The costs and benefits of fixed dollar exchange rates in Latin America

Chronic inflation and the importance of the exchange rate as a nominal anchor for the domestic price level have led some Latin American countries to consider returning to a fixed dollar exchange rate. John Welch and Darryl McLeod examine the costs and benefits of real exchange rate movements and their relevance for the credibility of inflation policies in countries now contemplating free trade agreements with the United States. ; The authors discuss the experiences of several Latin American countries and describe the problem their policy-makers face when deciding to follow either fixed or flexible exchange rate rules. Fixed exchange rates that are credible can decrease inflation rates, but only at the cost of policy flexibility in the face of adverse changes in the terms of trade or foreign interest rates. The current relative stability of international markets has led some Latin American countries to complement their stabilization and reform policies with fixed exchange rates.Foreign exchange - Law and legislation ; Latin America

An institutional perspective on the diffusion of international management system standards : the case of the Environmental management standard ISO 14001.

This paper analyzes how national institutional factors affect the adoption of the intemational environmental management standard ISO 14001, using a panel of 139 countries from 1996 to 2006. The analysis emphasizes that during the emerging phase of the standard, the potentiallack of consensus within the constituents of the national institutional environment conceming the value of a new standard could send mixed signals to firrns about the standard. The resuIts show that in the early phase of adoption, regulative and norrnative forces within the institutional environment can work against each other. Results also show that regulative or coercive forces playa relatively more important role in the early phase of adoption of the standard than in the subsequent phases of diffusion. In the later phases of diffusion of ISO 14001, norrnative forces, such as the diffusion of other management standards, as well as factors related to trade, playa more important role. Because of the similarities between environmental management standards and corporate social responsibility standards, this study can help identify sorne of the challenges for diffusion of ISO management standards in the area of social responsibility.Environmental management standard; ISO 14001;

Capital Account Liberalization and Foreign Direct Investment

We examine the impact of capital account policies on FDI inflows. Using an annual panel dataset of 83 developing and developed countries for 1984-2000, we find that capital account openness is positively but only very moderately associated with the amount of FDI inflows after controlling for other macroeconomic and institutional measures. To a large extent, other country characteristics seem to determine FDI inflows instead of capital account policies. Furthermore, we find that capital controls are easily circumvented in corrupt and politically unstable regimes. We conclude that liberalizing the capital account is not sufficient to generate increases in inflows unless it is accompanied by a lower level of corruption or a decrease in political risk.Foreign direct investment, capital controls, capital flows, capital account liberalization

Ecological research in the Large Scale Biosphere Atmosphere Experiment in Amazonia: A discussion of early results

The Large-scale Biosphere–Atmosphere Experiment in Amazonia (LBA) is a multinational, interdisciplinary research program led by Brazil. Ecological studies in LBA focus on how tropical forest conversion, regrowth, and selective logging influence carbon storage, nutrient dynamics, trace gas fluxes, and the prospect for sustainable land use in the Amazon region. Early results from ecological studies within LBA emphasize the variability within the vast Amazon region and the profound effects that land-use and land-cover changes are having on that landscape. The predominant land cover of the Amazon region is evergreen forest; nonetheless, LBA studies have observed strong seasonal patterns in gross primary production, ecosystem respiration, and net ecosystem exchange, as well as phenology and tree growth. The seasonal patterns vary spatially and interannually and evidence suggests that these patterns are driven not only by variations in weather but also by innate biological rhythms of the forest species. Rapid rates of deforestation have marked the forests of the Amazon region over the past three decades. Evidence from ground-based surveys and remote sensing show that substantial areas of forest are being degraded by logging activities and through the collapse of forest edges. Because forest edges and logged forests are susceptible to fire, positive feedback cycles of forest degradation may be initiated by land-use-change events. LBA studies indicate that cleared lands in the Amazon, once released from cultivation or pasture usage, regenerate biomass rapidly. However, the pace of biomass accumulation is dependent upon past land use and the depletion of nutrients by unsustainable land-management practices. The challenge for ongoing research within LBA is to integrate the recognition of diverse patterns and processes into general models for prediction of regional ecosystem function

State of Utah v. Alex Montiel : Brief of Appellee

APPEAL FROM CONVICTION FOR AGGRAVATED ROBBERY, A FIRST DEGREE FELONY, IN VIOLATION OF UTAH CODE ANN. § 76-6-302 (1999), WITH A GROUP ENHANCEMENT PURSUANT TO Utah Code Ann. § 76-3-203.1 (Supp. 2002), IN THE THIRD JUDICIAL DISTRICT COURT IN AND FOR SALT LAKE COUNTY, STATE OF UTAH, THE HONORABLE TIMOTHY R. HANSON, PRESIDIN

State of Utah v. Alex Montiel : Brief of Respondent

BRIEF OF RESPONDENT WRIT OF CERTIORARI FOLLOWING THE COURT OF APPEALS\u27 AFFIRMANCE OF DEFENDANT\u27S CONVICTION FOR AGGRAVATED ROBBERY, A FIRST DEGREE FELONY, IN VIOLATION OF UTAH CODE ANN. § 76-6-302 (1999), WITH A GANG ENHANCEMENT PURSUANT TO UTAH CODE ANN. § 76-3-203.1 (SUPP. 2001), IN THE THIRD JUDICIAL DISTRICT COURT, IN AND FOR SALT LAKE COUNTY, STATE OF UTAH, THE HONORABLE TIMOTHY R. HANSON PRESIDIN

Greenhouse gas emission caused by different land-uses in brazilian Savannah

A conversão de áreas nativas com o corte e queima de vegetação seguida do cultivo do solo resultam em mudanças na dinâmica da matéria orgânica do solo, com alterações nas emissões dos gases causadores de efeito estufa (GEE: CO2, CH4 e N2O) da biosfera para a atmosfera, que causam a elevação da temperatura média e, consequentemente, as mudanças climáticas globais. O objetivo deste estudo foi verificar as relações entre os fluxos de CO2, CH4 e N2O com a umidade, biomassa microbiana e as formas inorgânicas de N no solo com diferentes usos das terras no bioma Cerrado (Rio Verde, Goiás). O clima da região é do tipo Aw (Köppen-Geiger), e o solo foi classificado como Latossolo Vermelho distrófico caulinítico textura argilosa com vegetação original de Cerradão. O delineamento experimental foi inteiramente casualizado (DIC), com quatro tratamentos (áreas): vegetação nativa - Cerradão (CE); pastagem (PA) de braquiária, semeadura convencional (SC) de soja; e semeadura direta (SD) de milho sucedido por milheto. As emissões anuais de CO2 e N2O não mostraram diferenças significativas entre os tratamentos; isso ocorreu devido à elevada variação nos fluxos dos gases em decorrência da sazonalidade no clima, com as menores emissões observadas durante o inverno, devido à ausência da umidade do solo. A média na emissão de CO2 foi de 108,9 ± 85,6 mg m-2 h-1 , e para o N2O, de 13,5 ± 7,6 µg m-2 h-1. Os fluxos de CH4 apresentaram diferenças significativas somente para a pastagem, com emissão de 32 µg m-2 h-1 , enquanto nas demais áreas foram observados influxos entre 46 e 15 µg m-2 h-1 . Com os resultados das correlações, pode-se verificar que a umidade foi a variável do solo que apresentou maior correlação com o fluxo dos três gases de efeito estufa. O teor de N-NO3- e as emissões de CO2 mostraram correlações para todas as áreas. Quando consideradas as correlações para todos os tratamentos conjuntamente, verificou-se que os fluxos dos três gases apresentaram correlações significativas com os teores de C e N-microbiano. Contudo, a relação Cmicro:Nmicro não mostrou correlação significativa com o fluxo dos gases de efeito estufa. A pastagem foi a única situação em que os fluxos de CO2 e N2O apresentaram correlação com as quantidades de N-inorgânico. Os resultados sugerem que os fluxos dos GEE são dependentes do regime pluvial no bioma Cerrado, principalmente nas áreas cultivadas que recebem altas doses de fertilizantes para o aumento da produtividade.The conversion of native forests by cutting and burning into farming areas leads to alterations in the dynamics of soil organic matter, with changes in emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs: CO2, CH4 and N2O) from the biosphere to the atmosphere. These cause an average temperature rise and, consequently, global climate change. The aim of this study was to examine relationships between the fluxes of CO2, CH4 and N2O with moisture, microbial biomass and inorganic N forms in soil with different land uses in the Cerrado biome (Rio Verde county, State of Goias - Brazil). The climate (Köppen-Geiger) was classified as Aw and the soil as Latossolo Vermelho distrófico caulinítico / a clayey kaolinitic Oxisol under original Cerrado (Brazilian savanna) vegetation. The experiment was arranged in a completely randomized design (CRD) with four treatments (areas): Native vegetation - Cerrado (CE); brachiaria pasture (PA); soybean in conventional tillage (SC) and no-tillage (NT) corn followed by millet. No significant differences in annual CO2 and N2O emissions were observed between treatments. This can be explained by the variability of gas fluxes due to climate seasonality, with lower emissions in the winter due to low soil moisture. Mean emissions of CO2 were 108.9 ± 85.6 mg m-2 h-1 , and of N2O 13.5 ± 7.6 mg m-2 h-1 . For CH4 significant differences in the fluxes were only observed in pasture (32 mg m-2 h-1 ), while in the other areas inflows between 46 and 15 mg m-2 h-1 were observed. The GHG fluxes showed close correlation with soil moisture. The N-NO3- emissions were significantly correlated with CO2-emissions in all areas. Considering all treatments together, the three GHG fluxes were correlated with the microbial C and N contents. However, the Cmicro: Nmicro ratio was not significantly correlated with the GHG flux. Only for pasture the CO2 and N2O fluxes were correlated with the content of soil inorganic-N. Results suggested that the GHG fluxes in the Cerrado are related to rainfall, mainly in farming areas treated with high fertilizer doses to increase productivity.Fundação AgrisusFAPESPFonds Français pour l'Environnement MondialAFD - Agence Française de DéveloppementMinistério das Relações EstrangeirasCAPES-COFECU

The Washington consensus : assessing a damaged brand

The authors analyze the Washington Consensus, which at its original formulation reflected views not only from Washington, but also from Latin America. Tracing the life of the Consensus from a Latin American perspective in terms of evolving economic development paradigms, they document the extensive implementation of Consensus-style reforms in the region as well as the mismatch between reformers’ expectations and actual outcomes, in terms of growth, poverty reduction, and inequality. They present an assessment of what went wrong with the Washington Consensus-style reform agenda, using a taxonomy of views that put the blame, alternatively, on (i) shortfalls in the implementation of reforms combined with impatience regarding their expected effects; (ii) fundamental flaws—in either the design, sequencing, or basic premises of the reform agenda; and (iii) incompleteness of the agenda that left out crucial reform needs, such as volatility, technological innovation, institutional change and inequality.Debt Markets,Emerging Markets,Economic Theory&Research,Achieving Shared Growth,Access to Finance