We analyse the important role of education in economic development and social wellbeing of American countries, including indicators of gender opportunities for development as part of social well-being. In this regard we select some indicators which usually have a great importance for reaching...

We analyse the evolution of Manufacturing Value-Added per inhabitant in 20 Latin American and Caribbean countries during the period 1980-2002, and present a comparison with more industrialized countries. We find that very few Latin American countries have experienced an increase in that variable...

This paper analyzes the evolution of Spanish foreign direct investment (FDI) in Latin America in recent years (from the 1990s through 2012). Additionally, a summary of the primary explanatory factors of FDI evolution in the three countries with the highest indices of Spanish investment (Brazil,...

This paper uses time-series data from nineteen Latin American countries and the U.S. to test for income convergence using two existing definitions of convergence and a new testable definition of ?-convergence. Only Dominican Republic and Paraguay were found to pair-wise converge according to the...

The depth of and access to financial services provided by banks throughout Latin America are extremely low in spite of its recognized importance for economic activity, employment and poverty alleviation. Low financial depth and access hurts the poor the most and is due to a variety of obstacles...

This paper finds that shocks to net financial inflows, world oil prices, the U.S. growth rate, and the lagged real exchange rate explain most of the fluctuations in Mexico’s annual growth since 1979. The paper also estimates how the effects of these external constraints have changed since...

After a decade of economic reforms that dramatically altered the structure of economies in Latin America, making them more open and more competitive, and a decade of substantial increases in public spending on education, health and other social programs in virtually all countries, poverty and...

After a decade of economic and political reforms that dramatically altered the structure of economies in Latin America, poverty and high inequality remain deeply entrenched. Integration into the global economy in the 1990s brought increased prosperity only to a small minority of households in...

In Latin America, privatization started earlier and spread farther and more rapidly than in almost any other part of the world. More, and larger, firms were sold, and more proceeds were raised. Despite positive microeconomic results, privatization is highly and increasingly unpopular in the...

In this paper, we examine the relationship between the domestic credit by banking sector and Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita in the balanced panel framework of 20 Latin America countries from 1960 to 2010. Panel Cointegration tests of Kao (1999), Maddala and Wu (1999) and Westerlund...