Skills for the 21st Century in Latin America and the Caribbean


Book Description

This report contributes to the debate about the quality of education and returns to education investment in Latin America and the Caribbean. It aims to improve our understanding of the links from investmetn in education and training to labor market outcomes and provide a basis for policy choices that will strengthen future outcomes.




Latin American Economic Outlook 2017 Youth, Skills and Entrepreneurship


Book Description

The 2017 edition of the Latin American Economic Outlook explores youth, skills and entrepreneurship. Young Latin Americans embody the region’s promise and perils. They stand at the crossroads of a region whose once promising economy and social progress is now undergoing a slowdown.




Boosting Productivity and Inclusive Growth in Latin America


Book Description

Over the past two decades, most Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) countries have experienced robust economic growth and been able to make significant reductions in poverty and income inequality. However, growth in the region was not strong enough to ensure convergence towards levels ...




Development Centre Studies E-Learning in Higher Education in Latin America


Book Description

This report analyses the incorporation of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in higher education in Latin America, focusing mainly on what is commonly referred to as “e-learning”.




Handbook of Central American Governance


Book Description

Central America constitutes a fascinating case study of the challenges, opportunities and characteristics of the process of transformation in today’s global economy. Comprised of a politically diverse range of societies, this region has long been of interest to students of economic development and political change. The Handbook of Central American Governance aims to describe and explain the manifold processes that are taking place in Central America that are altering patterns of social, political and economic governance, with particular focus on the impact of globalization and democratization. Containing sections on topics such as state and democracy, key political and social actors, inequality and social policy and international relations, in addition to in-depth studies on five key countries (Costa Rica, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala), this text is composed of contributions from some of the leading scholars in the field. No other single volume studies the current characteristics of the region from a political, economic and social perspective or reviews recent research in such detail. As such, this handbook is of value to academics, students and researchers as well as to policy-makers and those with an interest in governance and political processes.




Minds and Behaviors at Work


Book Description

Although the Latin American region has shown an impressive growth in educational attainment over the past two decades, that education has failed to yield expected benefits. A mounting body of research and policy debates argues that the quantity of education is not an adequate metric of human capital acquisition. Rather, individuals’ skills—what they actually know and can do—should stand as policy targets and be fostered across the life course. Evidence from around the world shows that both cognitive and socio-emotional skills are demanded by employers and favorably affect a range of outcomes, including educational attainment and employment outcomes. Through original empirical research investigating the role of cognitive and socio-emotional skills in shaping adults’ labor market outcomes in Bolivia, Colombia, El Salvador, and Peru, supplemented by similar studies in other Latin American countries, this review confirms that cognitive skills matter for reaping labor market gains in terms of higher wages and formal jobs in Latin America; but so do socio-emotional skills. Moreover, socio-emotional skills seem to particularly influence labor force participation and tertiary education attendance as a platform to build knowledge. The study also presents a policy framework for skills development by: (i) providing insights by developmental psychologists about when people are neuro-biologically, socio-emotionally, and situationally ready to develop socio-emotional skills, and (ii) suggesting new directions in cognitive development.




Research & Innovation Forum 2019


Book Description

This book features research presented and discussed during the Research & Innovation Forum (Rii Forum) 2019. As such, this volume offers a unique insight into emerging topics, issues and developments pertinent to the fields of technology, innovation and education and their social impact. Papers included in this volume apply inter- and multi-disciplinary approaches to query such issues as technology-enhanced teaching and learning, smart cities,, information systems, cognitive computing and social networking. What brings these threads of the discussion together is the question of how advances in computer science – which are otherwise largely incomprehensible to researchers from other fields – can be effectively translated and capitalized on so as to make them beneficial for society as a whole. In this context, Rii Forum and Rii Forum proceedings offer an essential venue where diverse stakeholders, including academics, the think tank sector and decision-makers, can engage in a meaningful dialogue with a view to improving the applicability of advances in computer science. In brief, Rii Forum takes the imperative inherent in the 4th industrial revolution seriously, in that it identifies ways of making technology usable and therefore inclusive.




LAC Semiannual Report October 2015


Book Description

Chapter 1 of the report covers the short-term prospects and provides an analysis of the external factors affecting the region's economic slowdown. The focus is on the adjustment challenges faced by those Latin American countries experiencing a major adverse terms of trade shock, which comes after an unprecedented (in magnitude and duration) period of terms of trade bonanza. Chapter 2 discusses the key topic of this semiannual report, that is, the implications of the slowdown for labor markets on jobs and wages. We describe the broad labor market trends observed during the boom and contrast them with the patterns observed during the slowdown. We also describe the implications of the slowdown for inequality. A corollary of the observed labor market patterns during the slowdown is that some of the gains towards greater income equality achieved in the past decade or so may be reversed, at least in part, and that we may see a divergence between labor income inequality and household income inequality, whereby the latter may rise more than the former.--Résumé de l'éditeur.




Latin American and Caribbean Foreign Policy


Book Description

This comprehensive text analyzes the foreign policies of eighteen countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. First assessing the state of the discipline, the introduction develops a common framework that compares the relevant explanatory weight of foreign policy determinants at the individual, state, and international level for each country. Case studies include the major regional powers such as Mexico, Brazil, and Argentina, as well as less-studied players such as the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, and Uruguay. With its focused analytical questions and rich empirical description, this book allows readers to develop sustained comparisons across the full spectrum of Latin American foreign policy.




Teaching and Learning for the Twenty-First Century


Book Description

This book describes how different nations have defined the core competencies and skills that young people will need in order to thrive in the twenty-first-century, and how those nations have fashioned educational policies and curricula meant to promote those skills. The book examines six countries—Chile, China, India, Mexico, Singapore, and the United States—exploring how each one defines, supports, and cultivates those competencies that students will need in order to succeed in the current century. Teaching and Learning for the Twenty-First Century appears at a time of heightened attention to comparative studies of national education systems, and to international student assessments such as those that have come out of PISA (the Program for International Student Assessment), led by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. This book’s crucial contribution to the burgeoning field of international education arises out of its special attention to first principles—and thus to first questions: As Reimers and Chung explain, “much can be gained by an explicit investigation of the intended purposes of education, in what they attempt to teach students, and in the related questions of why those purposes and how they are achieved.” These questions are crucial to education practice and reform at a time when educators (and the students they serve) face unique, pressing challenges. The book’s detailed attention to such questions signals its indispensable value for policy makers, scholars, and education leaders today.