A neurology revival in Latin America

PART OF LATIN AMERICAN TRADE with countries of the European Payments Union is conducted on a dollar basis, part on a sterling basis, and the remainder on the basis of other currencies. The payments, clearing, and compensation arrangements of Latin American countries with Europe differ widely from country to country and are subject to frequent change, making difficult a precise division of Latin America into "dollar area" and "nondollar area" countries. Some Latin American countries which have "Bilateral Accounts" with the sterling area are "dollar countries" insofar as continental European countries are concerned. Other Latin American countries, however, which are classified in the "American Account" group of the sterling area, have bilateral arrangements with some continental countries. Certain bilateral payments agreements between Latin American and European countries provide that freely disposable U.S. dollars shall be used as the means of effecting commercial payments (e.g., the agreement between Uruguay and Italy and that between Peru and Western Germany). Other agreements, in contrast, employ the U.S. dollar as a unit of account ("restricted" dollars); the mechanism of current settlements, however, is designed to avoid payment in freely disposable U.S. dollars, and only final settlement at the termination of the agreement is to be effected in freely disposable U.S. dollars, other agreed currencies, or gold. (See Table 1.) With countries that are classified in the American account group by the U.K. Exchange Control, U.K. trade is in effect conducted on a dollar basis, under a mechanism whereby the United Kingdom makes payments in sterling which is convertible into dollars whenever the recipient country so requests. In this group are the Central American countries, the Caribbean countries, and Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, and Bolivia. The Latin American countries included in the American account group of the sterling area do not coincide exactly with the countries

Applying a generalized event study design to a structural gravity model, this study analyzes the dynamic effects of the depth of regional trade agreements (RTAs)—measured by the coverage and legal enforceability of World Trade Organization (WTO)-plus and WTO-extra policy areas—on production network trade in all 33 Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) countries from 1986 to 2015. It constructs a unique dataset on the indexes of depth, breadth, and core depth of all RTAs in force involving at least two LAC countries, using a World Bank database on RTA content. The results indicate that the depth and breadth of RTAs positively affect intra-regional parts and components exports in the LAC region. Moreover, no differential trends exist prior to RTA signature, supporting the causal interpretation of the results. However, the effects are substantially heterogeneous by the type of agreements and characteristics of country pairs. The depth and breadth consistently show positive effects 2 years after the enforcement for the customs union among Latin American countries (the Southern Common Market, MERCOSUR), and plurilateral free trade agreements (FTAs) in the LAC countries. Conversely, the depth and breadth show immediate negative effects for plurilateral FTAs with developed countries outside the region (e.g., the United States or European countries). Furthermore, the depth of RTAs has particularly significant effects on parts and components exports compared to other trade categories, such as primary goods exports.

This new column provides an overview of mental health reforms in Latin America and the Caribbean. Progress has been particularly visible in countries that have implemented policies with strong political support (Brazil, Chile, and Belize, among others). However, lessons may be learned from the collective experience of a region that has faced multiple obstacles to reform. Available resources are still insufficient and inequitably distributed, reform implementation is not complete in most countries, and high levels of unmet need exist. Countries face new challenges related to growing psychosocial problems affecting children and adolescents and increasing violence, which require new responses from mental health services.

Seeking a safer blood supply

The article is dedicated to diplomatic and trade-economic relations between Russia and Latin American countries as one of bases of multipolar world’s formation. Clearly, the emergence of the multipolar world is a difficult and long-term process. Yet, this world is now being created by states, political and economic associations, regions and whole continents. Latin American and Caribbean countries are actively participating in the formation of this new world order. The countries of the region hold quite independent views on many international problems including the formation of new world order, and these views share much similarity with Russian opinion on the matter. These states support the leading role of the UN and its Security Council; they did not join the western sanctions against Russia and practically stopped being the USA’s “backyard”. Moreover, the majority of Latin American countries have introduced the visa-free regime for Russian citizens. This lets us consider the Latin America to be the element in the building of the new world order. Many states seek to develop and support the stable diplomatic and trade-economic relations with Latin American countries, especially China, the USA and the European Union. Russia has a long history of international relations with Latin American countries. In the XIX century the Russian Empire established the diplomatic relations with Argentina, Brazil and Venezuela. Later, the USSR supported close diplomatic and trade-economic relations with a number of Latin American states. After the dissolution of the USSR the Russian relations with these countries were recreated, developed and strengthened. Our cooperation is growing in all areas: diplomacy, trade, science, education, medicine, energy etc. Now the questions of creating the common bank and trading in national currencies are being discussed. Russia enjoys the diplomatic relations with all Latin American countries; these relations are evolving, and there are perspectives of their future enhancement.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to analyze the effects of corruption on economic growth, human development and natural resources in Latin American and Nordic countries.Design/methodology/approachUsing the hierarchical prior of Gelman et al. (2003), a Bayesian panel Vector AutoRegression (VAR) model is estimated. In addition, two alternative approaches are considered, namely, a panel error correction VAR model and an asymmetric panel VAR model.FindingsThe results reveal some relevant contrasts: (1) in Latin America there is support for the sand the wheels hypothesis in Bolivia and Chile, support for the grease the wheels hypothesis in Colombia and no significant impact of corruption on growth in Brazil and Peru, while in Nordic countries the response of growth to shocks in corruption is negative in all cases; (2) corruption negatively affects human development in all countries from both regions; (3) corruption tends to spur natural resources sector in Latin American countries, while it is detrimental for natural resources sector in Nordic countries.Research limitations/implicationsThe panel VAR approach uses recursive scheme identification. The authors have analyzed robustness using alternative ordering of the variables. The authors also have followed two alternatives suggested by the Referee: a panel error correction VAR model and a panel asymmetric VAR model. However, another more sophisticated identification scheme could be used. Also other variables could be introduced in the VAR model.Practical implicationsRegardless of the issue of the “grease” vs the “sand the wheels” debate, corruption should be reduced because it is anyway harmful for human development. The differences in the results for Latin American and Nordic countries show that the effects of corruption have to be assessed considering the different institutional and economic conditions of the countries analyzed.Social implicationsGovernments should seek to reduce corruption because, despite corruption can have mixed effects on economic growth in some contexts, it is anyway harmful for human development. Besides, the finding that in some Latin American countries more activity in the extractive industries is generated by means of corruption confirm the association between corruption and extractivism found by Gudynas (2017) and can explain why there are issues of environmental damage and social conflict linked to natural resources in those countries.Originality/valueThe present study contributes to the literature by presenting evidence on the effects of corruption on growth, human development and natural resources sector in Latin American and Nordic countries. It is the first study on economics of corruption which directly compares Latin American and Nordic countries. This is relevant because there are important differences between both regions since Latin American countries tend to suffer from widespread corruption, while the Nordic ones have a high level of transparency. It is also the first in using a Bayesian panel VAR approach in order to evaluate the effects of corruption.

On the Character and Causes of Inequality in Latin America

Traffic accidents scar Latin America's roads

Impact of a National Multicentric Strategy to Support Kidney Transplant Patients During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Latin America: FUTAC Team Creation and Activities.

To analyze the growth of epidemiological research in Brazil in comparison to the total number of indexed publications worldwide and from several Latin American and Caribbean countries. A Boolean combination of epidemiological key words was used to search the MEDLINE/PubMed database for articles published between 1985 and 2004. These articles were divided into 4 time periods: 1985-9, 1990-4, 1995-9, and 2000-4. Of the total 211,727 articles identified in the MEDLINE/PubMed database, 1,952 (0.9%) were related to Brazil. The number of articles increased 12-fold throughout the period (from 91 to 1,096), and more than doubled (0.54% to 1.1%) if considered in relation to the total number of indexed articles. This growth was accompanied by diversification of the subjects addressed. The fields of infectious diseases and mother-child health, which predominated during the first period (74%), represented only a minority of articles in the last period. There was a noteworthy increase in the Brazilian output when compared to that of other Latin American and Caribbean countries. Our results corroborate previous evidence of the intense growth of epidemiological research in Brazil in the last two decades. This growth was more intense than mean growth worldwide, and much greater than that found in other Latin American countries. Therefore, Brazilian scientific output in the epidemiology field is showing a growth pattern similar to that of other scientific areas in the country.

O presente trabalho objetiva analisar a possibilidade de arregimentar parcerias de cooperação internacional da Rússia com países latino americanos ao âmbito da CEPAL, e até que ponto eles atendem as premissas valorativas da Comissão. Para tanto, busca-se responder se há possiblidade de associar os projetos oriundos do novo impulso de cooperação entre Rússia e os países latino-americano ao escopo cepalino. A hipótese preliminar guia desta pesquisa indica que a Rússia está apta a se apresentar enquanto importante parceira aos países latino-americanos e caribenhos seja em termos econômicos, mas também político-estratégico, e que tal relacionamento possa servir enquanto oportunidade para alavancar projetos de caráter de cooperação técnica internacional que deem suporte ao desenvolvimento, seja econômico, social e/ou ambiental aos países envolvidos. Para desenvolver a pesquisa ponderou-se a análise de três passos analíticos, sucessivos e complementares: i) análise da CEPAL e a estrutura do pensamento cepalino acerca do desenvolvimento econômicos dos países; ii) a visão da CEPAL sobre a cooperação técnica e internacional enquanto alavanca do desenvolvimento; iii) a Rússia enquanto parceira dos países latino-americanos e caribenhos, em perspectiva histórica e na atual conjuntura. Os estudos que vinculam os temas aqui tratados são poucos e instigam a produção de novos conhecimentos. Ver-se-á ao final da pesquisa que os interesses geopolíticos estratégicos russos à região devem ser melhor aproveitados enquanto novas oportunidades para o desenvolvimento da América Latina.

Global Deleveraging and Foreign Banks’ Lending to Latin American Countries Herman Kamil (bio) and Kulwant Rai (bio) Lending by foreign banks to emerging markets is a defining feature of financial globalization. In the years preceding the recent global crisis, foreign bank lending to emerging economies expanded rapidly—whether directly from parent banks’ headquarters in advanced economies (cross-border flows) or through their affiliates operating in host countries. In the case of Latin America, lending by foreign banks became a significant source of funding for households and firms over the last decade. Although there is no consensus on the benefits of foreign banks’ activity, on balance the presence of foreign-owned banks is generally believed to have enhanced competition and aided overall financial stability.1 After the onset of the global credit crunch in 2008–09, however, foreign banks became a potential conduit through which financial stress in advanced economies could spread to emerging markets. Funding shortages in interbank markets and the need to deleverage bank balance sheets raised concerns that foreign banks would pull back from international lending activities, potentially disrupting macroeconomic and financial stability in emerging market economies.2 [End Page 1] In Latin America, the growth rate of total foreign banks’ credit slowed significantly after the collapse of Lehman Brothers in the third quarter of 2008. Yet crucially, the lending behavior of parent banks vis-à-vis their local affiliates in Latin American economies was starkly different. Cross-border lending, which is mostly denominated in foreign currencies, followed a boom-bust pattern, reversing sharply after the fourth quarter of 2008. In contrast, lending by their affiliates operating locally (a large share of which is denominated in host countries’ domestic currencies) proved much more resilient and continued to expand, even amid the financial turmoil. This paper explores how the global financial shocks were transmitted to Latin American countries through the foreign bank lending channel. For this purpose, we undertake an econometric analysis of the determinants of foreign banks’ lending to Latin American and Caribbean countries using data from the Bank for International Settlements (BIS). The sample covers twelve Latin American countries and spans 1999 (the first year for which data are available on a quarterly basis) to the first quarter of 2009, at the height of the global credit crunch. We assess the effects of three factors that characterized the recent global financial turmoil: the freezing of international money markets, the deterioration of the financial health of parent banks in advanced economies, and more restrictive lending standards in developed countries’ banking systems. The sample period used in the paper thus provides an event study of the transmission of the global crisis to foreign banks’ lending, rather than a systematic description of foreign banks’ reaction to crises. To identify the channels of transmission and the possible mitigating factors, we exploit differences in the geographic structure (cross-border versus local affiliates) and currency mix (foreign versus domestic) of foreign banks’ lending to Latin American countries at the bilateral level (that is, between each Latin American recipient country and a BIS-reporting creditor country in a given quarter). For this purpose, we rely on publicly available data from the BIS on the currency structure of foreign banks’ claims, together with confidential BIS data on the share of foreign banks’ total lending extended through local affiliates (in both domestic and foreign currencies). Our results indicate that international money market conditions had a significant impact on foreign banks’ lending to Latin American and Caribbean countries. In particular, an increase in the TED spread caused by liquidity shortages in the global interbank market adversely affects foreign banks’ lending growth to Latin American countries. Also, a deterioration of parent banks’ own financial soundness in advanced economies is associated with reductions in foreign banks’ financing to Latin American countries. Changes [End Page 2] in banks’ lending standards in advanced economies also seem to have a statistically significant effect on the growth of foreign banks’ credit to Latin American countries. However, we also find that the propagation of these global financial shocks was significantly more muted for countries where foreign banks conduct a higher share of their lending through their local affiliates in domestic currency than through cross-border...

A promising potential partner for the Latin American region is Canada, which is also interested in diversifying its economy and strengthening investment and trade ties. But the closest economic ties have developed between Canada, the United States and Mexico, which is due not only to geographical proximity, but also to participation in the North American Free Trade Agreement - NAFTA, and later USMCA. The subject of the study in the article is Canada's trade cooperation with Latin and North American countries. The aim is to study the economic and trade relations of Canada and Latin American countries in the context of North American integration from the point of view of a holistic view of their evolution. Methods: in studying the model of economic integration, the historical method and comparative analysis were used; statistical analysis was used to analyze the trends in the development of trade cooperation between Canada and Latin American countries. The following results were obtained: based on the analysis, it is noted that the development of economic and trade relations between Canada and Latin American countries almost completely corresponds to the interests of Canada, which wants to get a quick return on its investments in the region. Latin America appreciates working with Ottawa in key areas, actively using Canadian investments in the industrial and social spheres. But the closest economic ties have developed between Canada, the USA and Mexico, which is due not only to geographical proximity, but also to their economic integration, which was regulated by various documents - NAFTA and USMCA. Conclusions: Canada considers the Latin American region as a rather promising direction of development due to the richness of economic relations, the volume of trade turnover is quite stable, and today there are hardly any factors that can influence this trend. At the same time, the closest economic ties are developing between Canada, the USA and Mexico within the framework of the USMCA integration agreement and their intensification is given special attention, taking into account new requirements.

Diarrhea-Related Mortality in Latin American and Caribbean Countries from 2000 through 2019

Representations of Asians in Latin America and the Caribbean have been caught in the fissures of history, in part because their presence ambivalently affirms, depends upon, and simultaneously denies dominant narratives of race. While these populations are often stereotyped and mislabed as chino, Latin American countries have also made them into symbols of kinship and citizenship by providing a connection to Asia as a source of economic and political power. Yet, their presence highlights a rupture in nationalistic ideas of race that emphasize the European, African, and indigenous. Historically, Asian Latin American and Caribbean literary and cultural representations began during the Manila-Acapulco Galleon Trade (1565–1815) with depictions of Chinese, Japanese, and Filipino slaves and galleon laborers. Soon after, Indian and Chinese laborers were in demand as coolie trafficking became prevalent throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. Toward the end of the 19th century, Latin American and Caribbean countries began to establish political ties with Asia, ushering in Asian immigrants as a replacement labor force for African slaves. By the beginning of World War II, first- and second-generation immigrants recorded their experiences in poetry, short stories, and memoirs, often in their native languages. World War II disrupted Asian diplomacy with Latin America, and Caribbean and Latin American countries enacted laws that ostracized and deported Japanese immigrants. World War II also marked a change for Asian immigrants to Latin America and the Caribbean: they shifted from temporary to permanent immigrants. Here, authors depicted myriad aspects of their identities—language and citizenship, race, and sexuality—in their birth languages. In other words, late 20th century and early 21st century literature highlights the communities as Latin American and Caribbean. Finally, the presence of Asians in Latin America and the Caribbean has influenced Latin American and Caribbean literature and cultural production, highlighting them as characters and their cultures as themes. Most importantly, however, Latin American modernism emerged from a Latin American orientalism that differs from a European orientalism.