Inequality in a Lower Growth Latin America

Forward:

This semiannual report produced by the Office of the Chief Economist for Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) of the World Bank reviews the economic and financial outlook for the LAC region at a time when growth in the region and most of the world has decelerated significantly. As usual in this series, Chapter 1 reviews the configuration of global risks and assesses the outstanding short term opportunities and challenges facing the LAC region. We document the significant slowdown in economic activity across the region, and explore the possibility of this being the ‘new normal’. In Chapter 2 we assess if the major social gains achieved during the ‘Golden Decade’, in particular the decline in inequality, will hold in this less supportive environment, and discuss alternative policy responses to preserve and further the equity gains in the region

Source: World Bank

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Citizen Security with a Human Face: Evidence and proposals for Latin America

Description:

The Regional Human Development Report 2013-14 for Latin America maps the problems of crime and violence in the region, and offers important recommendations for improving public policies on citizen security. 

The report builds on UNDP’s Central America Human Development Report launched in 2009, and the Caribbean Human Development Report of 2012. This report analyzes the phenomenon of citizen security in-depth, studying successful experiences, and proposing concrete recommendations for improvements.

Source: United Nations Human Development Programme (UNDP)

Download pdf executive summary (English): Citizen Security with a Human Face: Evidence and proposals for Latin America

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The Criminal Diaspora: The Spread of Transnational Organized Crime and How to Contain its Expansion

Abstract:

The Criminal Diaspora: The Spread of Transnational Organized Crime and How to Contain its Expansion, examines the multiple factors leading to the international expansion and diffusion of organized crime networks.  Government efforts to dismantle or displace criminal groups have helped push them beyond traditional borders, while new markets and rising demand for illicit products have led criminal groups to expand their networks.  To account for this phenomenon, The Criminal Diaspora moves beyond the analysis of specific countries to examine “criminal clusters,” such as the so-called “Mexican  cartels”—with international linkages between criminal groups operating in the United States, Central America, and the Andes—as  well as Colombian and Brazilian clusters.  Many criminal groups have now established links and operations throughout the hemisphere and beyond, including in Africa and Europe.  New and expanding illicit markets, the fragmentation of criminal organizations, and increased deportations of criminals from the United States to Latin America have contributed to what the authors call a criminal diaspora, the spread of crime and violence throughout the region and beyond.

 Source: Wilson Center Latin American Program

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