Jamele Rigolini

Chronic poverty raises perhaps the most complex and difficult challenge for governments around the world. Chronic poverty refers to those people that persistently live in low levels of welfare over long periods, as opposed to vulnerable populations that may get in and out of poverty due to shocks. Within generations, this manifests itself by the weak link between economic growth and the income generation capabilities that hinder individuals ability to integrate productively in society. Left Behind: Chronic Poverty in Latin America and the Caribbean is motivated by three questions: How many people live in chronic poverty in Latin America and the Caribbean? Who are they and how effective has been the policy toolkit in the region to address chronic poverty? This publication reviews the evolution of chronic poverty between 2004 and 2012 in Latin America and the Caribbean. From an inter-generational perspective, chronic poverty is associated with the long-term structural constraints that persist from one generation to the other, and can be framed as a problem of fairness or equality of opportunity. In addition to its links to the fairness of the social system and the capacity to move out of poverty, the chronicity or persistence of poverty also results from the lack of voice of some population groups and the lack of responsiveness of the political system to their needs. The nature and extent of chronic poverty are therefore multidimensional. Addressing chronic poverty thus requires a multi-layer, cross-sectoral policy approach that is tailored to specific manifestations of chronic poverty in a given context.

Entrepreneurship is a fundamental driver of growth, development, and job creation. While Latin America and the Caribbean has a wealth of entrepreneurs, firms in the region, compared to those in other regions, are small in size and less likely to grow or innovate. Productivity growth has remained lackluster for decades, including during the recent commodity boom. Enhancing the creation of good jobs and accelerating productivity growth in the region will require dynamic entrepreneurs. Latin American Entrepreneurs: Many Firms but Little Innovation studies the landscape of entrepreneurship in Latin America and the Caribbean. Utilizing new datasets that cover issues such as firm creation, firm dynamics, export decisions, and the behavior of multinational corporations, the book synthesizes the results of a comprehensive analysis of the status, prospects, and challenges of entrepreneurship in the region. Useful tools and information are provided to help policy makers and practitioners identify policy areas governments can explore to enhance innovation and encourage high-growth, transformational entrepreneurship. This is the Spanish edition.

Tras décadas de estancamiento, la población de clase media en América Latina y el Caribe ha aumentado en un 50%-de aproximadamente 100 millones de personas en 2003 a 150 millones (o un 30% de la población del continente) en 2009. Durante este periodo, el porcentaje de la población pobre disminuyó notablemente, del 44% al 30%. _La movilidad económica y el crecimiento de la clase media en América Latina_ analiza la naturaleza, los determinantes y las posibles consecuencias de este notable proceso de transformación social. Los autores proponen una original definición de la clase media, hecha a la medida de América Latina y centrada en el concepto de seguridad económica. Según esta definición, el grupo social más grande de la región actualmente no son ni los pobres ni la clase media, sino un estrato de personas vulnerables situadas entre el umbral de la pobreza y los requisitos mínimos para disfrutar de un modo de vida más seguro, propio de la clase media. El auge de la clase media refleja los cambios recientes en la movilidad económica. La movilidad intergeneracional-un concepto contrario a la desigualdad de oportunidades-ha mejorado ligeramente pero sigue siendo muy limitada. Tanto el nivel educativo como los logros educativos siguen siendo sumamente dependientes del nivel de escolarización de los padres. Sin embargo, se ha producido un aumento real de la movilidad de los ingresos. En los últimos 15 años, al menos el 43% de los habitantes de América Latina ha cambiado de clase social, en la mayoría de los casos en un sentido ascendente. Los autores sostienen que hay numerosos beneficios potenciales en el auge de esta clase media, si bien advierten que la materialización de esos beneficios depende en gran medida de que los países consigan anclar la clase media en torno a un nuevo contrato social, más cohesivo, que ponga de relieve la necesidad de incluir a todos aquellos que han quedado rezagados. La movilidad económica y el crecimiento de la clase media en América Latina_ despertará un gran interés entre los responsables de las políticas en América Latina y en otras regiones, entre los funcionarios de las instituciones multilaterales y entre estudiantes y docentes de economía, políticas públicas y ciencias sociales.

With moderate but sustained economic growth and generally declining inequality, the 2000s were a good decade for Latin America. Moderate poverty fell from roughly 40% to 30% of the population. Economic mobility powered a perceived increase in the ranks of the Latin American middle class. But who, exactly, belongs to that middle class? How much has it really grown? How much economic mobility do these countries really display? Drawing on a unique combination of data sets - income and consumption distributions, test scores, parental characteristics, personal beliefs and attitudes - this volume sheds new light on a period of pronounced social change in Latin America and the Caribbean. It paints a nuanced picture of a society where the intergenerational transmission of socioeconomic status still prevails, but where upward income movement within generations is now significant. It adopts a middle class definition that is based on economic security, and is arguably less arbitrary than others in the literature, and documents a 50% increase in its size. Yet, most of the continent's population is neither poor nor middle-class - but near-poor or vulnerable. The authors argue that there are many potential benefits from a growing middle class, but caution that whether those benefits come to fruition will depend, to a large extent, on whether countries manage to anchor their middle classes into a new, more cohesive, social contract that emphasises the inclusion of those who so far have been left behind.|Although the new European Union Party Financing Regulation is actually a sub-topic of the widely discussed European Constitution, officials have so far been rather quiet about it. The Regulation declares artificially created bodies called ""party alliances"" as political parties for the sole purpose of enabling subsidies from the EU budget to be paid to the European umbrella organizations of the established parties. This book argues that the regulation violates almost every principle of appropriate and legitimate public funding of political parties. Such principles have, for instance, already been drawn up by the German Constitutional Court and the Council of Europe. This book discusses such issues. Hans Herbert von Arnim is professor of public law at the School for Public Administration in Speyer, Germany. Martin Schurig teaches at the Institute for Public Administration in Speyer, Germany.