Policy Briefs

Policy briefs discuss a particular development policy issue and outline courses of action, including specific policy recommendations. The audience for these documents includes mainly policymakers and analysts.

• Bridging Integration Gaps - Scenarios and Policy Recommendations to Promote Physical Infrastructure and Reduce ...

  Date : May, 2010

  This policy brief is intended to serve as the basis for the discussion of the Ministers of Finance on action needed to promote physical infrastructure and reduce intra-regional trade costs, in the context of the Third Meeting of the Finance Ministers of the Americas and the Caribbean held in Lima (Perú), on May 28, 2010. It is argued that the Latin American and Caribbean region must bridge three interrelated policy gaps in order to advance its integration agenda. First, despite advances in trade liberalization, significant progress still must be made to perfect, harmonize, and bridge existing trade agreements. Second, the logistical costs related to the coverage and quality of physical infrastructure and lack of regulatory harmonization pose a serious constraint to regional integration and global competitiveness. Third, although cross-border strategic investments hold the potential to further advance the region’s integration, their execution would be accelerated by overcoming certain institutional and operational obstacles.

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• Structural Transformation in Ecuador

  Bailey Klinger; Ricardo Hausmann

  Date : May, 2010

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• Policy Profile. Access to Information Policy

  Ferriter, John P.,

  Date : Mar, 2010

  This Policy Profile reaffirms the Bank's commitment to tranparency in all aspects of its operations and demonstrates to its clients, principally the countries of the Region that it serves, that it reflects the best practices that they have adopted in recent years. The Policy Profile stresses the principles of maximizing access to information that the Bank produces that is not on a list of exceptions. Any exceptions to disclosure will be predicated upon the possibility that the potential harm arising from disclosure would outweigh the benefits, or that the Bank is legally obligated to non-disclosure.

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• Debt Management in Latin America How Safe Is the New Debt Composition?

  Cavallo, Eduardo

  Date : Feb, 2010

  While public debt ratios in Latin America increased in 2009 amid the global financial crisis, they remain below levels reached following the Asian and Russian crises of the late 1990s. Moreover, debt composition has continued to shift towards -safer- debt (domestic debt with a higher prevalence of domestic currency liabilities). However, the current debt structure poses risks and policy challenges that should not be overlooked. Reviewing the latest available data on debt levels and composition for the region`s largest countries, this brief concludes that debt managers should avoid complacency in thinking that the region is completely redeemed from old sins. Particularly overlooked is that there does not yet exist in the region a large investor base for debt denominated in domestic currency at fixed nominal rates and reasonably long maturities.

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• Strategy_for_knowledge_and_capacity-building_products_at_the_IDB

  Marcel Cullell, Mario,

  Date : Dec, 2009

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• IDB-PB-101. The Offshore Service Industry: A New Opportunity for Latin America

  Geriffi, Gary; Castillo, Mario;Fernandez, Karina

  Date : Dec, 2009

  Historically, services were considered non-tradable and offshoring was confined to the manufacturing sector. However, the evolution and diffusion of information and communication technologies has increased the availability of offshore services in the global economy in recent years. Face-to face contact between the client and the provider in traditional trade is being replaced by remote service centers in the new knowledge era.

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• IDB-PB-103. Implementing Freer Trade: The Canadian Experience 1986 - 1995

  Michael M. Hart, Simon Reisman Chair

  Date : Dec, 2009

  Between 1986 and 1995, the government of Canada negotiated and implemented three major international trade agreements: the 1989 Canada-US Free Trade Agreement (CUFTA), the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), and the 1995 World Trade Organization Agreement (WTO). Individually, each marked a major venture; together, the three agreements constituted a revolution in Canadian trade policy making.

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• Report about the Party of the Fishermen from Village of "Mato do Crasto"

  IPTI

  Date : Sep, 2009

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• A Renewed Agenda for Regional Cooperation: Infrastructure, Energy Efficiency and Integration

  Date : Jul, 2009

  Second Meeting of the Finance Ministers of the Americas and the Caribbean

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• Challenges and Solutions in Health in Latin America. An Alternative View

  Solution Papers Consulta de San José

  Savedoff, William D.

  Date : Oct, 2007

  This note presents an "Alternative View" to "Challenges and Solutions in Health in Latin America," prepared by Philip Musgrove for the Consulta de San José 2007 (referred to hereafter as The Consultation).

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