Productivity Growth in Latin American and the Caribbean : Exploring the Macro-Micro Linkages
This paper brings together the main findings and policy implications of two recent World Bank regional reports on economic growth in Latin America and the Caribbean: Araujo, Vostroknutova, Wacker and Clavijo, eds. (2016) and Araujo, Vostroknutova,...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Working Paper |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Washington, DC: World Bank
2017
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/692341509981182144/Productivity-growth-in-Latin-American-and-the-Caribbean-exploring-the-macro-micro-linkages http://hdl.handle.net/10986/28866 |
| Summary: | This paper brings together the main
findings and policy implications of two recent World Bank
regional reports on economic growth in Latin America and the
Caribbean: Araujo, Vostroknutova, Wacker and Clavijo, eds.
(2016) and Araujo, Vostroknutova, Brueckner, Clavijo, and
Wacker (2016). In doing so, the paper focuses on finding the
right balance between micro- and macro-inference when
thinking about growth in Latin America and the Caribbean.
The paper documents the region's growth performance
over the past decade, highlighting the roles played by the
commodity boom, macroeconomic stabilization and structural
reforms. It notes that, despite faster growth during the
first decade of this century, the region failed to achieve
sustained convergence towards higher income levels. The
paper points out that the persistent income gap could be
reduced through: (i) increasing focus on closing the
efficiency gap – beyond mere factor accumulation; (ii)
eliminating distortions that cause misallocation of
resources will also improve the incentives to innovate;
(iii) identifying the main country-specific constraints to
growth instead of looking for universal recipes; (iv)
containing macroeconomic volatility, thereby alleviating the
negative impact of persistent poverty on growth; and (v)
improving the composition of public spending. |
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