Paving the Way to Sustained Growth and Prosperity in Central America, Panama, and the Dominican Republic

Paving the Way to Sustained Growth and Prosperity in Central America, Panama, and the Dominican Republic PDF Author: Ms.Kimberly Beaton
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
ISBN: 1484370287
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 308

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Book Description
Abstract: Accelerating economic growth in Central America, Panama and the Dominican Republic (CAPDR) remains an elusive task. While the region performed relatively well in the post-global financial crisis period, over the last five years obstacles to growth have become more evident and new challenges have emerged. In response, the region has strengthened macro-financial frameworks but more progress will be required to pave the way to sustained growth and prosperity. This book considers the structural factors underlying the region’s growth outlook and assesses its macroeconomic and financial challenges to help shape the policy agenda going forward. The book first identifies the structural determinants of growth in the region related to: capital formation; employment; demographic factors, including immigration; productivity; and violence. It then highlights the importance of creating fiscal space through the design and implementation of fiscal rules and mechanisms to increase accountability (better quality of public spending, adequate policies to reduce income inequality and sustainable retirement plans). Finally, it presents recent evidence on the importance of a supportive financial sector for growth (including through financial inclusion and development).

Paving the Way to Sustained Growth and Prosperity in Central America, Panama, and the Dominican Republic

Paving the Way to Sustained Growth and Prosperity in Central America, Panama, and the Dominican Republic PDF Author: Ms.Kimberly Beaton
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
ISBN: 1484370287
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 308

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Book Description
Abstract: Accelerating economic growth in Central America, Panama and the Dominican Republic (CAPDR) remains an elusive task. While the region performed relatively well in the post-global financial crisis period, over the last five years obstacles to growth have become more evident and new challenges have emerged. In response, the region has strengthened macro-financial frameworks but more progress will be required to pave the way to sustained growth and prosperity. This book considers the structural factors underlying the region’s growth outlook and assesses its macroeconomic and financial challenges to help shape the policy agenda going forward. The book first identifies the structural determinants of growth in the region related to: capital formation; employment; demographic factors, including immigration; productivity; and violence. It then highlights the importance of creating fiscal space through the design and implementation of fiscal rules and mechanisms to increase accountability (better quality of public spending, adequate policies to reduce income inequality and sustainable retirement plans). Finally, it presents recent evidence on the importance of a supportive financial sector for growth (including through financial inclusion and development).

Excerpt: Paving the Way to Sustained Growth and Prosperity in Central America, Panama, and the Dominican Republic

Excerpt: Paving the Way to Sustained Growth and Prosperity in Central America, Panama, and the Dominican Republic PDF Author: International Monetary Fund. Western Hemisphere Dept.
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
ISBN: 1484370317
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 20

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Book Description
This is an excerpt from Paving the Way to Growth and Prosperity in Central America, Panama, and the Dominican Republic edited by Kimberly Beaton, Roberto Garcia Saltos, and Lorenzo Figliuoli. Over the past three decades, countries in Central America, Panama, and the Dominican Republic have experienced sustained economic transfor-mation. The region has moved away from its rural and agricultural past to a modern and urban present and has significantly integrated its econ-omies regionally and globally. Many factors have shaped the region’s economic performance and are expected to contribute to its future development. The book aims to foster policy dialogue and contribute to the efforts to address the region’s unique challenges. The first part looks at the region’s growth with a view to understanding how structural determinants have contributed to the region’s uneven gains and the resulting priorities to strengthen the foundations of growth. The second part of the book high-lights the importance of addressing the region’s fiscal challenges and supporting growth and improved social outcomes. Finally, the third part of the book emphasizes the importance of a supportive financial sector for growth, including through financial inclusion and development. This excerpt is taken from uncorrected page proofs. Please check quota-tions and attributions against the final published volume.

Violent Crime and Insecurity in Latin America and the Caribbean

Violent Crime and Insecurity in Latin America and the Caribbean PDF Author: Paul M Bisca
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 60

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Book Description
Violent crime and insecurity remain major barriers to prosperity in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). With just 8 percent of the global population, LAC accounts for a third of the world’s homicides. Building on the existing literature, this paper aims to support economic policymakers and development partners by exploring the interplay between insecurity and macroeconomic outcomes, with emphasis on the relationship between violent crime and growth, the business climate, and public finances. The analysis shows that national-level crime indicators mask huge internal disparities, and that municipalities with 10 percent higher homicide rates have lower economic activity by around 4 percent. The paper develops an innovative measure of insecurity—the share of crime-related news—and shows its association with lower industrial production. Using firm-level data, it also estimates that the direct costs of crime, for firms, are around 7 percent of annual sales, and these are much higher when gangs and drug-trafficking organizations are present. Violent crime rises with macroeconomic instability, inequality, and governance problems. Using a large cross-country panel, the analysis finds that homicides increase when a country is affected by negative growth, high inflation, or a worsening of inequality. Victimization surveys indicate that where populations are concerned with the rule of law—impunity and police corruption—only one in five victims file their case with the police. Lack of trust and crime can be mutually reinforcing. Finally, the paper documents the fiscal burden of security provision and finds that spending tends to be inelastic to crime and that spending efficiency could be improved. The paper concludes with policy lessons and areas for additional collaboration between national authorities, international partners, and key stakeholders. These focus on data collection and analysis, economic policies that may address the root causes and manifestations of crime, strengthening rule of law institutions, and intensifying regional exchanges on security and public finance issues.

IMF Publications Catalog, Fall/Winter 2018

IMF Publications Catalog, Fall/Winter 2018 PDF Author: International Monetary Fund. External Relations Dept.
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
ISBN: 1484375491
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 36

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Book Description
This paper focuses on several IMF publications published in the winter of year 2018. Realizing Indonesia’s Economic Potential book uncovers some of the forces that are likely to shape Indonesia’s economy. It analyses the constraints to growth, propose options to boost economic growth, and explore key issues policymakers will need to handle in the future. The ASEAN Way: Sustaining Growth and Stability book provides a comprehensive account of how Association of Southeast Asian Nations, its individual members and as a group, rose above its worst regional financial crisis 20 years ago, to become one of the most resilient in the face of the worst global financial crisis just a decade later. The challenges faced and the policy responses taken, chronicled and analyzed in this study, can hopefully provide further lessons as we face a new global policy paradigm. It is a must-read for academics, the financial community, and policymakers alike.

Guatemala

Guatemala PDF Author: International Monetary Fund. Western Hemisphere Dept.
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 66

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Book Description
Guatemala: Selected Issues

Regional Economic Outlook, Western Hemisphere, October 2023

Regional Economic Outlook, Western Hemisphere, October 2023 PDF Author: International Monetary Fund. Western Hemisphere Dept.
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
ISBN:
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 44

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Book Description
After a stronger-than-expected recovery from the pandemic and continued resilience in early 2023, economic growth in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) is softening as the effect of tighter policies to combat inflation is taking hold and the external environment is weakening. The early and swift monetary tightening across the region since 2021, together with the withdrawal of most of the pandemic fiscal stimulus and the reversal of external price pressures, have helped put headline inflation on a downward trajectory. Core inflation has also started to ease, as price pressures are becoming less generalized, although it remains elevated amid strong labor markets and positive output gaps in some countries. Banking systems have weathered the rise in interest rates well and are generally healthy, though credit to the private sector is decelerating amid tighter supply conditions and weaker demand.

Crime and Output: Theory and Application to the Northern Triangle of Central America

Crime and Output: Theory and Application to the Northern Triangle of Central America PDF Author: Dmitry Plotnikov
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
ISBN: 1513519271
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 25

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Book Description
This paper presents a structural model of crime and output. Individuals make an occupational choice between criminal and legal activities. The return to becoming a criminal is endogenously determined in a general equilibrium together with the level of crime and economic activity. I calibrate the model to the Northern Triangle countries and conduct several policy experiments. I find that for a country like Honduras crime reduces GDP by about 3 percent through its negative effect on employment indirectly, in addition to direct costs of crime associated with material losses, which are in line with literature estimates. Also, the model generates a non-linear effect of crime on output and vice versa. On average I find that a one percent increase in output per capita implies about 1⁄2 percent decline in crime, while a decrease of about 5 percent in crime leads to about one percent increase in output per capita. These positive effects are larger if the initial level of crime is larger.

The Growth Report

The Growth Report PDF Author: Commission on Growth and Development
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN: 0821374923
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 198

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Book Description
The result of two years work by 19 experienced policymakers and two Nobel prize-winning economists, 'The Growth Report' is the most complete analysis to date of the ingredients which, if used in the right country-specific recipe, can deliver growth and help lift populations out of poverty.

Better Spending for Better Lives

Better Spending for Better Lives PDF Author: Alejandro Izquierdo
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781597823302
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description


Globalization and Development

Globalization and Development PDF Author: José Antonio Ocampo
Publisher: Stanford University Press
ISBN: 9780804749565
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 238

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Book Description
Globalization and Development draws upon the experiences of the Latin American and Caribbean region to provide a multidimensional assessment of the globalization process from the perspective of developing countries. Based on a study by the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), this book gives a historical overview of economic development in the region and presents both an economic and noneconomic agenda that addresses disparity, respects diversity, and fosters complementarity among regional, national, and international institutions. For orders originating outside of North America, please visit the World Bank website for a list of distributors and geographic discounts at http://publications.worldbank.org/howtoorder or e-mail [email protected].