The currency crisis in Brazil and its adverse effects on neighboring countries are widely perceived to be short-lived phenomena. However, optimists—stressing favorable growth and investment prospects in Latin America—tend to ignore home-made causes of Brazil's crisis and -underrate the risks...

The globalized Western culture of innovation, as propagated by major aid institutions, does not necessarily lead to empowerment or improvement of the well-being of the stakeholders. On the contrary, it often blocks viable indigenous innovation cultures. In African societies and African Diasporas...

This paper aims to evaluate the profile of Brazilian trade structure in recent years through a methodology that seeks to assess the relative quality of trade. The paper not only evaluates the quality of Brazilian total exports, but also the exports to ALADI, a region where traditionally...

This study presents first a brief overview of the efforts towards creating a free trade area in Latin America (Chapter II); it then reviews the developments of preferential trade policies since the foundation of ALADI in 1980 (Chapter III) as well as the development and patterns of preferential...

The relationship between firms and inequality has been a focus of recent attention globally. This chapter summarizes basic facts about this relationship for Latin America. Unlike advanced economies where superstar firm growth has prompted concerns over disproportionate income growth at the top,...