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Skills for Life Series: Self-awareness
No full textSelf-awareness, the ability to monitor internal states and understand interactions with others, is a key socioemotional skill. It encompasses internal clarity and external understanding of how others perceive us. Linked to well-being, empathy, and self-regulation, self-awareness can be developed through reflective practices, feedback, and personalized learning. In this brief, we explore its significance, successful initiatives to cultivate self-awareness, and tools available to measure it
Monitoring and Evaluation in Development Financing Institutions: Diagnosis and Analysis
No full textThis document analyzes current monitoring and evaluation (M&E) systems in development finance institutions (DFIs) in Latin America and the Caribbean, based on the results of a 2024 survey and complementary interviews with selected entities. The results show progress in the adoption of monitoring activities and gaps in evaluation functions. The survey also shows that DFIs are still in the initial stages of developing their M&E processes. After exploring and discussing the results, the document proposes a series of recommendations to redirect M&E efforts toward a focus on capacity development to generate strategic intelligence for development
Shooting a Moving Target: Choosing Targeting Tools for Social Programs
Get PDFA key challenge for policymakers is how to design methods to select beneficiaries of social programs when income is volatile and the target population is dynamic. We evaluate a traditional static proxy-means test (PMT) and three policy-relevant alternatives. We use a unique panel dataset of a random sample of households in Colombia\u27s social registry that contains information before, during, and after the 2020 economic crisis. Updating the PMT data does not improve social welfare relative to the static PMT. Relaxing the eligibility threshold reduces the exclusion error, increases the inclusion error, and increases social welfare. A dynamic method that uses data on shocks to estimate a variable component of income reduces exclusion errors and limits the expansion in coverage, increasing social welfare during the economic crisis. We consider these targeting metrics together with the curvature of governments social welfare function and budgetary and political constraints
Disaster and Political Trust: A Natural Experiment from the 2017 Mexico City Earthquake
Get PDFPolitical trust is foundational to democratic legitimacy, representative governance, and the provision of effective public policy. Various shocks can influence this trust, steering countries onto positive or negative trajectories. This study examines whether natural disasters can impact general political trust and if disaster relief efforts can mitigate these effects. We investigate the relationships between disaster, trust, and aid using novel survey data collected before and after a 7.1-magnitude earthquake struck Mexico City in September 2017. Our findings reveal that the disaster resulted in an 11% decrease in general political trust. Additionally, we demonstrate that geographical proximity to disaster relief efforts may counterbalance this decline in trust. This study contributes to the scholarship on the politics of disasters and offers policy implications, highlighting the role of disaster assistance in potentially restoring general political trust after a disaster
Trade Trends Estimates: Latin America and the Caribbean - 2024 Edition
No full textThis report provides estimates of Latin America and the Caribbeans international trade flows for 2023. It was prepared by the Integration and Trade Sector (INT) at the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) in partnership with its Institute for the Integration of Latin America and the Caribbean (INTAL)
Increasing Road Safety in Latin America and the Caribbean: Lessons from Behavioral Economics
Get PDFRoad crashes are a significant public health issue in Latin America and the Caribbean, resulting in a staggering toll of approximately 110,000 fatalities and over 5 million injuries annually. These tragedies have far-reaching economic implications, costing Latin America and the Caribbean between 3 and 5 percent of its gross domestic product. A great many road crashes can be attributed to a variety of unsafe behaviors, such as distracted driving, speeding, and impairment from alcohol or drugs. Through an understanding of cognitive and social factors that influence such behaviors, behavioral sciences offer valuable insights for developing effective interventions and strategies to promote road safety. This report focuses on the behavioral and cognitive biases that make accidents so common in our region, on initiatives implemented around the world using behavioral insights that could be beneficial to the region, and on the behavioral interventions that have been implemented in Latin America and the Caribbean to increase road safety
The Role of Agents and the Nature of Limitations in the Performance of Development Projects
Get PDFDevelopment practitioners aspire to improve lives, but achieving results is challenging. What prevents operations from achieving their objectives? Answering this question is critical to promote success. This Discussion Paper proposes to analyze operations first to identify if they faced limitations to effectiveness, then to identify which key stakeholders faced those limitations, and finally, whether such limitations were exogenous. Such an approach may strengthen accountability and learning. An analysis of 62 project completion reports evaluated in 2022 by the Inter-American Development Bank shows that success was contingent upon critical agents performance and the influence of exogenous factors. Four in 10 operations that failed had agents other than the executing agency face challenges. The same share of operations had agents face limitations derived from the project environment or third-party inputs beyond their control. Despite limitations, the proposed framework may provide insights for future work that promotes effectiveness
The Interaction of Economic and Political Inequality in Latin America
Get PDFWe investigate how economic inequality can persist in Latin America in the context of radical falls in political inequality in the last decades. Using data from Colombia, we focus on a critical facet of democratization - the entry of new politicians. We show that initial levels of inequality play a significant role in determining the impact of political entry on local institutions, policy, and development outcomes, which can impact future inequality. A vicious circle emerges whereby policies that reduce inequality are less likely to be adopted and implemented in places with relatively high inequality. We present evidence that this is caused both by the capture of new politicians and barriers to institution and state capacity building, and also by the fact that politicians committed to redistribution are less likely to win in relatively unequal places. Our results, therefore, help to reconcile the persistence of economic inequality with the new political context
Behavioral Economics and Health: The Users Journey Method to Design Better Public Health Policies
Get PDFThis brief outlines the challenges of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) and the pivotal role of individual decision-making in healthcare. It highlights behavioral biases influencing decisions and proposes a user\u27s journey methodology rooted in behavioral economics to identify biases at key decision points, including the decision to be screened, appointment setting, attendance, and habit formation. By showcasing examples and research conducted by the IDB and other institutions, this note demonstrates how behavioral interventions can sometimes overcome these biases and bolster health programs by, for example, increasing risk saliency, reducing hassles, and addressing cognitive limitations. In conclusion, the brief underscores the potential of behavioral economics to shape scalable and cost-effective health policies, ultimately improving health outcomes regionally and globally
Resilient Public-Private Partnerships: a regional and multi-sectoral toolkit from preparation to sustainable project financing
Get PDFThe Toolkit presented here aims to provide a comprehensive approach to environmental sustainability and climate resilience in infrastructure development under Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs). It adopts a multi-sectoral perspective and emphasizes a fiscal commitment that spans the entire project life cycle. This Toolkit builds on previous applications by covering all stages, from initial preparation to project financing, while highlighting the importance of maintaining sound public finances. The Toolkit is organized into four sections, each corresponding to a key stage in the PPP project life cycle: 1. Initial PPP Project Appraisal Phase: This section guides project stakeholders in assessing how climate and natural disaster risks may impact the project at an initial level. 2. PPP Structuring Phase: This part assists stakeholders in incorporating climate resilience considerations into various analyses, including technical, financial, economic, fiscal, social, and environmental aspects. 3. PPP Transaction Phase: Here, the Toolkit demonstrates how to integrate climate resilience into contract design, bidder qualifications, project bidding, and the evaluation of submitted offers. 4. PPP Contract Management Phase: This section supports governments and project planners in tracking commitments related to climate and natural disaster risks made during the Transaction Phase and in managing any unforeseen risks. Overall, the Toolkit serves as a valuable resource for integrating climate resilience into infrastructure development projects, ensuring both sustainability and effective risk management