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Begin New Search Topic Inequality Political Geography South America

21. KIDNAPPING OF MIGRANTS IN TRANSIT THROUGH MEXICO AND THE TRANSNATIONAL ADVOCACY NETWORKS FOR THEIR HUMAN RIGHTS: SCOPE AND STRATEGIES

Author:
Monica Salmon Gómez
Publication Date:
05-2017
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The New School Graduate Program in International Affairs
Abstract:
The human rights crisis in Mexico and particularly the one with migrants in transit through Mexico is not coincidental. The increased securitization of migration has transformed it into a security issue, causing it to be a threat to the national security. The mechanisms and strategies to fight against this crisis has led to terrible consequences to the thousand of migrants that pass through Mexico every year. As stated by David Harvey, the conceptualization of the irregular migration as a threat to the Nation-States has occurred as a consequence of the “global unequal capitalist integration”. This is a structural process that promotes global inequality in a parallel way, creating the undocumented as the others unwanted (Álvarez and Guillot, 2012:24). We then have migration as a phenomenon characterized by the economic globalization and the predominance of the logic of social exclusion, that it reveals itself as a feature for nations and families in their need to seek, among other things, improved living conditions in places that are different from their place of origin
Topic:
Security, Human Rights, Migration, United Nations, and Inequality
Political Geography:
United States, South America, Latin America, North America, and Mexico

22. Is IMF Tax Policy Progressive?

Author:
Oxfam Publishing
Publication Date:
10-2017
Content Type:
Commentary and Analysis
Institution:
Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:
The IMF has significant influence on the tax policies of developing countries through advice and conditionality, technical assistance and by setting global standards and analyzing global trends. Its rhetoric has become more progressive in recent years. This paper assesses the IMF’s tax advice to developing countries based on five country case studies (Ghana, Mozambique, Nicaragua, Peru, Senegal) over the period 2010 to 2015 and supported by a desk study of public IMF documents. It finds that there is a gap between the IMF’s commitment to leveraging fiscal policy to fight inequality, and its actual tax advice to developing countries.
Topic:
International Cooperation, Inequality, Tax Systems, IMF, and Progressivism
Political Geography:
Africa, South America, Nicaragua, Mozambique, Senegal, Peru, and Ghana

23. YOUTH AND MULTIDIMENSIONAL INEQUALITY: THE CASE OF ARGENTINA 2004-2014 IN THE LATIN AMERICAN CONTEXT

Author:
Analia Calero
Publication Date:
12-2015
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The New School Graduate Program in International Affairs
Abstract:
The main objective of this paper is to make a first exploration of inequalities experienced by youth within them and bewteen other age groups, from a multidimensional perspective. Taking the case of Argentina for the period 2004-2014, the following topics are explored individually: employment, wages, education, access and use of new information technologies , health and time use.
Topic:
Health, Science and Technology, Employment, Inequality, and Youth
Political Geography:
Argentina, South America, and Buenos Aires

24. Rethinking Earnings Determinants in the Urban Areas of Bolivia

Author:
Beatriz Muriel H.
Publication Date:
12-2011
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Institute for Advanced Development Studies (INESAD)
Abstract:
This paper analyzes the factors that explain earnings in levels and inequality in the urban areas of Bolivia, considering not only the usual individual characteristics (education, experience, gender, and ethnicity) but also firm characteristics. Given the information available at the firm level in the household surveys, two simple models were developed: one for independent workers (for which there is relatively detailed firm-level data), and the other for dependent workers (where firm variables were approximated by sector, size, and by the legal condition of the workers). The main econometric results show that: i) earnings regressions that include only individual variables present highly biased (overestimated) coefficients; ii) firm characteristics are fundamental factors for explaining earnings for independent workers, almost doubling R2 and explaining 45.5% of observed earnings inequality; and iii) firm proxies for dependent workers are also relevant; however, they explain wages at a lower percentage (11.8%), which may be due to non-detailed firm data and to the relatively higher importance of education for these workers. These new findings represent a contribution to the empirical literature on earnings determinants for urban Bolivia as well as to the vision of labor income and poverty problems.
Topic:
Inequality, Urban, Earnings, and Wages
Political Geography:
South America and Bolivia

25. Analysis of Poverty and Inequality in Bolivia, 1999-2005: A Microsimulation Approach

Author:
Claudia Gutierrez
Publication Date:
01-2008
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Institute for Advanced Development Studies (INESAD)
Abstract:
This paper studies the changes in inequality and poverty in the period 1999-2005 in Bolivia through the analysis of the changes in the labour market. A decomposition method based on micro-simulation techniques was applied. The decomposition works with an income generation model at the household level, which is a set of equations for the individual earnings and for the labour supply and occupational choices for each member of the household. We decomposed the observed change in inequality into four components: i) a shift in the income distribution related to a change in employment rates and the shares of wage and non-wage labour among the employed population (participation effect); ii) a shift related to changes in the remuneration of observed characteristics of the employed population (price effect); iii) a shift related to a change in the distribution of error terms of estimated earnings functions (error term effect); and iv) a residual change in inequality not captured by the first three simulated changes in the income distribution. According to our results the increase in inequality of 3 points of the Gini coefficient, was explained by approximately 1 point for the participation, price and error term effects and 2 points for the residual change. The increase in the unemployment rate, the shift in the participation of the non wage earners, the rise in wages and the more unequal distribution of unobserved productive talents deteriorated the income distribution in this period in Bolivia. Regarding the poverty incidence, the observed variation was a reduction by 3 points explained mainly by the residual change. The low magnitude of the simulated effects as determinants of the decline in poverty in those years can be explained by the rising participation of the non labour incomes in the total household income.
Topic:
Development, Economics, Poverty, Inequality, and Simulation
Political Geography:
South America and Bolivia

26. Natural Gas and Inequality in Bolivia after Nationalization

Author:
Lykke E. Andersen, Johann Caro, Robert Faris, and Mauricio Medinaceli
Publication Date:
08-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Institute for Advanced Development Studies (INESAD)
Abstract:
The high oil prices and the sharp increases in royalties mean that the natural gas boom in Bolivia has become very important for the economy. This paper uses a Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) model to assess the impacts of this boom on key macroeconomic variables as well as the distribution of incomes in the society. From a macroeconomic perspective, the natural gas boom is a blessing, adding around 1 percentage point to GDP growth rates for at least a decade, and sharply increasing government revenues available for public spending and investment. However, the poorest segments of the population (rural small-holders and urban informals) suffer actual reductions in their real incomes, compared to the counterfactual scenario without the gas boom. This means that the natural gas boom not only causes an increase in inequality but also an increase in poverty. The paper finishes with some policy recommendations on how to counteract the negative side effects of the natural gas boom.
Topic:
Gas, Inequality, Macroeconomics, and Nationalization
Political Geography:
South America and Bolivia

27. How Best to Use the Extraordinary Natural Gas Revenues in Bolivia? Results from a Computable General Equilibrium Model

Author:
Lykke E. Andersen
Publication Date:
12-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Institute for Advanced Development Studies (INESAD)
Abstract:
The high oil prices and the sharp increases in royalties mean that the natural gas boom in Bolivia has become very important for the economy, and particularly important as a source of government revenues. Using a CGE model, Andersen et al (2006) show that the natural gas boom is likely to boost GDP growth by about 1 percentage point per year. However, if the government continues with past spending and investment patterns, the boom is also likely to have a very adverse effect on the income distribution, so much so that the poorest half of the population is likely to experience absolute reductions in their real income levels compared to a scenario without gas boom. The present paper explores alternative uses of natural gas revenues in the CGE model to see if a better outcome can be engineered.
Topic:
Economics, Gas, Inequality, and Revenue Management
Political Geography:
South America and Bolivia

28. Trade, FDI, Growth and Poverty in Bolivia

Author:
Lykke E. Andersen, Osvaldo Nina, and Dirk Willem te Velde
Publication Date:
07-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Institute for Advanced Development Studies (INESAD)
Abstract:
After several decades of “state-capitalism” characterized by import substitution policies, Bolivia implemented in 1985 a New Economic Policy (NEP) following neo-liberal ideas of free trade, privatization, and liberalization of capital flows. It was hoped that the opening up of the economy would attract foreign direct investment (FDI) which in turn would help modernize Bolivian industry, improve productivity, increase exports, stimulate growth, and reduce poverty. This paper investigates to what extent this actually happened.
Topic:
Development, Poverty, Foreign Direct Investment, Inequality, and Trade
Political Geography:
South America and Bolivia

29. Poverty and Inequality in Latin America: Some Political Reflections

Author:
Guillermo O'Donnell
Publication Date:
07-1996
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Kellogg Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
The paper begins with a brief overview of the present social situation of Latin America, arguing that during the 1980s the widespread poverty and deep social inequality already existing in the region further increased. After this the paper reviews several strategies that could be used by would-be reformers, pointing out the potentialities but also the limitations of these strategies. Consequently the present text examines the broad contours of political coalitions that might be able to deal reasonably effectively with poverty and inequality. The paper concludes by arguing that the only possible foundation for these strategies and coalitions is a morally and democratically inspired view of the respect due to the dignity of every human being. The likelihood of such an emergence is not assessed.
Topic:
Democratization, Politics, Poverty, and Inequality
Political Geography:
South America and Latin America