Telecommunication reforms, access regulation, and Internet adoption in Latin America

The authors review the stylized facts on regulatory reform in telecommunications and its effects on telecommunications development and Internet penetration in Latin America. Relying on data from the International Telecommunication Union, the Information for Development Program (InfoDev), and the World Bank for 1990-99, the authors then test econometrically the determinants of the differences in Internet penetration rates across Latin America. The results show that effective implementation of the reform agenda in telecommunications regulation could accelerate adoption of the Internet in Latin America-even though it is only part of the solution (income levels, income distribution, and access to primary infrastructure are the main determinants of growth in Internet connections and use). Regulation will work by cutting costs. Cost cutting will require that regulators in the region take a much closer look at the design of interconnection rules and at the tradeoffs that emerge from the complex issues involved. It will also require a commitment to developing analytical instruments, such as cost models, to sort out many of the problems. Appropriate cost models will generate benchmarks that are much more consistent with the local issues and with the local cost of capital than international benchmarks will ever be for countries in unstable macroeconomic situations. Cost cutting will require an equally strong commitment to imposing regulatory accounting systems that reduce the information asymmetrics that incumbents use to reduce the risks of entry. All these changes will ultimately require a stronger commitment by competition agencies, since in many countries a failure to negotiate interconnection agreements will raise competition issues just as often as it will raise regulatory questions.Rural Communications,Information Technology,Telecommunications Infrastructure,Knowledge Economy,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Knowledge Economy,Information Technology,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Rural Communications,Education for the Knowledge Economy

Use of m-Health Technology for Preventive Interventions to Tackle Cardiometabolic Conditions and Other Non-Communicable Diseases in Latin America- Challenges and Opportunities

In Latin America, cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality rates will increase by an estimated 145% from 1990 to 2020. Several challenges related to social strains, inadequate public health infrastructure, and underfinanced healthcare systems make cardiometabolic conditions and non-communicable diseases (NCDs) difficult to prevent and control. On the other hand, the region has high mobile phone coverage, making mobile health (mHealth) particularly attractive to complement and improve strategies toward prevention and control of these conditions in low- and middle-income countries. In this article, we describe the experiences of three Centers of Excellence for prevention and control of NCDs sponsored by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute with mHealth interventions to address cardiometabolic conditions and other NCDs in Argentina, Guatemala, and Peru. The nine studies described involved the design and implementation of complex interventions targeting providers, patients and the public. The rationale, design of the interventions, and evaluation of processes and outcomes of each of these studies are described, together with barriers and enabling factors associated with their implementation.Fil: Beratarrechea, Andrea Gabriela. Instituto de Efectividad Clínica y Sanitaria; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Diez Canseco, Francisco. Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia; PerúFil: Irazola, Vilma. Instituto de Efectividad Clínica y Sanitaria; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Miranda, Jaime. Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia; PerúFil: Ramirez Zea, Manuel. Institute of Nutrition of Central America and Panama; GuatemalaFil: Rubinstein, Adolfo Luis. Instituto de Efectividad Clínica y Sanitaria; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentin

A review of social protection in Latin America

This paper reviews social protection trends and policy responses in Latin America as part of a global scoping study on social protection commissioned by Ford Foundation (See Appendix One for ToR for this paper). The paper is organised as follows (following the paper contents as described in Appendix One): Section 1 identifies the main trends in poverty and vulnerability in the region, with particular references to rural-urban and life course poverty incidence. Section 2 provides a review of social protection trends. It discusses the two main areas of change and innovation in the last two decades: the reform of social insurance provision and the rapid expansion of social assistance schemes. Section 3 identifies some potential points of engagement between Ford Foundation work and the social protection policy agenda in the region

Latin American Indigenous Language Research

Latin American Studie

Give and Take: Political Competition, Participation and Public Finance in 20th Century Latin America

Rational choice models predict that political competition and political participation have opposite effects on the size of government. We investigate these theories using data from a panel of 18 Latin American countries during the 20th century. Our research builds evidence for the prediction that reforms enhancing political competition tend to limit the size of government. Furthermore, we find that reforms which remove literacy requirements from franchise laws are associated with government expansion, while changes in women's suffrage laws have no impact on the size of government. Our findings demonstrate the empirical relevance of the distinction between political competition and participation

Agora Teaching App

Professional development of teachers normally ends after formal collegiate education. Agora desires to help educators continually train, to learn the skills of good teaching in classrooms by using various, non-traditional methodologies. By translating Agoras current platform to an app, Agora can widen their scope and serve Latin American countries outside of Peru, where they are currently based. We will simply take their current business and course platform and provide a mobile user interface for it. By expanding the reach of Agora, Latin American teachers will be well equipped to teach their classes with innovation and effectiveness

North-South knowledgesharing on incentive-based conditional cash transfer programs

Over the last decade, Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) programs have become one of the most widely adopted anti-poverty initiatives in the developing world. Inspired particularly by Mexico's successful program, CCTs are viewed as an effective way to provide basic income support while building children's human capital. These programs have had a remarkable global expansion, from a handful programs in the late 1990s to programs in close to 30 countries today, including a demonstration program in the United States. In contrast to many other safety net programs in developing countries, CCTs have been closely studied and well evaluated, creating both a strong evidence base from which to inform policy decisions and an active global community of practice. This paper first reviews the emergence of CCTs in the context of a key theme in welfare reform, notably using incentives to promote human capital development, going beyond the traditional focus on income support. The paper then examines what has been learned to date from the experience with CCTs in the South and raises a series of questions concerning the relevance and replicability of these lessons in other contexts. The paper concludes with a call for further knowledge sharing in two areas: between the North and South as the experience with welfare reform and CCTs in particular expands, and between behavioral science and welfare policy.Safety Nets and Transfers,Rural Poverty Reduction,Population Policies,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Labor Policies

(WP 2013-08) Economic (In)Security and Gender Differences in Trade Policy Attitudes

Over time and across countries, researchers have noted frequent and mostly unexplained gender differences in the levels of support for policies of free or freer trade: women tend to be less favorable toward policies of liberalizing trade than men. Yet, no well substantiated theoretical or empirical account of the gender component of trade attitudes has emerged. Using an economic security explanation based principally on a mobile factors approach, we find that it is not women generally who are more negative toward trade but particularly economically vulnerable women – i.e. women from the scarce labor factor. We utilize recent survey data on individuals’ attitudes toward different facets of trade and its effects across three disparate regions to examine this phenomenon empirically. An economic security approach helps to explain the marked differences in attitudes toward trade among lower- and higher-skilled females in developing and developed countries

Gut microbiome composition in the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos is shaped by geographic relocation, environmental factors, and obesity.

Background: Hispanics living in the USA may have unrecognized potential birthplace and lifestyle influences on the gut microbiome. We report a cross-sectional analysis of 1674 participants from four centers of the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos (HCHS/SOL), aged 18 to 74 years old at recruitment.Results: Amplicon sequencing of 16S rRNA gene V4 and fungal ITS1 fragments from self-collected stool samples indicate that the host microbiome is determined by sociodemographic and migration-related variables. Those who relocate from Latin America to the USA at an early age have reductions in Prevotella to Bacteroides ratios that persist across the life course. Shannon index of alpha diversity in fungi and bacteria is low in those who relocate to the USA in early life. In contrast, those who relocate to the USA during adulthood, over 45 years old, have high bacterial and fungal diversity and high Prevotella to Bacteroides ratios, compared to USA-born and childhood arrivals. Low bacterial diversity is associated in turn with obesity. Contrasting with prior studies, our study of the Latino population shows increasing Prevotella to Bacteroides ratio with greater obesity. Taxa within Acidaminococcus, Megasphaera, Ruminococcaceae, Coriobacteriaceae, Clostridiales, Christensenellaceae, YS2 (Cyanobacteria), and Victivallaceae are significantly associated with both obesity and earlier exposure to the USA, while Oscillospira and Anaerotruncus show paradoxical associations with both obesity and late-life introduction to the USA.Conclusions: Our analysis of the gut microbiome of Latinos demonstrates unique features that might be responsible for health disparities affecting Hispanics living in the USA

Early childhood development in Latin America and the Caribbean

There is considerable evidence that young children in many developing countries suffer from profound deficits in nutrition, health, fine and gross motor skills, cognitive development, and socio-emotional development. Early childhood development (ECD) outcomes are important markers of thewelfare of children. In addition, the deleterious effects of poor outcomes in early childhood can be long-lasting, affecting school attainment, employment, wages, criminality, and measures of social integration of adults. This paper considers the theoretical case to be made for investments in early childhood, selectively reviews the literature on the impact of ECD programs in the United States, discusses the evidence from Latin America and the Caribbean, and makes suggestions for future research. The focus is on the relation between outcomes in early childhood and measures of household socioeconomic status, child health, and parenting practices, as well as on the impact of specific policies and programs. The knowledge base on early childhood outcomes is still thin in Latin America and the Caribbean. There are therefore very high returns to comparative descriptive analysis in the region, as well as to careful evaluations of the impact of various programs.Educational Sciences,Primary Education,Early Childhood Development,Street Children,Youth and Governance