bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Freshwater Ecosystem Conservation: Towards a Comprehensive Water Resources Management Strategy
Authors: Castro Gonzalo , Bucher Enrique , Floris Vinio
Published: March 2024

Conservation of freshwater biodiversity has been seriously neglected throughout the world, and entire ecosystems are threatened with extinction. Unfortunately, freshwater sustainability issues do not appear to be a primary consideration in the planning and implementation of water use projects, nor in the allocation of use permits. This paper discusses the value and function of Latin American freshwater ecosystems and gives a comprehensive approach to developing a sustainable water resources management policy. Case studies of the network of private nature reserves in Colombia, restoring the Mississippi River wetlands, and the Paraguay-Paraná Waterway project are presented.
Human-Driven Disasters: Violent Conflict, Terrorism and Technology
Authors: Coletta Nat J.
Published: March 2024

The intended goal of this paper is to expand the IDB's current disaster policy in the area of human-driven disasters. This paper explores and expands on the definition and scope of "human-driven" disasters in order to strengthen the policy in its present area of "unexpected" disasters. This paper also discusses risk management financing instruments and provides recommendations on delivery mechanisms and systems and coverage and costs.
Integrated Water Resources Management in Latin America and the Caribbean
Authors:   Inter American Development Bank
Published: March 2024

This technical study contains the strategy of the Inter-American Development Bank for its involvement in integrated water resources management in Latin America and the Caribbean. The strategy was developed through an iterative step by step procedure in consultation with country water resource officials, Bank staff, nongovernmental organizations, and international lending and technical assistance organizations. The first part of the study is an overview of water resource management in Latin America and the Caribbean and the second part is the Bank's strategy, including their goals and objectives, guiding principles and strategic instruments for integrated water resources management.
Strategies and Financial Instruments for Disaster Risk Management in Latin America and the Caribbean
Authors: Miller Stuart , Keipi Kari
Published: March 2024

This technical paper investigates potential avenues for reducing economic losses resulting from natural hazards, and discusses ex ante and ex post issues affecting disaster risk management. It also assesses how both types of measures can be jointly used to reduce the economic impact of disasters on sovereign governments and the IDB. Opportunities and instruments for risk transfer, particularly at the higher layers of risk, are discussed in detail. The proposed risk management framework utilizes financial instruments to enable the government to transfer risk as potential losses begin to exceed its ability to cover them. To this end, this paper proposes a balanced risk management strategy, both for the borrowing member countries and the IDB, which includes specific components to address different layers of risk.
Guidelines of Principles for Effective Regulation and Supervision of Microfinance Operations
Authors:   Inter American Development Bank
Published: March 2024

The primary purpose of this document is to present guidelines of principles for international use that comprise best practices on the topic of regulation and supervision of microfinance operations executed by deposit-taking financial institutions. The first chapter analyzes the relevance of the application of the Core Principles for Effective Banking Supervision, as well as the Basel II principles issued by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision. to microfinance institutions. In the second chapter, a set of recommendations is presented, synthesizing the conclusions from the process developed in this document. This includes preconditions and principles for effective regulation and supervision of microcredit portfolios, as well as for the microfinance institutions. The recommendations aim to facilitate a harmonious development of microfinance.
Estimating the Impact of Placing Top University Graduates in Vulnerable Schools in Chile
Authors: Santiago Ana , Bassi Marina , Alfonso Mariana
Published: March 2024

Enseña Chile (ECh) is one model in the direction of helping close the achievement gap between low-income and high-income students in Chile, and is a first adaptation of the Teach for America (TFA) model in Latin America. This paper provides the first evidence on the impact of the implementation, and is the first evaluation of Teach For America model to shed light on how it affects non-cognitive skills. While it is still premature to speculate the full effect of ECh corps members on student academic achievement and cognitive and non-cognitive abilities, preliminary results from the follow-up wave seem to suggest that ECh-treated schools have made greater gains in Spanish and Mathematics test scores, as well as in non-cognitive abilities such as self-esteem, self-efficacy, intellectual and meta-cognitive abilities. One could expect these effects to help improve the overall comprehension of other subjects in the future. Further, the impact on motivation and studying abilities could also impact the student's schooling outcomes beyond their exposure to the Enseña Chile teachers. The forthcoming analysis will provide a fuller picture of the effect of ECh corps members on student achievement, cognitive and non-cognitive abilities, and a wide array of other measures, as well as the heterogeneity of the impacts and their effect over time.
Selection into Teaching: Evidence from Enseña Perú
Authors: Santiago Ana , Alfonso Mariana
Published: March 2024

Having a good teacher is the most important school-related factor for student achievement, to the point of closing the gap between low and high-income students. However, the empirical literature is almost silent regarding teacher selection. This paper estimates a teacher selection model using recruitment data from Enseña Perú, a program that recruits top university graduates from all majors and places them in vulnerable schools. Our results suggest that candidates with volunteering experience and who finished their college degree in the top third of their class are significantly more likely to be selected into the program. Teacher recruitment policy that identifies these qualities, which might be related to leadership, high motivation, social commitment and deep content knowledge, could considerably improve the quality of the teaching force.
Seeking Opportunities from New Patterns in Global Trade
Authors: Castro Gonzalo
Published: March 2024

The emergence of the new South-South axis in commerce provides extraordinary opportunities for poverty alleviation, investment in clean technologies, and strong movement toward sustainable development in both regions. Yet there is also the possibility of major impacts on the environment. This paper examines the environmental and social implications for Latin America and the Caribbean of economic growth in Asia and presents ideas as to how the region can take full advantage of change.
Managing Credit Risk in Rural Financial Institutions in Latin America
Authors: Trivelli Carolina , Navajas Sergio , Wenner Mark D. , Tarazona Alvaro
Published: March 2024

The purpose of this report is to review common credit risk management techniques used in a sample of Latin American financial institutions with agricultural portfolios, identify the factors that contribute to successful credit risk management as measured by several key financial performance indicators in order to assist donors, governments, and owners of financial institutions to promote and adopt the most efficient and robust techniques. This report also examines a sample of 42 financial institutions in Latin America that have agricultural portfolios, and identifies their principal perceived risks, how they asses and manage credit risk, and how effective they are in the process as measured by key financial performance indicators (such as asset quality, portfolio growth, and profit margins).
The Structure of Natural Gas Markets in Argentina and Antitrust Issues in Regional Energy Integration
Authors: Bondorevsky Diego , Petrecolla Diego
Published: March 2024

The purpose of this paper is to take a closer look at the process of natural gas market integration in the Southern Cone of South America. More specifically, the paper examines infrastructure and performance of the sector in Argentina, the effects that this sector has had on overall regional energy integration, and what regulatory and antitrust issues have arisen throughout the region as a consequence.
Microenterprises and Poverty: Evidence from Latin America
Authors: Orlando María Beatriz , Pollack Molly
Published: March 2024

This study assesses poverty in the microenterprise sector in Latin America, presenting stylized facts on potential poverty risk factors at the household and individual levels. The goal of the paper is to describe the main trends in the region and the scope of the paper is limited to a descriptive analysis of poverty risk factors based on the nature of the data set (household surveys). Therefore, the study does not explore the causes of poverty in the MIC sector or the factors that determine whether an individual works in a microenterprise. The end result is a comparison of poverty rates in the MIC sector with the rest of the economy; and also the determination of the poverty rate of households with microenterprise income, as compared to the poverty rate of other households.
The Latin American Microfinance Industry: How Does it Measure Up?
Authors: Jansson Tor , Taborga Miguel
Published: March 2024

This publication aims to help donors, creditors and investors evaluate the performance, condition and risk of individual microfinance institutions in Latin America and the Caribbean, in hopes of strengthening the microfinance industry and building the microenterprise sector. It provides concrete and reliable reference values for several benchmark indicators relevant to the industry. Specifically, it explores nineteen benchmark indicators in six major categories: profitability, capital, asset quality, liquidity, productivity, and growth. The report finds important patterns with regard to institutional form, size, and maturity. Moreover, the report represents an attempt to assign reference values to these indicators for the microfinance industry in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Technical Notes on Reproductive Health
Authors: Nieves Isabel , Glassman Amanda , Belle Ingvild
Published: March 2024

These publication is a series of 12 Technical Notes on Reproductive Health. The connections between poverty and reproductive ill health are multidimensional. This publication covers reproductive health, human capital development, reproductive health interventions, public health policies and health sector reform as well as a myriad of other topics concerning reproductive health in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Women, Politics and Democratic Prospects in Latin America
Authors: Roza Vivian , Buvinic Mayra
Published: March 2024

Over the last decade, Latin America has witnessed unprecedented gains of more than 50 percent in the number of women in power. This paper explains these gains and discusses factors that fuel and help forecast the continuing growth in women's political participation. The authors also explore the possible implications of this growth for the future conduct of democracy and the barriers women must overcome so that their share in the political ranks gets closer to their share in the population.
2006 COMPAS: Multilateral Development Banks Common Performance Assessment System
Authors:   Inter American Development Bank
Published: March 2024

The purpose of the Multilateral Development Bank (MDB) Common Performance Assessment System (COMPAS) is to provide a focus where the five members of the MDB Working Group on Managing for Development Results (MfDR) may jointly report on their own performance. The impetus for this kind of reporting framework stems from the growing public demand for information about the performance of various actors in the international development community, in which the MDBs play a major role. It is important to note that the purpose of the COMPAS is to report on MDB performance, not on country-level results, which are a joint product of several actors, including the MDBs. The COMPAS does not intend to encourage comparisons among MDBs comparisons among them are exceedingly difficult in view of their significant differences (as indicated in the Annex "Profiles of Multilateral Development Banks") but rather to provide baseline data against which each MDB may ascertain its own progress over time.
Explaining Argentina's Great Depression of 1975-1990
Authors: Neumeyer Pablo A. , Hopenhayn Hugo A.
Published: March 2024

This paper is part of the project "Explaining Economic Growth Performance" launched by the Global Development Network. The authors revisit the evidence on growth in Argentina, looking at aggregate data as well as national income data by sector. This paper's primary hypothesis is that government policies during 1975-90 increased capital costs, reducing the capital per worker and thereby inducing a labor reallocation. This analysis assumes that the elasticity of substitution between capital and labor is higher in the service industry, so that new entrants to the labor force were allocated to the service sector where it was easier to substitute labor for capital.
Violence Control at the Municipal Level
Authors: Guerrero Rodrigo
Published: March 2024

This document is one of a series of technical notes that describe the nature and magnitude of violence in the region, its causes and effects, and how it can be prevented and controlled. The notes provide useful information on designing programs and policies to prevent and deal with violence. This note focuses on violence control at a sub-national level. In many countries of the region, a widespread trend towards decentralization of government administration has led to the delegation of government functions and the allocation of resources to local government. This trend has also given rise to greater pressure on mayors and others municipal authorities to address crime prevention, public safety, and violence control issues on the local level. This note presents violence prevention programs from a local perspective and provides some examples of actions that have been taken by municipal authorities in different parts of the Americas.
The Role of the Police in Violence Prevention
Authors: Neild Rachel
Published: March 2024

This document is one of a series of technical notes that describe the nature and magnitude of violence in the region, its causes and effects, and how it can be prevented and controlled. The notes provide useful information on designing programs and policies to prevent and deal with violence. This technical note discusses the roles of police in controlling and preventing violence and crime. These issues are the subject of much debate. Broadly, the debate breaks down into two opposing views that represent the two ends of a continuum of crime prevention programs: One view asserts the importance of the police role in controlling crime through effective law enforcement that removes criminals from the streets and increases the potential cost of committing crime, thus deterring potential offenders. The other viewpoint posits that police actions operate at the margins rather than at the root causes of crime and so have little impact on broad trends in crime rates, which are fundamentally driven by economic, demographic, social, and cultural factors.
Impact Evaluation Methods for Social Programs
Authors: Regalia Ferdinando
Published: March 2024

This technical note provides a brief overview of the most commonly used methods to carry out impact evaluation of social programs. Impact evaluation is an indispensable tool to assess whether a program is achieving its objective, how the beneficiaries' situation changed as a result of the program and what the situation would have been without the program.
Emphasizing Prevention in Citizen Security: The Inter-American Development Bank's Contribution to Reducing Violence in Latin America and the Caribbean
Authors: Lamas Jorge , Alda Erik , Buvinic Mayra
Published: March 2024

In less than a decade, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) has developed a sizable lending portfolio in violence prevention and a significant record of research, international seminars, meetings, and technical assistance. This paper reviews the IDB's work in this area, analyzes what seems to have worked and the challenges that remain, and draws lessons for future lending. It is based on research and project reports, internal monitoring and evaluation systems, ex-post evaluation and interviews with Bank staff working in both Headquarters and the Country Offices on different aspects of these operations, and covers loans in Uruguay and Colombia.
Learning from the Experience: The Inter-American Development Bank and Pharmaceuticals
Authors: Giuffrida Antonio
Published: March 2024

The IDB has supported the governments of Latin America and the Caribbean in their efforts to improve their pharmaceutical systems. The objectives of this paper are twofold. First, it intends to present a brief description of the characteristics of the pharmaceutical sector in the region and discuss the rationale for Bank involvement. The second aim is to carry out a systematic review of IDB activities in this sector, analyzing the scale and scope of these activities during the last decade. Section 2 describes the pharmaceutical sector in Latin America and the Caribbean and discusses the characteristics that make medicines different from standard commodities. Section 3 describes Bank activities in the pharmaceutical sector and its evolution through time and by regions. Section 4 provides a detailed analysis of Bank interventions in the various areas of the pharmaceutical sector. Section 5 concludes with a discussion of future challenges for IDB activities in this sector.
Social Network Analysis Methodologies for the Evaluation of Cluster Development Programs
Authors: Pietrobelli Carlo , Giuliani Elisa
Published: March 2024

Cluster development programs (CDPs) have been adopted widely in many countries worldwide. Many such programs aim to promote economic development by forming and strengthening inter-organizational networks. Despite their widespread diffusion, we know very little about CDP outputs or the impact CDPs have on host regions and their populations. Evaluation studies are beginning to appear, but the overall concern is that a distinct evaluation concept and method with a focus on CDPs is not yet available. The objective of this paper is to address this limitation, by proposing a novel methodological approach in the evaluation of CDPs based on the application of concepts and methods of social network analysis (SNA).
Housing Finance in Peru: What Is Holding It Back?
Authors: Wong Barrantes Rudy , Palomino Bonilla Miguel
Published: March 2024

Housing for most Peruvians is improving but is still grossly inadequate. Nonetheless, public housing finance policies mainly involve programs that subsidize middle-income families and banks that lend to them. Research summarized in this paper indicates that financing will not be the main obstacle to improving housing conditions in Peru and that public sector efforts would be better aimed at dealing with issues where significant externalities and institutional restrictions limit market development. Thus, public sector efforts and funds could temporarily support the development of: i) cheaper construction techniques and materials, ii) lower-cost credit technologies for low-income housing credits and iii) increasing the availability of adequately enabled land for large-scale low income housing projects.
Remittances to Latin America and the Caribbean in 2010: Stabilization after the Crisis
Authors: Maldonado René , Bajuk Natasha , Hayem María Luisa
Published: March 2024

This paper deals with remittance trends in Latin America and the Caribbean, including statistics and indicators. In 2010, remittance flows to Latin America and the Caribbean marked the end of the downward trend brought on by the 2008-2009 global financial and economic crisis. The overall regional volume of remittances sent home reached levels similar to the previous year with a slight increase of 0.2%. However, higher inflation rates and stronger local currencies in many countries resulted in an -8.7% drop in the value of these remittances, once received.
Impact Evaluation of the Business Development Program for the Software Industry in Uruguay
Authors:   Inter American Development Bank,   Dalberg Global Development Advisors
Published: March 2024

The purpose of this impact evaluation is to assess the success of the Business Development Program for the Software Industry in Uruguay in achieving and sustaining results over time. The evaluation had six general objectives: The impact assessment combined an overall program lifecycle analysis with an assessment of specific program outputs and outcome. In regard to the program lifecycle, Dalberg Global Development Advisors looked at four stages: (i) design of the program (assumptions and diagnostic studies that influenced program component choices; alignment with country strategy and reflection of country realities); (ii) implementation (quality standards and best practices; monitoring of program activities according to set timelines; quality of internal processes; and continuity of dialogue between CUTI and MIF); (iii) supervision (MIF's level of involvement in program follow-up; actions taken by MIF to implement intermediate recommendations; checks and balances, adaptability, and process for overcoming obstacles); and (iv) evaluation (review of outputs/outcomes; planned vs. actual outputs; accomplishment of goals; quality of implementation and supervision; response to beneficiary needs; and significance of observed change and counterfactual).
Stronger Municipalities for Stronger Cities in Argentina
Authors: Huntzinger Hervé , Kopp Pierre , Prud'homme Rémy
Published: March 2024

In recent years a number of studies have been devoted to the twin issues of economic development and of decentralization in Argentina. Many papers have tried to understand the complex system of intergovernmental relations. Most of them, however, have focussed on the role of provinces, and neglected the problems raised by municipalities. This paper tries to bridge this gap, and to suggest that stronger municipalities could contribute to produce stronger cities that would in turn foster economic development.
The Benefits of Logistics Investments: Opportunities for Latin America and the Caribbean
Authors: Rodrigue Jean-Paul
Published: March 2024

Transportation is an inherently crucial factor in supporting economic activities as well as providing opportunities for economic development. As such, the provision of transport infrastructures is a common priority in capital investment, particularly in Latin America and the Caribbean where infrastructural capabilities are often lacking. The purpose of this report is to underline the key dimensions behind the benefits of logistics investments. It particularly focuses on port / hinterland supply chains in which the setting of logistics zones, transport and logistics corridors and inland ports provide a salient example of the multiplying effects of transport infrastructure and freight logistics investments.
Housing Finance Policy under Dutch Disease Pressure: The Mortgage Market in Trinidad and Tobago
Authors: Moya Ramiro , Auguste Sebastián , Sookram Sandra
Published: March 2024

This work analyzes housing finance in Trinidad and Tobago during the last 20 years. The period covered is influenced by an economic bonanza led by the energy sector. Housing prices in this period skyrocketed, but the demand for mortgage loans was low. The results suggest that this is explained by affordability problems in the dynamics of the new post-shock equilibrium, as housing prices increased more rapidly than wages. Public housing finance also played a role, but in recent times it has been more prudently managed than during the previous boom of the 1970s.
Identification and Governance Policies: The Legal, Technical, and Institutional Foundations that Influence the Relations and Interactions of the Citizen with the Government and Society
Authors: Harbitz Mia Elisabeth , Arcos Axt Iván
Published: March 2024

This IDB technical note seeks to highlight the relationship that exists between a country's level of governance, the success of digital government strategies, and the identification policies that government implements, as well as the interdependence between them. Belgium, Chile, and Mexico were chosen as case studies, because they share characteristics making them in some ways comparable. Moreover, amongst other reasons, they are all OECD-member countries, they have well-defined digital government strategies, and they are in the process of implementing (with differing degrees of progress) a state-of-the-art electronic identification (e-Id) card.
Supply and Demand Side Assessment of Impact Investment within the Caribbean
Authors:   Inter American Development Bank,   International Financial Consulting Ltd.
Published: March 2024

Impact Investing is a relatively new phenomenon, gaining attention within the last few years. While the multilateral development banks have been investing for many years with the expectation of a development impact, it is only recently that private investors have begun to be attracted to the concept of seeking to earn both a financial return, as well as creating a positive social and environmental impact. The purpose of this study is to identify opportunities for impact investments in the Caribbean with a focus on five specific countries: Barbados, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Haiti and Trinidad & Tobago. These five highly disparate nations exemplify the opportunities and challenges faced by the region and investors within it.
Knowledge to Action (K2A)
Authors: García Ferro Luz Ángela , Luna Elba N. , Rodríguez Lorena , Van Waesberghe Micha , Vásquez Jordán Darinka
Published: March 2024

This document describes the 'Knowledge to Action' methodology, which produces and organizes actionable 'Key Learnings' for re-use by their target audience. Key Learnings captured from individual projects can help teams solve current operational challenges and improve performance indicators. The cumulative capture of Key Learnings from multiple projects in a specific country, (sub-)sector, or business process allow for the compilation and validation of a critical mass of relevant knowledge, which can be disseminated effectively through an integrated online knowledge base and/or be leveraged to develop or update training or other capacity building efforts.
The Rental Market in Argentina: An Assessment Study
Authors: Moya Ramiro
Published: March 2024

This study analyzes the current situation of the rental market of Argentina. It is characterized by a growing percentage of households demanding houses for renting up to the point that, for first time in more than 50 years, the ownership rate dropped between population censuses. Tenants are middle and upper income families, as the poorest have increasingly owned and/or occupied substandard housing, sometimes without title. The lack of a mortgage market after 2001 explains the surge of the rental market. Given the increase in rents, some groups were more adversely affected. Other features affecting the supply and demand in this market are also analyzed.
Developing an Index of Liquidity-Risk Exposure: An Application to Latin American and Caribbean Banking Systems
Authors: Federico Pablo M.
Published: March 2024

After the 2007-2009 global financial crisis and previous financial crises in Latin America, the liquidity-risk exposure of banking systems is considered one of the most important vulnerabilities. At the same time, that exposure may also be the most mysterious of those vulnerabilities, as the dimensions of this risk are not yet well understood and good metrics have not been available. This goal of this paper is to provide a thorough review of previous contributions and to develop a set of measures of systemic liquidity-risk exposure of banking systems, with a focus on Latin American and Caribbean economies.
The Political Economy of Reform of the Administrative Systems of Public Sector Personnel in Latin America: An Analytical Framework
Authors: Heredia Blanca
Published: March 2024

This study develops a conceptual and analytical reference framework for the preparation of case studies on political determinants of the level of success of the reforms of the system of public-sector personnel in Latin America. Its main goal is to orient the empirical work toward the evaluation of the explanatory weights of the different structural, institutional and strategic variables that have a bearing on the ability of driving forces to initiate and sustain processes of change oriented toward improved efficiency, honesty and responsibility on the part of government employees.
The One Laptop Per Child Initiative: A Framework for Latin America and the IDB
Authors: Navarro Juan Carlos
Published: March 2024

The One Laptop Per Child initiative is an educational program that aims at deploying millions of rugged, ultra low-cost, individually connected laptop computers to the majority of children in developing nations that today lack access to such devices.
The Brazilian Electoral Panel Studies (BEPS): Brazilian Public Opinion in the 2010 Presidential Elections
Authors: Ames Barry , Velasques de Paula Machado Fabiana , Rennó Lucio , Samuels David , Smith Amy Erica , Zucco Cesar
Published: March 2024

This report presents sample characteristics and summary statistics from the Brazilian Electoral Panel Study (BEPS) project. The survey, composed of three waves, was conducted in Brazil in 2010, a presidential election year, and is composed of 4,611 interviews with 2,669 voting-age Brazilians.
Pure Perseverance: A Study of Women's Small Businesses in Colombia: Understanding Success Factors of Women's and Men's Small Businesses in Bucaramanga, Colombia
Authors: Powers Jennifer , Magnoni Barbara
Published: March 2024

Supporting women's businesses has become a topic of growing interest to governments and mainstream development institutions in recent years. Declarations to address women's unequal access to economic opportunity at the G-20 Summit, the development of UN Women, and the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women Initiative reflect that mainstream institutions are adopting a role in improving women's economic opportunities throughout the developed and developing world. This study aims to inform thinking around these initiatives, using a detailed case study in Colombia as a basis. We begin by posing the question, why support women's businesses as opposed to all small businesses in a developing country, arguing that there are multiple potential reasons including economic development, investment in families and promoting gender equality. We then discuss some of the success and failure factors that our case study identifies in women's and men's businesses and link these to potential interventions that can best serve women entrepreneurs. This understanding feeds into a parallel objective, to evaluate a business training and business strengthening program for women with small businesses in several cities in Colombia: Mujeres ECCO . Our study combines primary data analysis from the databases of the Chambers of Commerce of Bucaramanga and Cartagena with interviews with 120 small business owners as well as participants in the Mujeres ECCO program to gain further insight into the differences between men's and women's and successful and unsuccessful businesses and the factors influencing those differences, and to better understand how one program worked to specifically address women's business needs. These were complemented by a literature review and focus group discussions and interviews with business owners and stakeholders in Mujeres ECCO and other programs.
The costs of road injuries in Latin America 2013
Authors: De la Peña Mendoza Sissi Maribel , Bhalla Kavi , Pereyra Andrés , Taddia Alejandro Pablo , Diez-Roux Esteban
Published: March 2024

Road traffic injuries are a leading cause of death and disability in Latin America. Nevertheless, road safety continues to rank low in national development priorities in the region. Estimates of the economic costs imposed by road traffic crashes on society can provide policy planners with an important indicator for allocating appropriate investments to road safety. Therefore, IDB conducted a review of methods and best practices reported in the health economics literature for assessing the economic burden of illness and injury.
Evaluation of Slum Upgrading Programs: Literature Review and Methodological Approaches
Authors: Brakarz José , Jaitman Laura
Published: March 2024

This technical note analyzes the methodologies used to evaluate neighborhood upgrading programs, describes their results, and suggests approaches for future evaluations. Local and central governments are increasingly utilizing slum or neighborhood upgrading programs to deal with the multiple problems of urban poverty. These programs employ a methodology of integral interventions, combining of both infrastructure works and social services targeted to specific neighborhoods. Due to this variety of interventions the assessment of their impact is complicated and requires a comprehensive approach. This document analyzes the methods used in the evaluation of a number of upgrading programs either looking at individual interventions or their combined outcomes. It proposes a methodological approach for their assessment based on three categories of outcomes: housing, neighborhood, and individual. For each type of outcome, the authors present a literature review of common interventions and their evaluation results. The document also suggests relevant indicators for evaluating slum upgrading programs according to these three types of outcomes, and finally, it presents methodological issues to take into consideration when designing the evaluations of integral programs.
Services Regulation in the Caribbean: Tourism Services
Authors: Brown Kathy-Ann
Published: March 2024

CARIFORUM States have generally taken a cautious approach in adopting commitments under the Economic Partnership Agreement by having them reflect their World Trade Organization commitments, excluding sensitive subsectors, and inscribing broad horizontal reservations. This report assesses the regulatory framework for trade and investment in five areas - horizontal measures, information and communications technologies, transport services, professional services, and tourism services in Barbados, Belize, Guyana, Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago under the CARIFORUM - European Union Economic Partnership Agreement. The analysis concludes that of the five areas reviewed, adjustments are recommended principally to legislation covering information and communications technologies, professional services, and transport services.
Lessons from Innovation: Skills Standards and Certification
Authors:   Inter American Development Bank
Published: March 2024

Working with public, private, and nonprofit sector partners, MIF has invested in the development of skills standards and certification systems with fifteen projects in Latin America and the Caribbean. The goal: to increase the competitiveness and productivity of workers and industries throughout the region.
Who Decides on Public Expenditures?: A Political Economy Analysis of the Budget Process: The Case of Brazil
Authors: Mueller Bernardo , Pereira Carlos , Alston Lee J. , Melo Marcus André
Published: March 2024

In this project, the authors analyze the budgetary process to determine who decides on public expenditures in Brazil. The focus is not so much on the actual fiscal outcomes that emerge from the budgetary process, but rather on the policy making process that generates those outcomes. This involves looking not only at the budgetary rules and institutions but also at the political institutions that determine the players involved, their motivations, their incentives, and their power. In essence: who can initiate proposals that affect the budget and spending, who can vote, who can veto, and what is the sequence in which these actions take place? The political institutions set the formal and informal rules under which these players interact, that is, the policy making game. The final outcomes from this game will vary over time as they are affected as well by economic and political shocks. Representative outcomes are those that mirror the preferences of society rather than those of specific groups. Outcomes are sustainable when they can be replicated over time without resulting in economic crises. In this project we describe the characteristics of budgetary outcomes in Brazil in terms of these criteria by showing how those outcomes map into the country's political institutions. The paper concludes by examining several reforms to the budgetary process in Brazil that have been proposed by politicians and academics and the authors' own policy recommendations.
The External Dimension of MERCOSUR: Prospects for North-South Integration with the European Union
Authors: Giordano Paolo
Published: March 2024

The paper addresses the particular issues that arise during the negotiation of comprehensive trade and integration agreements, which involve political and cooperation dialogue in addition to trade liberalization talks. It explores the features of the New Regionalism that emerged in the Southern Cone region during the 1990s and in this light it analyzes MERCOSUR's South-South external agenda. Since the negotiation with the EU stands as a laboratory for a new model for North-South integration it provides a detailed analysis of the political and economic incentives for this integration process. The paper concludes by highlighting the prospect of this first-ever reciprocal North-South association between two customs unions. Particular attention is dedicated to the issues raised by the need of involving the civil society in international trade negotiations.
High Growth SMEs, Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Intellectual Assests: Study of High Growth SMEs in Brazil, Chile, and Mexico
Authors: Loossens Rudi
Published: March 2024

In order to deepen the understanding and characterization of dynamic entrepreneurs in Latin America and the Caribbean and, in particular, the drivers of innovation and value creation in High Growth SMEs (HGSMEs), the IDB's Science and Technology Division in collaboration with MIF launched a study on HGSMEs in Latin America with financing from the Spanish Innovation Support Program.
Climate Change Data and Risk Assessment Methodologies for the Caribbean
Authors: Herron Hope ,   Inter American Development Bank, Evans Warren , Bohn Bill , Roy Sujoy
Published: March 2024

The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Environmental Safeguards Unit (ESG) initiated this study to address the need to better understand how to assess and address climate change related risks in IDB funded projects. The Caribbean region is uniquely sensitive to natural hazards such as hurricanes, extreme precipitation events, and coastal storm surges due to the relatively small size and low elevations of the island nations that make up the region. Climate change is expected to exacerbate the threat of natural hazards. As a result of climate change, average temperatures and sea levels are rising, precipitation patterns might change, and hurricanes could intensify. Many of these changes are already occurring, and are projected to become more severe in the future. The purpose of this paper is to: (1) propose a step-wise process to assess climate change risks to IDB projects and (2) identify tools and methodologies to support the risk assessment process specific to the Caribbean region.
Monitoring and Evaluation Systems in Guyana
Authors: Martínez Guzman Juan Pablo , Cuesta Juan Pablo
Published: March 2024

For at least the past 10 years, the Government of Guyana has been implementing reforms aimed at improving public sector efficiency and effectiveness. In the past few years, special attention has been given to the introduction of Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E). This Technical Note analyzes Guyana's current M&E capabilities, as well as a proposed M&E Strategy and Action Plan. The analysis shows that the development of institutional M&E capacities has started but is not running on the Action Plan schedule. This may be explained by unrealistic implementation expectations. Moreover, the plan to increase the availability of performance information needs to be complemented with specific measures to institutionalize the use of such information in policymaking and to increase the availability of information to the public. This Technical Note includes a list of recommendations that, if followed, should help increase Guyana's chances of successfully implementing and sustaining M&E.
The Debt Office and the Effective Debt Management Functions: An Institutional and Operational Framework
Authors: Cosio-Pascal Enrique
Published: March 2024

The paper aims to be a useful analytical and managerial support tool for the debt practitioners and for the academia. It provides an appropriate approach for developing countries, and offers a detailed and systematic blueprint in how to establishing an efficient Debt Management Office. This paper differentiates from other papers published on the subject at least in two aspects. The first one is the political relevance that is given to the decision making process as far as responsibility for fixing a global macroeconomic public debt management strategy is concerned. The second is that the approach is a functional analysis, that is, there is no need to have a specific structure for the debt office in order to analyse who and where the functions are carried out. The paper gives a clear and well-defined list of tasks for each one of the functions, and this leads to clear and structured functional responsibilities for the implementation of the back, middle and front office working organization structure. This paper is composed of five sections. The first one is an introduction to the concept of Effective Debt Management Functions. The second and the third are the description of the functions: the second for the Executive Functions, which are not necessarily a Debt Management Office (DMO) responsibility, and the third to the Operational Functions, which are the direct DMO responsibilities. The fourth section is devoted to the responsibilities that a DMO can be accountable for, that may vary from country to country. The last section addresses major issues on debt management, stressing the pragmatic analysis that the functional approach provides. There are two Annexes with open-ended lists of tasks for each one of the Effective Debt Management Functions.
Improving Lives Through Better Government: Promoting Effective, Efficient, and Open Governments in Latin America and the Caribbean
Authors: Santiso Carlos , Vieyra Juan Cruz , von Horoch Jorge
Published: March 2024

Improving the effectiveness, efficiency, and openness of governments is essential to meet the key challenges that countries in the Latin American and Caribbean region face to improve service delivery to citizens. This Technical Note is meant to guide the work of the IDB's Institutional Capacity of theState Division in this area. In the literature, institutional quality and implementation capacity emerge as the key variables that underpin good government. Measurement is a central issue, as institutional quality cannot be assessed or improved without reliable indicators. While many challenges remain, the region is already adopting innovative approaches to public management, focusing particularly on the capacity of governments to manage information. In response to existing challenges and progresses, the IDB identifies three main strategic areas of action: (i) improving government effectiveness by strengthening the evidence base for policy making and enhancing the capacity of central agencies; (ii) enhancing efficiency in policy implementation by leveraging the adoption of innovative e-solutions and supporting civil service reforms; and (iii) fostering accountability and open government by strengthening accountability institutions, both internal and external, and promoting the adoption of targeted transparency policies.
Background Paper: Disaster Risk Reduction
Authors: Ashwill Maximillian , Alvarez Prado Lourdes
Published: March 2024

The frequency of natural disasters, such as floods, droughts, hurricanes, and earthquakes, is increasing in LAC as in the rest of the world. During the 1960s and 1970s, fewer than 20 disasters occurred per year, while during the 2000s the average increased to 50 disasters per year.This sector study describes the state of natural disaster risk in the Region. It looks at LAC's progress in reducing disaster risk and examines the major challenges that it still confronts. OVE also describes and analyzes the IDB's Disaster Risk Management (DRM) and Climate Change strategies, the DRM portfolio and assesses its DRM work.
Lecciones aprendidas por los programas del BID de apoyo a clusters en el Cono Sur: Resultados de los estudios de caso en Argentina (Río Negro), Brasil (São Paulo), Chile y Uruguay
Authors: Pittaluga Lucía
Published: March 2024

Desde hace algunos años, el Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo (BID) ha estado apoyando a Programas de Apoyo a los Clusters, en su mayoría en el Cono Sur. La presente consultoría analizó qué variables contribuyen a explicar el logro de los PAC para promover la creación de una institucionalidad público-privada dedicada al desarrollo de clusters. La base de este análisis fueron los PAC implementados en Chile, Argentina (Provincia de Río Negro), Brasil (Estado de São Paulo) y Uruguay. Se describen las características básicas de partida de los PAC estudiados y se muestra cómo éstas se fueron moldeando a lo largo de la implementación de los programas, conformando la especificidad de cada uno. Se utilizaron diez estudios de caso de clusters fomentados por los PAC para ilustrar las cinco lecciones aprendidas por estos programas: i. es fundamental no demorar el comienzo de la ejecución del programa una vez que los actores han sido movilizados; ii. la falta de coordinación con otras políticas públicas marca en buena medida el alcance de los PAC; iii. la manera de seleccionar los clusters a fomentar impacta en su éxito posterior; iv. la metodología utilizada para elaborar los planes estratégicos de los clusters ha de adaptarse al grado de madurez de los clusters; v. importa qué actores públicos y privados que finalmente participan en el cluster.
CGE Modeling: The Relevance of Alternative Structural Specifications for the Evaluation of Carbon Taxes' Impact and for the Integrated Assessment of Climate Change Effects: Simulations for Economies o
Authors: Chisari Omar O. , Miller Sebastián J.
Published: March 2024

This paper constructs a small CGE model to study the impact of carbon taxes on GDP and emissions under alternative closure rules and hypotheses (about mobility of factors, availability of alternative technologies and labor market disequilibrium). The model is simulated for Argentina, Brazil, Chile, El Salvador, Jamaica and Peru. The paper evaluates the costs of lowering emissions under different scenarios and finds that: i) those costs are lower under full employment and when international mobility of capital is limited and are higher when those taxes are not imitated by the rest of the world; ii) the compensation of carbon taxes with other taxes can help to reverse GDP and welfare losses; iii) alternative technology effective application will be reduced when it is intensive in capital from the rest of the world. The second part uses the assessment of costs of abatement of emissions with carbon taxes in an Integrated Assessment Model.