Development in Latin America and the Caribbean appears to have stagnated. According to a study by the Center for Global Development published last year, the continent had the lowest growth rate in the world in six of the last ten years. Over the past decade, the region grew at an average of 1.23% per year; if the first two years of the Covid-19 pandemic are excluded, the number barely rises to 1.6%. And, despite high commodity prices, a minimum growth by 2024, only 1.6% according to projections by the IMF and the World Bank. This figure is even lower than that of the “lost decade” of the 1980s (2.2%), characterized by historic levels of inflation and an extreme increase in poverty and inequality.
While the region has made significant progress in its macroeconomic management over the past 20 years, it still faces the challenge of consolidating sustainable and inclusive growth. In search of solutions to this slow-burning crisis, CAF – Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean, in collaboration with the Autonomous Metropolitan University of Mexico, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of that country and the academic network Young Scholars InitiativeThey have opened A call for research projects that rethink economic and social development in Latin America and the Caribbean.
This call takes place within the framework of the seminar Rethinking the development of Latin America and the Caribbean from Mexicowhich will take place from 9 to 11 September 2024 in Mexico City. The workshop will address crucial economic, social and environmental issues for the sustainable development of Latin America, including low regional productivity growth, environmental impact, inequality and the fragmentation of the global economy.
About the call
The call, open until 21 July 2024, is aimed at researchers aged between 18 and 40, including PhD students with more than 75% of their thesis completed and young PhDs starting their career. The disciplines of interest for the call include economics, political science, public administration, sociology and related fields; applicants should send an extended abstract of a maximum of 5000 words or the final article to the registration form.
The papers submitted to the call for papers are expected to generate proposals for economic policies that will guide decision-making throughout the continent. At the end of the seminar, the participants’ contributions are expected to be published in a book. In addition, the researchers will form a working group with academics from various Latin American study centers and former public officials from the region to analyze and debate their proposals.
“After a significant economic rebound in 2021, the Latin American and Caribbean region returned to its pattern of slow GDP, investment and productivity growth,” said the CAF statement announcing the call. The region, it continues, faces three gaps: one that limits its external growth, another that affects the economic well-being of its domestic population and an environmental gap, exacerbated by the effects of climate change. It is necessary to confront the three fronts of this crisis simultaneously: “Without growth, there will be no more and better jobs; without the construction of technological capacities, growth will not be stable or lasting; and growth must be based on technologies and production and consumption patterns that respect the limits of the planet.”
CAF and its partner institutions are calling for contributions on six topics of interest: regional adaptation to the new global order; growth and stabilization policies; governance policies in the face of the inequality crisis; the study of integration, trade and production; productive specialization; and the path to sustainable development.
Through this emphasis on young talent, CAF and its allies are directly addressing the problem of sustainable growth in Latin America and the Caribbean. The call represents an urgent step towards a series of policies that respond to the heterogeneous national realities of the continent. Thus, the international financing organization seeks to contribute to the formulation of solutions “for the region, from the region.”
#Young #researchers #sought #rethink #development #Latin #America #Caribbean
