Traditionally, the concept of quality of life has been viewed through objective indicators. Beyond Facts looks at quality of life through a new lens, namely, the perceptions of millions of Latin Americans. Using an enhanced version of the recently created Gallup World Poll that incorporates...

This paper considers the effects of trade unions on the education sector in Argentina and the channels of union influence on the performance of this crucial sector. The authors find that those provinces where teacher unionism is fragmented, where union density is higher and where political...

The recent financial crisis has initiated pressures for not only policy reform but also fundamental institutional fiscal reforms. This paper explores the connection between economic crises and fiscal institutional reforms in a region that has experienced plenty of both in recent years, namely...

The shock on human capital caused by COVID-19 is likely to have long lasting consequences, especially for children of low-educated families. Applying a counterfactual exercise we project the effects of school closures and other lockdown policies on the intergenerational persistence of education...

This paper reviews evidence on social mobility in Latin America. Several studies have used data sets that collect intergenerational socio economic information. The data, though limited, suggest that social mobility is low in the region, even when compared with low social mobility developed...

This paper examines the causal link between education and democracy. Motivated by a model whereby educated individuals are in a better position to assess the effects of public policies and hence favor democracy where their opinions matter, the empirical analysis uses World Values Surveys to...

This document surveys Bank lending operations designed to fight poverty and enhance social equity, with emphasis on recently approved projects with innovative components. It also surveys a broad range of poverty-related non-lending activities carried out by the Bank over the past two years. It...

The purpose of this report is to investigate the effects of family background factors in determining the intergenerational transmission of poverty in Latin America, drawing on a review of recent studies and empirical work done for this study. Based on the findings of this investigation, the...

Primary-school students in Argentina score low in international assessments of learning, particularly in math and science. To help remedy this situation, the Inter-American Development Bank is supporting a pilot study to identify pedagogical models that will enhance learning.