This book is based on a conference entitled "Regional Public Goods and Regional Development Assistance", held in Washington, D.C. on November 6-7, 2002. It examines how the IDB and the ADB support the provision of regional public goods (RPGs) in Latin America and Asia, respectively. RPGs are...

The material within these pages shows that Barbados, a Caribbean country with just over a quarter of a million people, embodies many of the classic vulnerabilities of an island with a small open economy, yet aspires to developed-country status, and is already well advanced on the road to...

The topics covered in the chapters of the report were presented and discussed in a conference organized by the IDB in Port of Spain on July 13th, 2004. After more than a decade of economic growth and despite encouraging prospects for the future, the Trinidad and Tobagp economy remains overly...

This paper discusses Suriname's efforts in regional integration initiatives, starting in the 1990s. In the first section, the authors identify some concrete initiatives undertaken by Suriname to broaden and diversify its economic links, and highlight the many barriers that remain to be overcome...

This document summarizes the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) experience as one of the main sources of multilateral development financing in Latin America and the Caribbean. From 2000 to 2005, total financing for economic, social and institutional development projects amounted to US$38.7...

This document was prepared by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) for the "Confronting Natural Disasters: A Matter of Development" Seminar held in New Orleans on 25 and 26 March 2000. Vulnerability reduction is a key...

The purpose of this document is to contribute to the ongoing discussion on climate change in light of the available evidence on the possible channels of transmission of the economic impact of this phenomenon and the results of the latest session of the Conference of the Parties to the United...

This policy brief is intended to serve as the basis for the discussion of the Ministers of Finance on action needed to promote physical infrastructure and reduce intra-regional trade costs, in the context of the Third Meeting of the Finance Ministers of the Americas and the Caribbean held in...

Barbados is a small, open island economy with one of the highest trade/GDP ratios in the Western Hemisphere. Because trade plays such a dominant role in the Barbadian economy, it also substantially determines the country¿s development prospects. Exports are particularly important in this...

Trade can be a powerful engine of growth. In today¿s global economy, where investment moves quickly across borders and continents, and trade barriers are rapidly coming down, a competitive exporter has much to gain. In an ever-more liberalized world economy, however, competition is also that...