Mexico

Using a census of all workers in private establishments in the formal sector in Mexico to track workers and establishments over time, this paper presents the first Mexican... Show More + worker and job flow statistics. The data allow for comparing these flows across time, space, and worker characteristics. Although many patterns are similar to those documented in developing countries, the analysis uncovers patterns that have potentially important policy implications. The authors compare the results to the literature, illustrate how the statistics change during times of reform and crisis, and present novel findings that contribute to the broader literature on worker reallocations. Show Less -

Few investors will risk putting all of their money into a single asset based on a 30-year forecast, yet narrowly-interpreted least-cost energy planning has often done... Show More + just that. In Mexico, regulatory policies have hindered adoption of renewable energy (RE) and other diversified power options that could reduce portfolio risk. Against this backdrop, this note illustrates the country's growing recognition of RE as a viable way to broaden investments in power generation and increase long-term security. Show Less -

The Status of Projects in Execution (SOPE) report for FY06 provides information on all International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD)/International Development... Show More + Association (IDA) projects that were active on June 30, 2006. The report is intended to bridge the gap in information available to the public between the project appraisal 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 FY06 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 for all active projects. Show Less -

This report investigates the scope and manner of regulations that enhance business activity and those that constrain it. Quantitative indicators on business regulations... Show More + and their enforcement have been created for 12 cities and states, which can now be compared with Mexico City, and to 154 countries around the world. The indicators cover four "Doing Business" topics: starting a business, registering property, getting credit and enforcing contracts. The 12 cities and states are: Aguascalientes, Aguascalientes; Celaya, Guanajuato; Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua; Guadalajara, Jalisco; Merida, Yucatan; Monterrey, Nuevo Leon; Puebla, Puebla; Queretaro, Queretaro; San Luis Potosí, San Luis Potosi; Tlalnepantla, Estado de Mexico; Torreon, Coahuila; and Veracruz, Veracruz. Comparisons with Mexico City and other countries are based on the indicators in Doing Business in 2006 - Creating Jobs (see report no. 34550). Show Less -

The present report looks at issues of access to financial services in urban Mexico, drawing on existing documentation as well as on research (surveys, interviews and... Show More + focus groups) carried out in Mexico City during 2002. The motivation behind this interest in financial exclusion is two fold. First, it is well documented that being "unbanked" (excluded from access to financial services) has costs; and it makes it more expensive to engage in a number of transactions (paying and being paid) and more difficult to save while maintaining the value of an asset As such, higher access to financial services is desirable from an efficiency point of view. Second, financial exclusion is an issue that primarily affects the poor. Access to financial services can help with poverty alleviation, particularly to the extent that it encourage asset buildings and help cope with shocks and overcome liquidity constraints. The report focuses on two key questions: what are the benefits the unbanked (those excluded from financial services) could gain from using formal financial sector institutions; and what discourages them from doing so. The objective is to help to identify measures to increase access to financial services in Mexico. As such the report is organized as follows. Chapter 1 sets the stage by discussing the importance of access to financial services and what other countries are doing to promote such access. Chapter 2 presents an analysis of actual and potential demand for financial services, and offers a profile of the unbanked residents of Mexico City. Chapter 3 then looks at the supply of financial services by the formal financial sector and possible explanations for Mexico's extremely low rate of financial access. Chapter 4 concludes and discusses possible means of improving financial participation. Show Less -

This newsletter shares news and information with women entrepreneurs around the world. The issue's highlights include news of IFC and World Bank Group activities (including... Show More + the Global Summit of Women in Mexico and the launch of the Gender and Growth Assessment for Uganda), news reports from other sources (including Kuwait's election of the first woman minister), upcoming events around the globe (including the Pan-African Women Invent & Innovate Event, Conference, and Awards in Ghana in September) and links to useful web sites (including the World Economic Forum's Measuring the Global Gender Gap report). Its regular spotlight this issue falls on Zoe Dean-Smith, the Managing Director of Gone Rural, whose commitment to uplifting the rural women in Swaziland, increasing awareness of HIV/AIDS and empowering local communities through her handcrafts business is considered a source of inspiration. The African edition also highlights the implications of the appointment of a woman as Deputy President of South Africa, announces the Global Summit of Black Women Business Leaders in October and the Africa Diaspora Investment Forum, and provides a link to the African Centre for Gender and Development. Show Less -

This report offers several policy recommendations aimed at improving the accounting and auditing regulatory framework. An important aspect is the strengthening of enforcement... Show More + mechanisms for ensuring compliance with accounting and auditing requirements and auditors' professional code of ethics; in this context, a recommendation has been made for the establishment of an independent oversight body for the audit profession. The review of accounting and auditing standards and practices in Mexico, which forms the basis of this report, placed specific focus on the strengths and weaknesses of the institutional framework that supports the corporate financial reporting system in the country. In that context, specific emphasis was placed on the quality and consistency of academic curricula for public accountants, as well as on existing arrangements for the licensing of auditors. Show Less -

This study of consultative mechanisms (CMs) in Ghana is motivated by the increasing use of these bodies in the work of the work of the World Bank Group on private sector... Show More + development (PSD). The Bank is increasingly incorporating CMs involving representatives of the business community and the government into its private sector development work at multiple stages in the process of fostering market-based economic systems. Potentially, this strategy has a number of benefits, led by the prospect that effective CMs would allow economic actors to devise shared solutions to economic problems induced by both market failures and government failures. The political and economic benefits of a more cooperative process would be palpable. Effective consultative processes can enhance the flow of information between business, government and other economic actors, thereby making policy reforms more predictable and appropriate. By fostering a sense of shared "ownership" of economic policies, a CMs process can also help to build a relationship of greater credibility and trust between government and business. This, in turn, might help conserve scarce public resources through pooling of technical expertise and sharing of such costly activities as research and monitoring. In Ghana, would have the additional benefit of bridging the disconnect between government and the business sector. Despite the potential virtues of this strategy, a major concern remains: the organizational and institutional conditions that facilitate effective consultative mechanisms are not yet well specified. At present, the track record of CMs in differing national contexts is mixed. The Ghana case study confirms this mixed record and serves to test four central hypotheses of the broader parent project, which has involved comparative research on CMs in Malaysia and Mexico. Show Less -

This study examines the sources of male-female earnings differentials in Mexico's micro-enterprise sector. Using the 1994 Survey of Rural Entrepreneurs and Financial... Show More + Services (conducted in the rural regions of Puebla, Guanajato, and Veracruz) and the 1992 National Survey of Urban Micro-enterprises, the report found that female-headed micro-enterprises in rural and urban areas earn, respectively, 64 percent and 50 percent of less than male-headed micro-enterprises. About 35 percent (42 percent in rural areas) of the earnings gap in urban areas can be explained by differences in productive characteristics, whereas 62 percent (59percent in rural areas) can be attributed to structural productive factors, such as household constraints, productivity, and access to education and credit services. Furthermore, a small share of the gender earnings gap is explained by gender differences in sectoral distributions. From a public policy perspective, the results suggest that policies attempting to reduce earnings disparities should focus on addressing gender differences in productive characteristics and structural factors across economic sectors because efforts to reallocate women's micro-enterprises to other economic sectors would have a limited impact on increasing their earnings. Show Less -

Mitigating commercial risks in project finance; by Ruster, Jeff. A pre-export guarantee facility in Moldova - mitigating political risk in transition; by Ruhl, Onno... Show More + and Alfred Watkins. Are bank interest rate spreads too high? By Fernando Montes-Negret, and Luca Papi. Emerging markets and financial volatility-beyond Mexico; by Gary Perlin. Pension funds and capital markets-investment regulation, financial innovation, and governance; by Dimitri Vittas. Designing mandatory pension schemes - some lessons from Argentina, Chile, Malaysia, and Singapore; by Dimitri Vittas. The privatization dividend - a worldwide analysis of the financial and operating performance of newly privatized firms; by William L. Megginson, Robert C. Nash, and Matthias van Randenborgh. The Macedonian Gambit-enterprise cum bank restructuring; by Joseph Pernia and S. Ramachandran. Finding real owners-lessons from Estonia's privatization program; by John Nellis. End of the line for the local loop monopoly? Technology, competition, and investment in telecom networks; by Peter Smith. Regulating telecommunications-lessons from U.S. price cap experience; by Jeffrey H. Rohlfs. Franchising telecom service shops-meeting demand from non-subscribers in Indonesia; by Rajesh Pradhan, and Peter Smith. Show Less -