Suchergebnisse

The last 20 years of economic performance constitute an inauspicious beginning for rectification. As perestroika advances and the Soviet economy becomes more decentralised, rectification is moving the Cuban economy in the other direction, so that the opportunities for strain in the Cuban--Soviet relationship are bound to intensify. (SJK)

In February 1982, Cuba's Council of State approved legislation that authorized some forms of foreign investment in the island. The legislation was largely ignored by foreign business that for nearly a decade showed scant interest in investing in Cuba. However, in the 1990s foreign investment in socialist Cuba has increased rapidly. Gauges the economic significance of foreign investment in the context of the financial needs of the country; and touches on a number of issues that have a bearing on the further growth of foreign investment in Cuba. Concludes with general observations on the impact of foreign investment on the Cuban economy and prospects for the future. (Original abstract - amended)

Since the end of the Civil War in 1992, El Salvador has advanced on both the social and political fronts. Despite this progress and the recent reductions in income inequality, poverty remains high, largely as a result of low economic growth. This Systematic Country Diagnostic argues that the challenge in El Salvador is not to identify the proximate constraints to growth, but how those constraints are inter-connected and what entry points may help break what can be characterized as "vicious circles." The Systematic Country Diagnostic identifies three inter- connected vicious circles that hamper growth and shared prosperity: (1) a cycle of low growth and violence; (2) a cycle of low growth and migration; and (3) a cycle of low growth, savings and investment. Moreover, it also notes action on the identified entry points will require a "big push" (rather than marginal interventions) that help break the existing development dynamics. But this Systematic Country Diagnostic also identifies some strengths that El Salvador could build on to propel growth. Areas of opportunity include migration with the positive impact of diaspora on development, geographic and cultural proximity to large export markets, particularly the U.S., and an industrial base that can support an expansion of the tradable sector. At 20 percent of GDP the manufacturing sector is large by Latina American and by middle-income country standards.

Although the Latin American region's growth rates are at a three decade high, they have been historically disappointing in relative terms, which cannot be dissociated from the microeconomic environment in which firms operate. Policy makers may need to complement their focus on macroeconomic stability with an increased emphasis on microeconomic reforms. By providing empirical evidence linking actual firm performance to shortcomings in Latin America's investment climate, the book discusses policies that could have a significant impact on firm productivity by improving the environment in which fi

The purpose of this work is to face the fresh food security function in the developing nations. It is not an easy task; on the other, it is a very important feature on people's welfare, nations' development and social stability at a national level. The methodology applied will be the Porter's Diamond. The ensemble of resources, either physical infrastructures or capable companies or adequate regulations, to support the implementation of efficient and functional food security networks in many countries, frequently is provided without analysis of the population demand profile and resources available, normally importing other country model. Given the importance of food security to provide the correct amount of food to the different populations in a country, a framework for analyzing the competitive balance of the factors involved and the different models under consideration has been selected. Michael Porter described the Diamond in 1990 in his seminal work "The competitive advantage of Nations". It considers different national factors that interact to produce the competitive advantage, such as home demand conditions, related support industries, factor conditions, companies` strategy and rivalry and Government regulation. With the Diamond the profile of the different factors are analyzed according to priority and importance. The resulting model allows detecting weaknesses and strengths considering the principal actors that build a food security network. Also it is possible to represent graphically the points of analysis, which allows to explore together different models of food security networks. The food supply it is a vital factor in every country for the population survival. The fresh food production, mainly fruits and vegetables, meat and fish, needs a net work of markets, at wholesale and retail level in order to distribute that fresh food from the farms where is produced to the final consumer, mainly located in the big cities (farm-to-fork). The whole activities related to bring food and supply to the final consumers is denominated "food security". There is another concept associated to the food security which is called "food safety". In some extend both are related, but different. The food safety concept means that the food must be "safe" for human consumption (innocuous). This simple difference (security-safety) has created some confusion in some countries. Food security guarantees the quantity of food supplied to people. Food safety guarantees the quality of food from human health perspective. Food security it is much more important in the poor than in the affluent countries or its regions. In countries with less than 1000 US$ per capita, the amount of money expended on food it is around 40% of the average income. In that case, a change in agricultural costs or on food prices has tremendous influence in the whole society. Many countries have developed a National Plan for food security in order to create markets network. This network operates as a group of engines pumping food from origin to destination. Thanks to this organization has been possible to correct many deficiencies in the population's food supply. The wholesale markets either in food origin area or in destination are not easy to establish. They need many important aspects to be evaluated before start the wholesale market design. The influence area determination; the right dimension of the premises; the type of buildings and pavilions; the protection of the market; the wholesalers transference; the users' relationships; the working rules; tariffs; timetables; gathering and distribution of the daily commercial information; connections with other markets; and a very long etcetera. All that set of aspects varies from country to country. Not all the societies or human groups have the same choices and behaviors. The final design must be adapted to every particular country. The income level; consumption habits, feminine work outside home; industrial development; classification and grading; etc. must be taken into account in order to tailor the market to the society cultural values. The results will be agricultural promotion and development of food distribution efficiency; income distribution among farmers and rural population; better population nourishment; food industry development; commerce and services increasing; food exports boosted; and general improvement of the national welfare for any country undertaken this economical and global activities.