Beyond Tradeoffs Market Reform and Equitable Growth in Latin America

by Birdsall, Nancy; Graham, Carol L.; Sabot, Richard H.

• ISBN13: 9780815709213
• ISBN10: 0815709218
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1998-09-01
• Publisher: Brookings Institution Press

Summary

Latin American income distribution is among the most unequal in the world. Both the poor and the wealthy have paid a price for this inequality, which is in part responsible for the region's low growth rates. The essays in this book propose new ways of reducing inequality, not by growth-inhibiting transfers and regulations, but by enhancing efficiency-eliminating consumption subsidies for the wealthy, increasing the productivity of the poor, and shifting to a more labor and skill-demanding growth path.In Beyond Tradeoffs, Latin American experts demonstrate how market-friendly measures in key policy areas can simultaneously promote greater equity and greater efficiency. By identifying win-win strategies, the authors challenge the conventional wisdom that there is always a tradeoff between these two objectives. Extensive macroeconomic reforms in the region have provided opportunities to implement such strategies across many sectors.The volume aims at building a "Latin consensus" on a second round of reforms-reforms that address the urgent issue of inequality without undermining efficient growth. Contributors include Jonathan Coles, Rene Cortazar, Ricardo Hausmann, Juan Luis Londoño, Nora Lustig, Moises Naím, and Joseph Stiglitz.Copublished with the Inter-American Development Bank

Author Biography

Raquel Alfaro is Director of the Water and Sanitation Division of Senior Engineering Consultants, in Santiago, Chile. Nancy Birdsall is Executive Vice President of the Inter-American Development Bank. Ralph M. Bradburd is the David A. Wells Professor of Political Economy at Williams College in Massachusetts. John Briscoe is currently Senior Water Advisor at the World Bank. Michael R. Carter is Professor of Agricultural and Applied Economics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Jonathan Coles is Chair of Mavesa, a food manufacturer in Venezuela and the Andean Region. Rene Cortazar is the Executive Director of National Television of Chile. Michael Gavin is Lead Research Economist in the Office of the Chief Economist at the Inter-American Development Bank. Carol Graham is Senior Fellow in Foreign Policy Studies and co-director of the Center on Social and Economic Dynamics at the Brookings Institution. Ricardo Hausmann is Chief Economist of the Inter-American Development Bank. Enrique V. Iglesias is President of the Inter-American Development Bank. Estelle James is Lead Economist for the Policy Research Department at the World Bank. Juan Luis Londono, a social policy entrepreneur, is President of Poder and Dinero, Colombia's leading business magazine. Eduardo Lora is Senior Research Economist at the Inter-American Development Bank. Nora Lustig is currently Senior Advisor and Chief of the Poverty and Inequality Advisory Unit at the Inter-American Development Bank. Moises Naim is the Editor of Foreign Policy magazine. He was formerly Venezuela's Minister of Trade and Industry, and has served at the World Bank as a executive director and senior adviser to its president. Richard H. Sabot is the John J. Gibson Professor of Economics at Williams College in Massachusetts. Liliana Rojas-Suarez is presently Chief Economist for Latin America at Deutsche Morgan Grenfell, New York. John B. Sheahan is the William Brough Professor of Economics, Emeritus, at Williams College in Massachusetts. Joseph E. Stiglitz is currently Senior Vice President for Development Economics and Chief Economist at the World Bank. Steven R. Weisbrod is a private consultant on banking and financial issues in emerging markets. He earned a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Chicago.

Table of Contents

Foreword	p. v
Virtuous Circles in Latin America's Second Stage of Reforms	p. 1
References	p. 25
Kinds and Causes of Inequality in Latin America	p. 29
Endnotes	p. 54
References	p. 56
Structural Reforms and Equity	p. 63
Endnotes	p. 87
References	p. 88
Growth with Equity; the Volatility Connection	p. 91
Conclusion	p. 104
Endnotes	p. 105
References	p. 107
No Tradeoff: Efficient Growth Via More Equal Human Capital Accumulation	p. 111
Endnotes	p. 141
References	p. 143
Inequality-Reducing Growth in Agriculture: a Market-Friendly Policy Agenda	p. 147
Endnotes	p. 176
References	p. 179
Economic Policy and Labor Market Dynamics	p. 183
Endnotes	p. 205
References	p. 210
Equity Benefits from Financial Market Reforms	p. 213
Supply and Demand for Banking Products	p. 250
References	p. 252
Pension Reform: an Efficiency-Equity Tradeoff?	p. 253
Conclusion	p. 270
References	p. 272
Reforming Former Public Monopolies: Water Supply	p. 273
Conclusion	p. 297
Endnotes	p. 298
References	p. 302
Inequality and Growth: Implications for Public Finance and Lessons from Experience in the United States	p. 305
Conclusion	p. 313
Endnotes	p. 315
References	p. 318
the Political Economy of Institutional Reform in Latin America	p. 321
Appendix: Approaches to the Study of Institutions	p. 343
Endnotes	p. 352
References	p. 360
List of Authors	p. 363
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