Books

Books include all the commercial and noncommercial volumes published by the Inter-American Development Bank.

• How Democracy Works: Political Institutions, Actors, and Arenas in Latin American Policymaking

  Scartascini, Carlos; Stein, Ernesto; Tommasi, Mariano

  Date : Aug, 2010 | ISBN: 978-1-59782-109-4

  Over the past 30 years, democratic freedoms and competitive electoral processes have taken hold as never before in Latin America. How Democracy Works takes a detailed look, from an institutional perspective, at each of the main actors on the policymaking stage in Latin America, emphasizing the extent to which institutions facilitate or hinder intertemporal political cooperation and compromise. It analyzes official political actors and arenas, as well as a number of societal actors, and explores the (formal) roles of these players, their incentives, capabilities, and the way in which they actually engage in the policymaking game. The conclusion: these political institutions and actors matter for policymaking in Latin America and leave an indelible imprint on the policy process and the resulting policies.

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• India: Latin America’s Next Big Thing?

  Date : Jul, 2010

  The book looks into recent development and economic trends in India and their possible impact for Latin America and the Caribbean. The study argues that India has the potential to mirror the recent economic performance of China, which has become a major market for Latin American and Caribbean exports but also poses a challenge for the region’s manufacturing and service sector.

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• Women’s Economic Opportunities in the Formal Private Sector in Latin America and the Caribbean

  Piras, Claudia, The World Bank, IDB, GTZ

  Date : Jul, 2010

  Entrepreneurship contributes to a vibrant private sector and can stimulate broader economic growth. Countries in Latin America and the Caribbean have experienced an important growth of microenterprises led by women, but little is known about the factors that explain this trend. This study, combining quantitative and qualitative data, focuses on women’s economic opportunities in the formal private sector in the LAC region with a special focus on female entrepreneurship. The objective of the report is to explore if women are choosing size and sector for their micro and SME firms optimally, or if this is the result of multiple constrains, including gender constrains.

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• The Quality of Life in Latin American Cities: Markets and Perception

  Lora, Eduardo; Powell, Andrew; van Praag, Bernard; Sanguinetti, Pablo

  Date : May, 2010 | ISBN: 978-0-8213-7837-3

  This book does not pretend to solve all the problems that must be addressed to establish a system for monitoring the quality of urban life. It does aspire, however, to serve as a means by which local governments, analysts of urban problems, and communities themselves may take advantage of anew generation of urban QoL monitoring strategies that have significant potential for contributing to public decision-making processes.

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• Civil Registration and Identification Glossary

  Harbitz, Mia Elisabeth, Benítez Molina, Juan Carlos

  Date : Apr, 2010 | ISBN: 9781597821070

  Today, in the interconnected and interdependent world in which we live, the constant innovations and emergence of terminology demand a common and harmonic language among the authorities in charge of civil registration, identification, biometric systems, and vital statistics in Latin America and the Caribbean. This Glossary of Civil Registration and Identification has its origin in this growing demand and seeks to strengthen the communication and increase the knowledge of the valuable vocabulary in this field. The Inter-American Development Bank accompanies the initiatives of the region’s governments to modernize their civil registries and to ensure that they are capable of facing the challenges of the twenty-first century.

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• The Age of Productivity: Transforming Economies from the Bottom Up

  Pages-Serra, Carmen

  Date : Mar, 2010 | ISBN: 978-0-230-62352-1

  Productivity, the main driver of economic prosperity, is languishing in Latin America and the Caribbean and is preventing the region from catching up with the developed world. Asking why the region is falling farther and farther behind, this book looks beyond the traditional macro explanations and digs all the way down to the industry and firm level to uncover the causes of this low productivity. It provides tools to ponder productivity growth beyond conventional aggregate analysis, focusing on the extreme heterogeneity of sectors and firms while emphasizing the importance of policies that allow high productivity firms to thrive and expand. While it certainly considers the plight of manufacturing, the book zeros in on the critical services sectors, particularly those, such as transportation and retail, with important repercussions on the rest of the economy. It challenges the argument that the region is condemned to stagnation and examines a number of policy levers that can transform the economies of the region.

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• Building Cities

  Neighbourhood Upgrading and Urban Quality of Life

  Edited by Rojas, Eduardo

  Date : Mar, 2010 | ISBN: 9781597821087

  The efforts of governments to reach the Millennium Development Goals have resulted in an increase in the resources devoted to neighbourhood upgrading programmes, as well as in a diversification of the solutions offered for populations living in irregular settlements. <i>Building Cities</i> reviews the experiences of the Latin American and Caribbean region in the design and implementation of neighbourhood upgrading programmes. The volume has a particular focus on the lessons learned by specialists of the Inter-American Development Bank and their technical and managerial counterparts in the agencies that execute the loans granted for neighbourhood upgrading. <i>Building Cities</i> analyses the different dimensions of the problems, discusses successful experiences in the region, and draws useful conclusions to help take on the challenges faced by cities of developing countries around the world. The volume is of interest to specialists in social and urban development, as well as to those who define the policies and design the programmes to improve the living conditions of the poor.

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• Assessing the Effectiveness of Agricultural Interventions

  Development Effectiveness Overview. Special Topic

  SPD-SDV,

  Date : Mar, 2010 | ISBN: 978-1-59782-114-8

  This DEO Special Topic to the Development Effectiveness Overview 2008-2009 has chosen to focus on agricultural production and productivity because of the changing dynamics of the sector as well as the dual challenges of improving farmer competitiveness while ensuring food security. The objective is to identify agricultural projects that the IDB and others have been funding to promote agricultural production and productivity in order to i) determine what evidence is available on the effectiveness of these projects and, ii) to determine where additional information on the effectiveness of these projects would be helpful. Prior to identifying and assessing funded agricultural projects, the challenges of promoting the sector are examined in the first chapter. This provides the necessary background to understand the logic of projects being funded as well as the potential indicators of impact that should be used. Chapter II then considers the actions taken in general and by the IDB in particular to meet those challenges. The IDB has a long history of providing support to the agricultural sector and helping to improve competitiveness and foster food security, particularly among poor farmers. Some initial assessment of the success of meeting those challenges is noted in Chapter III, as well as the potential for improving the evaluation of interventions designed to assist the sectors. Chapter IV provides conclusions and recommendations.

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• Development Effectiveness Overview 2008-2009

  Date : Feb, 2010 | ISBN: 9781597821131

  Development Effectiveness Overview 2008-2009 is a tool by which the IDB accounts for the effectiveness of its work. It reports on the progress made in the Development Effectiveness agenda of the Bank.

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• Beyond Small Change: Making Migrant Remittances Count

  Multilateral Investment Fund

  Date : Feb, 2010

  This book draws on survey evidence, detailed analysis of case studies, and comparisons across countries and regions, and paints a picture of remittance flows that cross borders and sometimes generations to transform lives. While the emphasis is on Latin America and the Caribbean, various chapters also examine Europe, the Middle East, and Asia.

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