature, with lone-mother households (with only one female adult) frequently undifferentiated from households in which...

El crecimiento y la creación de empleo de calidad en América Latina y el Caribe (ALC) siguen siendo moderados en un entorno global desafiante. La inflación sigue disminuyendo, pero la relajación de la política monetaria ha avanzado más lentamente de lo previsto, los precios de las materias...

Tax-benefit systems in Latin America have expanded alongside social protection, yet persistently high informality continues to constrain fiscal capacity and redistribution. This paper examines how tax policy changes affect formal employment in Bolivia, Colombia, and Ecuador over three periods...

This study explores the mediating role of innovation output in the relationship between green management and the performance of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).This research is based on a dataset collected by the Ibero-American SME Observatory, comprising 3,966 manufacturing SMEs in...

This study analyzes inter-industry reversal, or whether loser or underperforming industries yield higher returns than winner or outperforming industries in Latin America. The phenomenon is likewise examined in market segments that are more prone to inefficiencies and short-selling barriers. It...

We study how violent encounters between police and civilians shape citizens' trust in the state. We combine nearly 750,000 survey responses from seventeen Latin American countries with a new dataset of high-profile police-civilian fatalities. Exploiting the timing of these events relative to...

This paper explores the environmental consequences of illegal drug production, specifically focusing on the impact of coca prices and cultivation on tree cover density in Peru. Using satellite imagery and granular data on the economic value of coca cultivation, I show that fluctuations in coca...

Using administrative and survey data from a large restaurant chain in Colombia, we documented gender differences in the managerial approaches most strongly associated with performance. Based on these findings, we designed two customized curricula: a relationship-based curriculum highlighting...

Using census data from over 500,000 dual-earner households in Mexico, we show that couples in which the wife earns just above half of the household income are far less common than those in which she earns just below that threshold - a pattern that has been attributed to gender norms that create...

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...

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...

We study how violent encounters between police and civilians shape citizens' trust in the state. We combine nearly 750,000 survey responses from seventeen Latin American countries with a new dataset of high-profile police-civilian fatalities. Exploiting the timing of these events relative 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...

We are pleased to present the third edition of the Latin American Artificial Intelligence Index (ILIA). This version strengthens the instrument by introducing mechanisms to monitor the increasingly dynamic and widespread development of AI across Latin America and the Caribbean. The first edition...

Conditional cash transfer (CCT) programmes aim to break the intergenerational transmission of poverty by fostering human capital accumulation among children in vulnerable households. However, due to data limitations, evidence on their long-run effects remains scarce. This paper contributes to...

In recent decades, the international community has recognized the need to measure poverty more comprehensively, by incorporating various dimensions of well-being. More than half of Latin American countries have developed official multidimensional poverty indices, which are essential for...

How does global banking impact financial stability and the real economy, particularly in emerging market economies? This paper revisits this question through the lens of new data and recent empirical findings in the banking literature. Considering this evidence, we illustrate how global banks...