Argentina

This paper describes the functioning and performance of Argentina's Provincial Maternal and Child Health Investment Program, commonly referred to as Plan Nacer. The... Show More + program is aimed at increasing access - for uninsured pregnant women and children under six years old - to a basic set of health services known to effectively address the main causes of maternal and child mortality, while improving the effectiveness and efficiency of the health system. The program supports the development and implementation of publicly funded provincial maternal and child health insurance and the introduction of highly innovative results-based financing mechanisms at the national, provincial, and provider levels. This document is organized as follows. Section 2 provides an overview of the Argentine health care system, including a description of public health, primary care, and supply-side efforts, to put in context the implementation of Plan Nacer. Section 3 presents a detailed description of the main features of the program, including the institutional architecture; the targeting, identification, and enrolment of beneficiaries; the management of the program's funds and benefits package; and the information environment of Plan Nacer. Section 4 provides a discussion of the highly innovative results-based financing mechanisms included in the design of the program. Section 5 draws some conclusions on the pending agenda and challenges ahead. Show Less -

This tenth edition of Doing Business sheds light on how easy or difficult it is for a local entrepreneur to open and run a small to medium-size business when complying... Show More + with relevant regulations. It measures and tracks changes in regulations affecting eleven areas in the life cycle of a business: starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, registering property, getting credit, protecting investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts, resolving insolvency and employing workers. Doing Business presents quantitative indicators on business regulations and the protection of property rights that can be compared across 185 economies, from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe, over time. The indicators are used to analyze economic outcomes and identify what reforms have worked, where and why. This economy profile presents the Doing Business indicators for Argentina. To allow useful comparison, it also provides data for other selected economies (comparator economies) for each indicator. The data in this report are current as of June 1, 2012 (except for the paying taxes indicators, which cover the period January - December 2011). Show Less -

Argentina is one of the world's largest biodiesel producers and the largest exporter, using soybeans as feedstock. Using a computable general equilibrium model that... Show More + explicitly represents the biofuel industry, this study carries out several simulations on two sets of issues: (i) international markets for biofuel and feedstock, such as an increase in prices of soybean, soybean oil, and biodiesel, and (ii) domestic policies related to biofuels, such as an introduction of biofuel mandates. Both sets of issues can have important consequences to the Argentinean economy. The simulations indicate that increases in international prices of biofuels and feedstocks would increase Argentina's gross domestic product and social welfare. Increases in international prices of ethanol and corn also can benefit Argentina, but to a lesser extent. The domestic mandates for biofuels, however, would cause small losses in economic output and social welfare because they divert part of biodiesel and feedstock from exports to lower-return domestic consumption. An increase in the export tax on either feedstock or biodiesel also would lead to a reduction in gross domestic product and social welfare, although government revenue would rise. Show Less -

The assessment for the Province of Buenos Aires was prepared jointly by the Ministry of Finance of the Province of Buenos Aires and the World Bank (WB) on the basis... Show More + of findings from missions. It seeks to: (i) provide the provincial government with a reference tool for dialogue and action to strengthen their public financial management systems; (ii) assess the province's PFM systems and identify and address their main fiduciary issues, as well as their impact on the implementation of World Bank operations; and (iii) contribute in a broader sense to the dialogue between the Bank and Argentina's national and provincial authorities regarding fiduciary portfolio management and reliance on the country's systems. The assessment was prepared based on the findings of missions that visited Argentina in the period 2006-2009 and is based on 2006 to 2008 fiscal years. It was completed with a closing mission and workshop that took place in La Plata, on June 25, 2012 to incorporate the provincial government comments in the final version. Show Less -

This public financial management assessment for Cordoba has three main objectives: (i) to provide the provincial governments with a reference tool for dialogue and action... Show More + to strengthen their public financial management (PFM) systems; (ii) to provide an assessment of provincial PFM systems, identifying and addressing their main fiduciary issues, as well as the impact of these issues on the implementation of World Bank operations; and (iii) to contribute to the World Bank's dialogue with Argentina's national and provincial authorities on fiduciary portfolio management and reliance on country systems. The study focuses on budget preparation and execution, with emphasis on budget comprehensiveness and performance, and on public accountancy and control. It describes strengths and weaknesses of the provincial systems and analyzes their impact on fiscal discipline and the allocation of resources. Chapter 2 of this assessment describes the economic and institutional framework of the Province of San Juan. Chapter 3 summarizes the province's main achievements and challenges ahead in public financial management reform, drawing on Chapter 4, which gives a detailed analysis of public financial management in the province, using the PEFA indicators agreed with the provincial government. Chapter 3 summarizes the province's main achievements and challenges ahead in public financial management reform, drawing on Chapter 4, which gives a detailed analysis of public financial management in the province, using the PEFA indicators agreed with the provincial government. Show Less -

The perspective of this study is not only academic but also practical. As regards the academic aspect, this work will explore the professional literature related to... Show More + quality perception and, particularly, the conceptual discussion about the object of satisfaction measurement in a market research involving utility customers and their perception of service quality. As the immediate consequence of this theoretical review, the study intends to develop the general guidelines of a survey meeting the best standards from the point of view of the theory. In the second place, this work seeks to carry out some measuring so as to empirically evaluate the principles analyzed in the previous section. In light of these purposes, the work is structured as follows: chapter one deals with the theme from a theoretical perspective and reviews literature arising from disciplines such as marketing and economics. Chapter two develops the general structure of a survey with suggestions about its construction and design that will be taken into account when performing the appropriate field studies; chapter three presents the results of the field studies. Finally, the study shows the conclusions drawn. Show Less -

The World Bank prepared this report on technical higher education in the province of Buenos Aires (PBA) as part of its on-going dialogue with PBA authorities. The World... Show More + Bank has a long history of engagement with Argentina in different areas of the education sector and is increasing its relationship with provincial governments. This report contains a synoptic account as well as original analysis and recommendations. It`s aims to provide the government of PBA and other stakeholders with an analytical framework for reforming the Province’s technical tertiary education system in order to improve its quality and relevance. This report has six chapters. This first chapter serves as an introduction; chapter two focuses on technical tertiary education in the international context; chapter three provides contextual background for the province of buenos aires; chapter four explores Technical Tertiary Education (TTE) in PBA in-depth, summarizing its financing mechanisms and legal frame work, and assessing its strengths, weaknesses, reform efforts and degree of efficiency; chapter five analyzes the demand for workers in the provincial economy; and finally chapter six proposes recommendations for the provincial government and other stakeholders for the improvement of the quality and relevance of technical tertiary education. Show Less -

This note highlights differences between informal businesses in two regions of Argentina Buenos Aires and Chaco. Labor productivity is much higher in Buenos Aires than... Show More + Chaco. This difference is partly due to higher sales and partly due to lower employment in firms in Buenos Aires. Relative to Buenos Aires, firms in the Chaco region are more likely to use machinery and vehicles in the production process and they also face larger seasonal fluctuations in sales. Firms are more likely to report various benefits from registering including better access to finance, markets and government subsidies, less bribes to pay and being able to issue receipts in Chaco than in Buenos Aires. Important firm-characteristics, such as the level of education of the owner of the firm, and the perception of corruption and crime as obstacles to business, also differ sharply across the two regions. These findings suggest a greater need to design policies towards the informal sector at the local level rather than at the national level. Show Less -

The Status of Projects in Execution (SOPE) Report for FY10 provides information on all International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), International Development... Show More + Association (IDA), and trust funded projects that were active as of June 30, 2010. The report is intended to bridge the gap in information available to the public between the project appraisal document or program document, disclosed after the Bank approves a project, and the implementation completion report, disclosed after the project closes. In addition to the project progress description, the FY10 SOPE report contains project level comparisons of disbursement estimates and actual disbursements, and a table showing the loan/credit/grant amount and disbursements to date. Show Less -