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22. Achieving Development Success: Strategies and Lessons from the Developing World
- Author:
- Augustin K. Fosu
- Publication Date:
- 03-2013
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- United Nations University
- Abstract:
- What can the less well-off developing countries learn from the “successes” of other developing countries? This Policy Brief highlights successful development strategies and lessons from in-depth case studies of select countries from the developing world. The coverage includes East Asia and the Pacific, the emerging Asian giants, sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, and the Middle East and North Africa, along with respective regional syntheses. Although countries' experiences are not necessarily replicable, the recurrent themes across countries and regions provide the appropriate connectedness for a comprehensive global perspective on development strategies and lessons.
- Topic:
- Development, Emerging Markets, and Poverty
- Political Geography:
- Africa, Middle East, Israel, and Latin America
23. Declining Inequality in Latin America in the 2000s: The Cases of Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico.
- Author:
- Nora Lustig, Luis F. Lopez-Calva, and Eduardo Ortiz-Juarez
- Publication Date:
- 10-2012
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Center for Global Development
- Abstract:
- Between 2000 and 2010, the Gini coefficient declined in 13 of 17 Latin American countries. The decline was statistically significant and robust to changes in the time interval, inequality measures, and data sources. In-depth country studies for Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico suggest two main phenomena underlie this trend: a fall in the premium to skilled labor and more progressive government transfers. The fall in the premium to skills resulted from a combination of supply, demand, and institutional factors. Their relative importance depends on the country.
- Topic:
- Development, Economics, Emerging Markets, Globalization, International Trade and Finance, Poverty, and Social Stratification
- Political Geography:
- Brazil, Argentina, Latin America, and Mexico
24. The Impact of Taxes and Social Spending on Inequality and Poverty in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Mexico, and Peru: A Synthesis of Results
- Author:
- Nora Lustig
- Publication Date:
- 11-2012
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Center for Global Development
- Abstract:
- We apply a standard tax-and-benefit-incidence analysis to estimate the impact on inequality and poverty of direct taxes, indirect taxes and subsidies, and social spending (cash and food transfers and in-kind transfers in education and health). The extent of inequality reduction induced by direct taxes and transfers is rather small (2 percentage points on average), especially when compared with that found in Western Europe (15 percentage points on average). What prevents Argentina, Bolivia, and Brazil from achieving similar reductions in inequality is not the lack of revenues but the fact that they spend less on cash transfers—especially transfers that are progressive in absolute terms—as a share of GDP. Indirect taxes result in that net contributors to the fiscal system start at the fourth, third, and even second decile on average, depending on the country. When in-kind transfers in education and health are added, however, the bottom six deciles are net recipients. The impact of transfers on inequality and poverty reduction could be higher if spending on direct cash transfers that are progressive in absolute terms were increased, leakages to the nonpoor reduced, and coverage of the extreme poor by direct transfer programs expanded.
- Topic:
- Development, Economics, Education, Health, and Poverty
- Political Geography:
- Brazil, Argentina, Latin America, Mexico, Peru, and Bolivia
25. Transparency in Military Spending and Arms Acquisitions in Latin America and the Caribbean
- Author:
- Mark Bromley and Carina Solmirano
- Publication Date:
- 01-2012
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Stockholm International Peace Research Institute
- Abstract:
- Over the past two decades democratic processes have strengthened in Latin America and the Caribbean following decades of authoritarian rule. The region faces no major external military threat and—other than a limited number of unresolved border disputes—relations between neighbouring states are peaceful. Nonetheless, military expenditure and arms acquisitions have increased significantly in recent years. These developments have sparked fears about their potential impact on regional stability as well as the possibility of a regional arms race developing. In addition, questions have been asked as to whether the increase in spending has been made at the expense of the social needs of the citizens of Latin America and the Caribbean. In this context, governments in the region have renewed efforts to improve the levels of transparency of their military spending and arms acquisitions.
- Topic:
- Arms Control and Proliferation, Poverty, and Natural Resources
- Political Geography:
- Latin America and Caribbean
26. The Road to Universal Social Protection: How Costa Rica Informs Theory Juliana
- Author:
- Juliana Martínez Franzoni and Diego Sánchez-Ancochea
- Publication Date:
- 03-2012
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Kellogg Institute for International Studies
- Abstract:
- How are universal social programs built in countries on the periphery, where resources are more limited and initial inequalities higher than any ever seen in OECD countries? Historically it has been very difficult, and even those countries that committed themselves to serious welfare efforts did so with stratified, rather than universal, transfers and services. Yet there have been some exceptions, and Costa Rica ranks among the most successful. The bottom-up expansion of social security, along income/class rather than occupational lines, was very important in the creation of a basic floor of benefits among the low and low-middle salaried population. Gradually, the middle and upper-middle groups were later on brought on board as well, in sharp contrast with the rest of the region where social insurance was shaped for and according to the preferences of various middle-class groups.
- Topic:
- Democratization, Economics, Poverty, Social Stratification, and Health Care Policy
- Political Geography:
- Latin America
27. Taxation in Paraguay: Marginalization of small-scale farming
- Author:
- Déborah Itriago
- Publication Date:
- 05-2012
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Oxfam Publishing
- Abstract:
- Paraguay's tax system is insufficient to provide the resource base to eradicate poverty in the country, and has done little or nothing to achieve a more equal distribution of income and wealth. Two major taxation reforms over the last decade have done little to alleviate the fiscal injustice that is generated partly by the low tax reciprocity of the soy agribusiness – Paraguay's main export crop. Meanwhile, programmes to support small- scale farming receive a level of public financing accounting for just 5 per cent of public expenditure. With one of the highest levels of unequal land ownership in the world, labour informality at very high levels and poor environmental regulation of soy producers, the livelihoods and ecosystems of Paraguay's small-scale producers are at risk. There are serious loopholes in Paraguay's tax system that must be addressed in order to deliver a fairer, progressive taxation system that will allow the country to meet its social objectives.
- Topic:
- Agriculture, Environment, International Trade and Finance, and Poverty
- Political Geography:
- Latin America
28. A Note on the Middle Class in Latin America
- Author:
- Nancy Birdsall
- Publication Date:
- 08-2012
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Center for Global Development
- Abstract:
- The Carbon Monitoring for Action (CARMA) database provides information about the carbon dioxide emissions, electricity production, corporate ownership, and location of more than 60,000 power plants in over 200 countries. Originally launched in 2007, CARMA is provided freely to the public at www.carma.org and remains the only comprehensive data source of its kind. This paper documents the methodology underpinning CARMA v3.0, released in July, 2012. Comparison of CARMA model output with reported data highlights the general difficulty of precisely predicting annual electricity generation for a given plant and year. Estimating the rate at which a plant emits CO2 (per unit of electricity generated) generally faces fewer obstacles. Ultimately, greater disclosure of plant-specific data is needed to overcome these limitations, particularly in major emitting countries like China, Russia, and Japan. For any given plant in CARMA v3.0, it is estimated that the reported value is within 20 percent of the actual value in 85 percent of cases for CO2 intensity, 75 percent for annual CO2 emissions, and 45 percent for annual electricity generation. CARMA's prediction models are shown to offer significantly better estimates than more naïve approaches to estimating plant-specific performance.
- Topic:
- Democratization, Economics, Poverty, and Social Stratification
- Political Geography:
- Russia, Japan, China, America, and Latin America
29. Latin American Urban Development into the 21st Century
- Author:
- Ravi Kanbur, Dennis Rodgers, and Jo Beall
- Publication Date:
- 01-2011
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- United Nations University
- Abstract:
- This paper argues for a more systemic engagement with Latin American cities, contending it is necessary to reconsider their unity in order to nuance the 'fractured cities' perspective that has widely come to epitomise the contemporary urban moment in the region. It begins by offering an overview of regional urban development trends, before exploring how the underlying imaginary of the city has critically shifted over the past half century. Focusing in particular on the way that slums and shantytowns have been conceived, it traces how the predominant conception of the Latin American city moved from a notion of unity to a perception of fragmentation, highlighting how this had critically negative ramifications for urban development agendas, and concludes with a call for a renewed vision of Latin American urban life.
- Topic:
- Development, Poverty, and Urbanization
- Political Geography:
- Latin America
30. Irregular Urbanization as a Catalyst for Radical Social Mobilization: The Case of the Housing Movements of São Paulo
- Author:
- Lucy Earle
- Publication Date:
- 03-2011
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- United Nations University
- Abstract:
- This study focuses on the city of São Paulo, Brazil and examines the ways in which irregular and illegal growth have influenced the collective action of social movements of the urban poor. The study describes how São Paulo grew as a socially segregated city during the twentieth century due to calculated neglect on the part of the municipal authorities. Highlighting the city's sociospatial inequality, degradation of the central districts and widespread irregularity, it illustrates how these factors have both negatively affected the urban poor and provided a catalyst for social mobilization.
- Topic:
- Poverty, Social Stratification, Social Movement, and Urbanization
- Political Geography:
- South America and Latin America