Publisher's Synopsis
A resource guide to the Latin American and Caribbean economies. The report features an annual assessment of economic and social trends, statistical profiles of regional and national economic performance and year-by-year consolidated data for the past decade on population and other factors. The 1998 report examines the dimensions of inequity in Latin America, which persists despite a decade of economic growth, macroeconomic stability, and free-market economic policies. Poverty levels are unabated, salary gaps have widened and social services in many countries remain inadequate.;The report looks at how income distribution and equity are affected by external forces such as globalization and capital flows, as well as by domestic factors like demographics, political economy, labour and family issues and levels of state spending and efficiency. Policies are proposed to better distribute the benefits of development by reconciling universal and targeted approaches and by examining public versus privatized delivery of social services such as education, health and social security.
