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Begin New Search Topic International Trade and Finance Political Geography Latin America Content Type Working Paper

41. The FDI Recession Has Begun

Author:
Karl Sauvant
Publication Date:
11-2008
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Institute for Latin American and Iberian Studies at Columbia University
Abstract:
With $1.8 trillion (according to UNCTAD), world foreign direct investment (FDI) flows reached an all-time high last year. All major regions benefitted from increased flows. But that was then. What is, and will be, the impact of the financial crisis and the recession on FDI flows this year and next?
Topic:
Economics, International Political Economy, and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:
Africa, Russia, Central Asia, and Latin America

42. The Provision of Banking Services in Latin America: Obstacles and Recommendations

Author:
Liliana Rojas-Suarez
Publication Date:
06-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Global Development
Abstract:
The depth of and access to financial services provided by banks throughout Latin America are extremely low in spite of its recognized importance for economic activity, employment and poverty alleviation. Low financial depth and access hurts the poor the most and is due to a variety of obstacles that are presented in this paper in four categories, along with recommendations to overcome them. The first category groups socio-economic obstacles that undercut the demand for financial services of large segments of the population. The second category identifies problems in the operations of the banking sector that impedes the adequate provision of financial services to households and firms. The third category captures institutional deficiencies, with emphasis on the quality of the legal framework and the governability of the countries in the region. The fourth category identifies regulations that tend to distort the provision of banking services. Recommendations to confront these obstacles include innovative proposals that take into consideration the political constraints facing individual countries. Some of the policy recommendations include: public-private partnerships to improve financial literacy, the creation of juries specialized in commercial activities to support the rights of borrowers and creditors, and the approval of regulation to allow widespread usage of technological innovations to permit low-income families and small firms to gain access to financial services.
Topic:
Development, Economics, International Trade and Finance, and Poverty
Political Geography:
Latin America

43. China's Expansion into and U.S. Withdrawal from Argentina's Telecommunications and Space Industries and the Implications for U.S. National Security

Author:
Janie Hulse
Publication Date:
09-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Strategic Studies Institute of the U.S. Army War College
Abstract:
In April 2005 when the Western Hemisphere Subcommittee of the House International Relations Committee met to discuss Chinese involvement in Latin America, administration officials tended to downplay Chinese engagement in the region except in areas related to communications and intelligence. Indeed, globalization, new technologies, and growing Chinese information warfare capabilities make the United States particularly vulnerable to Chinese activity in these strategic areas. China's recent success in Argentina's telecommunications and space industries exemplifies China's increasing effectiveness in strategic developing markets and raises concerns regarding increasing U.S. reliance on international information networks.
Topic:
International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:
China, Argentina, and Latin America

44. Jacob K. Javits and Latin American Economic Integration

Author:
Salvador Rivera
Publication Date:
08-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Independent Institute
Abstract:
Since the end of the Second World War the United States has zealously pursued internationalism, the policy of establishing a new economic and political order based on free trade. Internationalism views the world as one community. It seeks to create a common body of political, economic and social values with an emphasis on human rights, environmentalism and the expansion of democracy.
Topic:
Economics, International Trade and Finance, and Regional Cooperation
Political Geography:
United States and Latin America

45. "BRIC countries are opaque"

Author:
George Vojta
Publication Date:
06-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Media Tenor International
Abstract:
Media Tenor: Even within the BRIC States one cannot say that all three are on the Media Agenda, not mention developing countries. What could be the reason for this salience? Vojta: My sense is that the four BRIC countries are rising in media visibility as they become more significant players in the global system. Very shortly these four countries will surpass the G7countries in annual absolute growth results.
Topic:
Development, Economics, International Trade and Finance, and Infrastructure
Political Geography:
Russia, China, South Asia, and Latin America

46. The Political Economy of Taxation and Tax Reform in Developing Countries

Author:
Jonathan Di John
Publication Date:
07-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
United Nations University
Abstract:
Taxation provides one of the principal lenses in measuring state capacity, state formation and power relations in a society. This paper critically examines three main approaches (economic, administrative and political economy) to understanding taxation. It also examines differences in tax composition across middle-income developing regions and finds that Latin American economies tax upper income groups much less than in East Asia and Eastern Europe, and explores the political economy and policy implications of these differences. The paper also examines issues of tax reform in low income/post-war economies and explores the problem that capital flight poses for less developed countries.
Topic:
Development, International Trade and Finance, Political Economy, and Third World
Political Geography:
Eastern Europe, East Asia, and Latin America

47. Real Income Stagnation of Countries, 1960-2001

Author:
Sanjay Reddy and Camelia Minoiu
Publication Date:
04-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Institute for Social and Economic Research and Policy at Columbia University
Abstract:
This paper examines the phenomenon of real-income stagnation (in which real-income growth is uninterruptedly negligible or negative for a sizable sequence of years). The authors analyze data for four decades from a large cross-section of countries. Real income stagnation is a conceptually distinct phenomenon from low average growth and other features of the growth sequence that have been previously considered. The authors find that real income stagnation has affected a significant number of countries (103 out of 168), and resulted in substantial income loss. Countries that suffered spells of real income stagnation were more likely to be poor, in Latin America or sub-Saharan Africa, conflict ridden and dependent on primary commodity exports. Stagnation is also very likely to persist over time. Countries that were afflicted with stagnation in the 1960s had a likelihood of seventy-five percent of also being afflicted with stagnation in the 1990s.
Topic:
Economics, International Political Economy, and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:
Africa and Latin America

48. The Bargain of the Unstable: Trade Negotiations and Financial Crises in Mercosur 1995-2001

Author:
Pablo Heidrich
Publication Date:
02-2005
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for International Studies, University of Southern California
Abstract:
Argentina and Brazil suffered grave financial crises during the 1990s. During that time, they were involved in trade negotiations with each other inside Mercosur. As the financial crises struck one or the other country, their negotiating positions varied from accommodating to aggressive, leading to peaks of confrontation from which Mercosur has not quite recovered yet. Furthermore, those crises provoked a large number of trade disputes as protectionism from both countries grew when the crises increasingly hurt their economies.
Topic:
Economics, International Trade and Finance, and Political Economy
Political Geography:
Brazil, Argentina, and Latin America

49. Political Finance Regulation in Guatemala: A Comparative Survey

Author:
Kevin Casas-Zamora
Publication Date:
01-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Academy of Political Science
Abstract:
As in most Latin American countries, the funding of political activities has only recently become a matter of serious concern in Guatemala. Long known for its chronic political instability, the country has limited experience in the observance of basic democratic practices such as regular and reasonably free and fair elections. Even today, the regulation of political finance remains under the shadow of other pressing and as yet unresolved political issues such as the extraordinary weakness of parties, the consistently high abstention rates and the practical disenfranchisement of the indigenous majority.
Topic:
International Relations, International Trade and Finance, and Political Economy
Political Geography:
South America, Latin America, and Guatemala

50. The Mexican Internet after the Boom: Challenges and Opportunities

Author:
Martin Kenney, James Curry, and Oscar Contreras
Publication Date:
06-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Berkeley Roundtable on the International Economy
Abstract:
The Internet will be the defining technology of the first decade of the 21st Century. It is redefining boundaries of all sorts in new and unforeseen ways. As with many previous disruptive technologies, the Internet can be a double-edged sword for developing countries such as Mexico. For example, the Internet has the potential to dramatically lower barriers to cross-border trade. This will enable international retailers to penetrate the Mexican market potentially undermining domestic retail businesses. On the other side, the Internet could provide opportunities for Mexican firms to enter the global market, particularly Spanish-speaking Latin America and the huge U.S. Hispanic market. But this is only the tip of the iceberg of change. For example, in a country such as Mexico in which information has not been readily available and public libraries are relatively few in number and poorly stocked, the free and low-cost information available on the Internet provides a powerful new distribution medium – it provides inexpensive access to global information sources.
Topic:
Industrial Policy, International Trade and Finance, and Science and Technology
Political Geography:
United States, Latin America, Central America, North America, and Mexico