Investments in education across countries in Latin America and the Caribbean have transformed the lives of millions of girls and the prospects of their families and societies. Unleashing the full econ
Over seven million teachers file into classrooms across Latin America and the Caribbean every day. These women and men represent four percent of the region’s overall labor force, over twenty percent
This book looks at both the potential and limits of policies to promote entrepreneurship as an important vehicle for social mobility in Latin America and the Caribbean. Who are the region’s entrepren
Since the 1990s, the financial systems in developing and developed countries have gained in soundness, depth, and diversity, prompted in part by a series of financial sector and macroeconomic reforms
Does what economies export matter for development? If so, can industrial policies improve on the export basket generated by the market? This book approaches these questions from a variety of conceptua
After a sustained economic growth period at the end of the last century and the beginning of this one, Latin America still faces high inequality and lower well-being indicators among women, afro-desce
This study highlights the interaction between social protection (SP) programs and labor markets in the Latin America region. It presents new evidence on the limited coverage of existing programs and e
This book is motivated by the emerging rehabilitation of industrial policies as a tool for supporting economic transformation and high rates of growth in developing countries. It argues that underperf
Mandatory defined contribution pension markets are present in a growing number of countries around the world. But despite their popularity, policymakers continue to struggle with two key policy concer
To investigate whether the weak creation of productive jobs in Latin America and the Caribbean is the result of a lack of dynamism in the economy, this report looks at the behavior of firms and how re
Although the Latin American region's growth rates are at a three decade high, they have been historically disappointing in relative terms, which cannot be dissociated from the microeconomic environmen
More than a decade has passed since the introduction of comprehensive macroeconomic stabilization packages and trade, fiscal, and financial market reforms in Latin America and the Caribbean. However,
Equality of opportunity is about leveling the playing field so that circumstances such as gender, ethnicity, place of birth, or family background do not influence a person’s life chances. Success in l
Written by economists at the World Bank and at universities in Latin America and Switzerland, this thought-provoking collection of reports by the Latin American Development Forum provides in-depth ana
The great value of this volume is its presentation of the Human Opportunity Index, an indicator that notes both basic opportunities and how equitably those opportunities are distributed, in this case,
The ten chapters of this volume summarize and present results from background papers commissioned for a regional study sponsored by the Office of the Chief Economist for the Latin America and the Cari
Noting poor student performance, Vegas and Petrow summarize evidence on the impact of student learning on policies and programs and present policy options for improvement. They rely mostly on national
'Investor Protection and Corporate Governance' analyzes the impact of corporate governance on firm performance and valuation. Using unique datasets gathered at the firm-level—the first such data in th
Latin America suffered a profound state crisis in the 1980s, which prompted not only the wave of macroeconomic and deregulation reforms known as the Washington Consensus, but also a wide variety of
Beyond Survival: Protecting Households from Health Shocks in Latin America breaks new ground in the ongoing debate about health finance and financial protection from the costs of health care. The evi
Focusing on the themes of welfare, productivity, sustainability, institutions and governance, and quality of reforms, Thomas (director of the World Bank's program in Brazil from mid-2001 to mid-2005)
Latin America’s macroeconomic crises of the 1980s and ‘90s forced a severe fiscal adjustment across the region. More often than not, fiscal stability was achieved at the cost of a drasti
