As government agencies, policy and research centers, corporations, and banks across the world focus increasing attention on long-term global trends, Latin America and the Caribbean are falling behind. While institutions in Europe, the United States, and Asia are using studies of political, economic, social, and security scenarios to inform policy decisions, few Latin American institutions are engaged in the data collection, research, or analysis that are essential to understanding these trends and incorporating them into policy.

Against this backdrop, the Inter-American Dialogue launched its Long-Term Global Trends initiative in 2011 with the support of the Inter-American Development Bank. The program aims to provide information on the trends and scenarios that help develop strategic thinking in Latin America, and to build the capacity of regional experts and institutions to carry out long-term studies and disseminate the results. This goal could be reinforced by evaluating the development strategies being designed and applied in successful mid-size countries elsewhere.

This publication is the second in a series dedicated to raising awareness of global trends analysis and how future scenarios will affect Latin America. In the Question and Answer section, experts from throughout the region examine the most important global trends for Latin America and how policymakers should address them. In the second section, Program Director Sergio Bitar discusses the need for a stronger relationship between global trends analysis and education policy. The final section offers a summary of Bitar’s recently published book, Why and How Latin America Should Think about the Future.

Michael Shifter
President