Latin American economies continue to present relatively stable growth but continued uncertainty with regards to the duration of the commodity boom could pose threats to medium-term growth and economic development. Latin American countries face increasing competition from emerging economies across the globe particularly in manufacturing sectors. In this context of shifting wealth, it is increasingly important to foster competitiveness and connectivity.

Improving logistics performance is particularly important as it directly impacts growth, productivity, and trade within the region and beyond. The region’s productive structure with significant concentration in natural resource and agriculture augment the importance of logistics in fostering competitiveness. Nevertheless, logistics performance in the region faces serious gaps particularly in the areas of customs performance and the availability of infrastructure. Improving these aspects will entail more and better investment in infrastructure, as well as making the most of existing infrastructure by putting in place efficient trade facilitation measures and efficient and appropriate regulatory frameworks.

..."My answer is that claims about the vulnerability of floating-rate debtors to crisis haven’t been given any specificity because they do not, in fact, make sense. Simple macroeconomic models suggest that a loss of confidence in a country like the United States, taking place at a time when interest rates are at the zero lower bound, should, if anything, have an expansionary effect. Nor can one appeal to the lessons of history: cases resembling the hypothesized crisis scenario are rare, and those that exist don’t support the notion that Greek-style crises can take place under a very different currency regime. You may find it implausible that conventional wisdom, backed by so many influential people, could be wrong on so basic a point. But it’s not the first time that has happened, and it surely won’t be the last"...

The response of Latin American economies to the Global Financial Crisis was unprecedented. In the past, when the world got the flu, Latin America got pneumonia. Such was the case with the East Asian financial crisis, but this time was different. Emerging market economies were able to successfully weather the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. This paper looks at which factors explain better performance. Was it good luck? Was it good policies? In this article, economic growth during the global financial crisis is compared with growth during the Asian crisis. We look at the experience of Latin America and present econometric evidence for a large sample of countries, with special focus on emerging and developing economies. We find that exchange rate flexibility and a looser monetary policy played an important role in mitigating the crisis. We also find that higher private credit growth and more financial openness reduced growth. There is some evidence of good luck, but only within the sample of thirty one emerging markets. Better macroeconomic management during the recent crisis was key to the unprecedented economic performance.

Xavier Tafunell - 2013

Macroeconomic studies indicate that physical capital formation has played a pivotal role in long-term economic growth. These studies have been hampered, however, by a data constraint: in order to pinpoint exactly what the role of capital formation has been, a larger empirical database –larger in terms of both the time span and the geographical area covered– is needed. This study addresses that problem by providing new and very extensive series on capital formation in Latin America. It also describes the different series used to identify long, medium and short-term movements. One of the outstanding features of these investment trends were their marked instability up to 1950. Another salient aspect has been the more robust growth in investment seen in the second half of the nineteenth century, which actually outdistanced the growth spurt that occurred during the “golden age” of 1950-1980.

Structural change for equality

Virtuous structural change is a qualitative transformation of the production structure.
It drives and strengthens more knowledge-intensive sectors and activities that enjoy high demand, and it generates more and better employment, which is the master key to equality.

Equality is the objective; structural change, the path; and policy, the instrument.
Strengthen the role of the State as a guarantor of rights and driver of policies for sustainable economic and social development.

— The fact that we can predict eclipses does not mean that we can predict revolutions.
— Five overlapping sub-systems –science, technology, economy, politics and general culture– influence the process of economic growth. Although each of the five has its own distinctive features and relative autonomy, it is their interdependence and interaction which provides major insights into the processes of “forging ahead”, “catching up” and “falling behind” in economic growth.
Christopher Freeman, History, Co-evolution and Economic Growth, University of Sussex, Science Policy Research Unit