Latin American countries exhibit a significant gap in infrastructure stocks, due to low and in many cases inefficient public investment, which is furthermore not compensated by private sector projects. In this paper we analyse trends in public and total infrastructure investment in six large...

While the econometric literature on the impact of immigration on labour markets is well developed, there is a striking gap with regards to the impact of emigration on sending countries. Building on the established literature measuring the impact of immigration, this paper attempts to narrow that...

Social protection coverage is quite low in Latin America. This situation, irrespective of the type of pension scheme, represents a challenge for public policy since these low levels of affiliation and irregular contribution histories indicate that pensions will be insufficient in the coming...

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...

o Les revenus sont très inégalement répartis en Amérique latine, de même que les possibilités de mobilité sociale ascendante. o Le développement de la petite enfance est un puissant mécanisme égalisateur du champs social. o Une éducation secondaire plus généralisée et de meilleure...

Le renforcement du contrat social en Amérique latine passe par l'amélioration de la qualité des services publics comme la santé et l'éducation - un facteur susceptible de conduire les électeurs à accepter l'élargissement de l'assiette fiscale. Les couches moyennes d'Amérique latine sont...

o Le travail informel reste omniprésent en Amérique latine et aux Caraïbes. o De nombreux " travailleurs des couches moyennes " (qui se situent au milieu de l'échelle de distribution des revenus) sont employés dans le secteur informel et cotisent de manière irrégulière à un régime...

In this paper we study the macroeconomic effects of large exchange rate appreciations. In a sample of 128 countries since 1960, we identify 25 episodes of large nominal and real appreciations shocks and study their macroeconomic effects in a dummy-augmented panel autoregressive model. Our...