Income is very unequally distributed in Latin America - but so too are opportunities for upward mobility. Early childhood development is a powerful mechanism to level the social playing field. More and better secondary education is key. Better administration of schools, combining greater...

A strengthened social contract in Latin American countries relies on the improved quality of public services such as health and education, which would build a constituency for a broader tax base. Latin American middle-income sectors express strong support for democracy but they are critical of...

Informality remains pervasive in Latin American and Caribbean labour markets. Many "middle-sectors workers" (around the middle of the income distribution) are employed informally and contribute irregularly to a public or private pension. Governments should consider extending social pensions and...

Over the last five years, most Latin American governments have made considerable strides in managing the composition of their public debt, while reducing their foreign-currency exposure. Issuing public debt in local currency is not new for Latin America; what is new, however, is the widespread...

The idea of local “ownership” of development policies is now popular among the donor community, but without a reduction of conditionality on aid disbursements, enhanced ownership will be difficult to achieve. While there are still strong reasons for attaching certain kinds of conditionality...

Political and social troubles worsened in 2007, but the long term trend is positive. Progress towards democracy continues, despite some severe setbacks. Democratic institutions need to foster dialogue and social cohesion.

The “raw materials curse” is far from being an inevitability, as shown by Norway and Chile. Both examples offer valuable lessons to developing countries on how to sensibly manage mining and oil resources. Following Norway’s example, Chile could build upon its experience and become a key...

Financial actors from developing countries are playing with other OECD financial giants as equals through their Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWFs). SWFs could become major actors of development finance if they chose to allocate 10 per cent of their portfolio to emerging and developing economies over...

The recent expansion of African horticultural exports has proven that business is changing on the continent. The experience of Senegal and Mali suggests that the two countries are facing major challenges in strengthening policy co-ordination, improving business environment and realising market...

The use of governance “indicators” is booming. These indicators are supposed to quantify the quality of a country’s governance institutions by considering, for example, the extent of corruption in the economy, the quality of public and private regulatory systems, the prevalence of “rule...