Office of the Chief Economist, Latin America and the Caribbean

The World Bank Productivity Project seeks to bring frontier thinking on the measurement and determinants of productivity to global policy makers. Each conference and volume in the series explores a different aspect of the topic through dialogue with academics and policy makers, and through sponsored empirical work in our client countries. 

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This series promotes debate and disseminates knowledge and analysis on economic and social development issues in Latin America and the Caribbean. Books in this series discuss economic growth, structural reforms, social security, globalization and its social effects, poverty reduction strategies, macroeconomic stability and capital flows, financial systems and market reforms, and more. Sponsored by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), and the World Bank, the series seeks to convey the excitement and complexity of the most topical issues in the region. Titles in this peer-reviewed series are selected for their relevance to the academic community and represent the highest quality research output of each institution.

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Publication: Chronic Poverty in Latin America and the Caribbean (Jamele Rigolini and Renos Vakis)

Employment in Crisis: The Path to Better Jobs in a Post Covid-19 Latin America (Joana Silva, Liliana D. Sousa, and Truman G. Packard)

Going Viral : COVID-19 and the Accelerated Transformation of Jobs in Latin America and the Caribbean (Guillermo Beylis, Roberto Fattal-Jaef, Rishabh Sinha, Michael Morris and Ashwini Rekha Sebastian)

Wage Inequality in Latin America: Understanding the Past to Prepare for the Future (Joana Silva and Julian Messina)

The Fall of Wage Flexibility: Labor Markets and Business Cycles in Latin America and the Caribbean since the 1990s (Daniel Lederman, William Maloney and Julián Messina)

The Fast Track to New Skills: Short-Cycle Higher Education Programs in Latin America and the Caribbean (María Marta Ferreyra, Lelys Dinarte, Sergio Urzúa and, Marina Bassi)

At a Crossroads : Higher Education in Latin America and the Caribbean (Maria Marta Ferreyra, Ciro Avitabile, Javier Botero Álvarez, Francisco Haimovich Paz, and Sergio Urzúa)

Out of School and Out of Work (NiNis) (Rafael de Hoyos, Halsey Rogers, and Miguel Székely)

Teenage Pregnancy and Opportunities in Latin America and the Caribbean: On Teenage Fertility Decisions, Poverty and Economic Achievement (Luis Felipe Lopez Calva and João Pedro Acevedo)

Fiscal Rules and Economic Size in Latin America and the Caribbean (Fernando Blanco, Pablo Saavedra, Friederike Koehler-Geib, and Emilia Skrok)

Budget Rigidity in Latin America and the Caribbean : Causes, Consequences, and Policy Implications (Arturo Herrera and Eduardo Olaberria)

Reserve Requirements in the Brave New Macroprudential World (Tito Cordella, Pablo Federico, Carlos Vegh, and Guillermo Vuletin)

Raising the Bar for Productive Cities in Latin America and the Caribbean (Maria Marta Ferreyra and Mark Roberts)

Shaking Up Economic Progress (Javier E. Baez, Alan Fuchs and Carlos Rodriguez-Castelan)

Open and Nimble : Finding Stable Growth in Small Economies (Daniel Lederman and Justin T. Lesniak)

Beyond Commodities: The Growth Challenge of Latin America and the Caribbean (J.T. Araujo, M. Brueckner, M. Clavijo, E. Vostroknutova, and K. Wacker)

Energy Pricing Policies for Inclusive Growth in Latin America and the Caribbean (Guillermo Beylis and Barbara Cunha)

Towards Universal Health Coverage and Equity in Latin America and the Caribbean: Evidence from Selected Countries (Tania Dmytraczenko and Gisele Almeida)