Why should people - and economies - save? This book on the savings problem in Latin America and the Caribbean suggests that, while saving to survive the bad times is important, saving to thrive in the good times is what really counts. People must save to invest in health and education, live...

Chapter 1: Preliminaries: concepts, trends and frameworks -- Chapter 2: The participation of Latin America in international supply chains -- Chapter 3: Drivers of global value chain participation: cross-country analyses -- Chapter 4: What does it take to be part of an international value chain:...

Latin American and Caribbean countries are the most urban in the developing world and have very high home ownership rates. However, many of the region's inhabitants are still poorly housed. This book examines three key contributing issues: high housing prices relative to family income, lack of...

Age of Productivity offers a look at how the low productivity in Latin America and the Caribbean is preventing the region from catching up with the developed world. The authors look beyond the traditional macro explanations and dig all the way down to the industry and firm level to uncover the...

Development Connections takes stock of recent advances in what is broadly known as Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). The authors seek to discover how information and telecommunication technologies affect both the public and private sectors in Latin America and how they can...

This book provides a systematic examination of the relationship between industrial clusters and poverty, which is analyzed using a multidimensional framework. It examines the often-neglected concept of social protection as a means of mitigating the risks and vulnerabilities faced by workers and...

Introduction -- Rural Migration and Sectoral Earning Differences in Urban China -- A Solution to the Migrant Labor Shortage and Rural Labor Surplus in China -- Do Chinese Employers Discriminate against Females when Hiring Employees? -- An Empirical Analysis of Gender Wage Differentials in Urban...

Theoretical Foundations: A General Equilibrium Approach -- The Harris-Todaro Migration Model and Introduction of the Informal Sector -- Informal Sector and Open Unemployment -- Foreign Capital Inflow, Informal Sector and Welfare -- How and How Far to Liberalise a Developing Economy -- Economic...

The Report predicts that the coming five years will witness the five countries keep improving in national innovative competitiveness, with China and Russia maintaining their strong growth momentum, India growing at a moderate rate, and Brazil and South Africa gradually picking up speed and...

This book analyses how Calon Gypsies in Brazil have responded to global financial transformations and shifted their economic practices from itinerant trade to moneylending. It also explores their role as ethnic credit providers, offering rare insight into the financial lives of poor and...