In 1960, average income in Latin America was only about 20 percent of that in the United States. Almost sixty years later, Latin Americans find themselves in largely the same position, despite remarkable economic progress in other developing regions. “Institutions for Productivity: Towards a Better Business Environment,” a new report from CAF-Development Bank of Latin America, points to low productivity as a primary culprit for the region’s limited capacity to transform productive resources into high-quality goods and services. But the authors also note the outsize influence of the region’s economic institutions, de jure and de facto, on firm-level outcomes, which results in low productivity across all of the region’s economic sectors. 

The report proposes a series of concrete, actionable steps to achieve productivity growth, focusing on the many ways in which Latin American economic institutions affect the environment in which companies operate.

Join us on Friday, April 26 at the Inter-American Dialogue for a presentation of key findings and timely policy recommendations from CAF’s flagship report, followed by expert discussion of the region’s persistent productivity challenge and how best to address it.

Read the executive summary online or download the full report now at CAF SCIOTECA.

Follow this event on Twitter @The_Dialogue. 

SPEAKER 

PABLO SANGUINETTI

Chief Economist and Vice President of Knowledge, CAF-Development Bank of Latin America

DISCUSSANTS

SEBASTIAN GALIANI

Professor of Economics, University of Maryland

ANABEL GONZÁLEZ

Senior Fellow, Peterson Institute for International Economics (@_AnabelG)

WELBY LEAMAN

Senior Director, Global Government Affairs (Americas & Africa), Walmart

MODERATOR 

MARGARET MYERS

Director, Asia & Latin America Program, Inter-American Dialogue (@MyersMargaret)

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