This book contains a selection of the major presentations from the conference: "Policy-Based Finance and Alternatives for Financial Market Development" held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in early 1996. It explores the generally successful East Asian experiences with policy-based finance and...

During the past two decades, Latin American countries have made pioneering efforts in reforming infrastructure services. The "first generation of reforms" encompassed widespread privatization, deregulation and restructuring of the provision of energy, water, transport and telecommunications...

During the last decade, Latin American countries have brought about important reforms in infrastructure services based both on private sector participation for enhancing internal efficiency and competition for increasing consumer welfare. Infrastructure services have evolved from monopoly and...

The history of the electric power industry in Latin America has been a continuous search for a formula that would yield a reliable and efficient service, accessible to all. By recognizing the difficulties encountered in the last three decades in implementing all types of models, Market or State?...

Escaping the Poverty Trap proposes early childhood investment policies that could decisively change the prospects for the next generation of the region's poor. Contributors include Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen and Gro Harlem Brundtland, former director-general of the World Health Organization. In...

This paper deals with how to promote distributed generation (DG) done with renewable energy in emerging markets of Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), with the purpose of increasing competitiveness and achieving sustainable economic growth. The paper argues that the key rationale for...

This paper aims to present a snapshot of some of the best practices in the promotion and use of renewable energy, and provide practical examples of the development of renewable energy markets that countries in Latin America and the Caribbean can replicate. This brief study provides an overview...

In a partnership spanning more than five decades, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and its member countries in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) have invested heavily in economic and social development. The IDB is prepared to meet LAC¿s growing demand for climate change support...

This paper shows, first, that non-commodity revenues are more volatile in oil- and mineral-rich countries and that quality of institutions is associated with lower volatility. We investigate the channels through which oil and mineral revenue volatility lead to non-commodity revenues volatility,...