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Extended Country Program Evaluation: Barbados 2015-2023
Get PDFThe Extended Country Program Evaluation of Barbados covers the last two Country strategies (CSs) of the Inter-American Development Bank Group between 2015 and 2023. This evaluation assesses the relevance, effectiveness, and sustainability of the IDB Group strategies and programs in Barbados to provide input for preparing the new IDB Group strategy with Barbados for 2024-2027. The Office of Evaluation and Oversight (OVE) found that both CSs were overall relevant and consistent with the government\u27s priorities and the country\u27s challenges. However, the relevance was affected by issues of limited strategic selectivity, weak vertical logic, and evaluability shortcomings. In terms of effectiveness, the evaluation found that the IDB had high or medium contributions to 6 of the 13 SOs in both CSs. Higher contributions were made in areas that benefited from the IDBs long-term support, where there was a program commensurate with the SO\u27s scope and sustained government prioritization. These were the cases of the SOs in energy, fiscal, social, and access to finance. However, implementation issues, a program in its early stages, and evaluability issues hindered the program\u27s contribution to objectives. The sustainability of results depends on both the Government\u27s commitment to sustainability and the IDBs complementary support in institutional capacity. Based on the findings, OVE recommends to (1) continue supporting key areas that address long-term development challenges and in which the IDB Group has proven to be a key partner; (2) continue working with the Government of Barbados to improve project execution of IDB Group financed operations; and (3) strengthen coordination between the IDB and IDB Invest to better address constraints to private sector investments
The Expectations of Others
Get PDFUsing a novel dataset that integrates inflation expectations with information on social network connections, we show that inflation expectations within one\u27s social network have a positive, causal relationship with individual inflation expectations. This relationship is stronger for groups that share common demographic characteristics such as gender, income, or political affiliation and when salient information disseminates through the network. In a monetary union New-Keynesian model, socially determined inflation expectations induce imperfect risk-sharing and can affect the inflation and real output propagation of local and aggregate shocks. To reduce welfare losses due to socially determined expectations, monetary policy should optimally put more weight on the inflation rate of socially more connected regions
Ten Findings about Poverty in Latin America and the Caribbean
Get PDFPoverty continues to challenge Latin American and Caribbean countries, with approximately one in three people in the region in poverty and one in seven in extreme poverty. This paper provides up-to-date insights through analysis of who the poor are, where they are located, and how they live in the region. First, it uses a large collection of household surveys that extend through 2023 to characterize the poor. It examines (1) how many people in the region are poor, (2) how the poor are distributed geographically within and across countries, (3) how poverty affects specific groups (e.g., women, children, Afro-descendants, and Indigenous people), (4) how much of the poverty in the region is chronic and how much is transitory, and (5) how poverty numbers have changed over time. Second, it identifies how the extreme and chronically poor live relative to others in their same countries, providing insights into policy responses. Specifically, it discusses (6) the living arrangements of the poor, (7) the assets they have access to, (8) how they earn their incomes, (9) how they access human capital services such as education and health, and (10) what access they have to social programs. While this analysis is descriptive, it may be useful both for targeting efforts and for generating new hypotheses for poverty reduction that can subsequently be tested causally
Expanding Opportunities: Policies for Gender Equality and Inclusion
Get PDFThis book examines the progress and persistent challenges in achieving gender equality and inclusion in Latin America and the Caribbean. Despite significant advances in women\u27s education, health, and labor force participation, substantial gaps remain in areas such as economic opportunity and leadership representation, and gender-based violence remains high. The region has also witnessed a greater, though incomplete, acceptance of diverse sexual orientations and gender identities. The book proposes a comprehensive policy framework structured around three pillars: foundational policies, policies that enable economic opportunity, and institutional reforms. It argues that addressing persistent challenges requires evidence-based policies that expand opportunities to unlock the regions full talent potential and drive progress toward a more equitable and inclusive society
Building a Skilled Workforce for the Green Transition: The Changing Technical and Vocational Education Landscape In Belize
Get PDFBelizes tourism-dependent economy was hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, pushing the importance of diversification and resilience to the forefront of discussions. To create a sustainable, resilient, and job-generating economy, the country is preparing for a transition to renewable energy. To meet this challenge, the Inter-American Development Bank and the government of Belize are working together to modernize technical and vocational education and training (TVET) so as to equip Belizeans with the skills demanded by a green economy. By harnessing the potential of TVET to bridge the skills gap and meet market demand, the changing training landscape in Belize is not only creating job opportunities, but also laying the foundation for a sustainable and prosperous future. The effort starts with the nations target of generating 85 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2030
FS 1.5.b: OLAS Household Survey Data Set 2023 Update: Sanitation Access Indicators
Get PDFThis factsheet outlines the water access indicators in the updated OLAS Household Survey dataset. The dataset uses national household survey information spanning from 2003 to the present to produce indicators related to water and sanitation. This fact sheet is a revised version of "FS 1.5 OLAS Household Survey Data Set: Sanitation Access Indicators"
MICI Annual Report 2023
No full textIn 2023, the MICI focused on advancing its vision of working with all to make development better, while recording a record in new complaints received and cases handled through its dispute resolution process and independent investigations. This report summarizes the management of the 39 complaints from 13 countries and the activities of the Mechanism, which aims to strengthen the environmental and social sustainability of the projects of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), IDB Invest and IDB Lab
The Impact of the Creation of a Sovereign ESG Reference Yield Curve on Corporate ESG Bonds Issuances from Latin American and Caribbean
Get PDFThis paper explores a granular database from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Green Bond Transparency Platform covering the issuance of 430 corporate and sovereign Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) bonds in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) that are outstanding in international markets. The goal was to investigate how the creation of a sovereign ESG reference yield curve can boost the private ESG bond market. Using a difference-in-differences (DID) approach, we empirically estimate that the creation of a sovereign ESG reference curve roughly leads to a 60 percent increase in the volume of corporate bond issuances and a 25 percent increase in the number of ESG corporate bond issuances in the external markets after three years. On the mechanisms, we argue that the sovereign ESG reference yield curve works as a benchmark for private sector ESG bond issuers by providing a standard against which the performance of ESG bonds can be measured
Does Income Growth in Latin America and the Caribbean Drive Disproportionate Energy Consumption?
Get PDFWe examine the relationship between energy consumption and economic growth in Latin America and the Caribbean using panel data from 1971 to 2019. Employing both parametric and non-parametric methods, we find a robust positive correlation between Latin America and the Caribbean\u27s economic activity and energy consumption. Specifically, a 1% increase in income is associated with a 0.4% increase in total energy use in the short term, rising to a 0.9% in the long term. Further analysis highlights that Latin America and the Caribbean countries consistently display higher income elasticities compared to other global regions and this relationship exhibits discernible non-linearities. A temporal breakdown indicates an increased correlation in Latin America and the Caribbean post-1991 confirming the non-linear, region-specific, and temporally evolving characteristics of the income-energy relationship. Our results are robust to multiple methodological approaches and to variations in how income and consumption are measured. These findings hold significant implications for energy policy in the region, especially in the context of climate change mitigation efforts
Gender-Based Research and Interviewer Effects: Evidence for Latin America and the Caribbean
Get PDFAs the measurement of public opinion and attitudes toward gender issues has gained increasing attention in gender policy and research, the accurate design, implementation, and analysis of survey data has become paramount. In this paper, we examine the impact of the gender of the interviewer on survey responses in Latin America and the Caribbean, both individually and in the aggregate, using data from the LAPOP surveys (2012-2018). We also present a formal model that illustrates how the gender of the interviewer may influence responses and derive an optimal adjustment in survey design and analysis to account for this bias. Our findings highlight the substantial influence of social norms on gender opinions, revealing that respondents are more likely to overestimate men\u27s abilities in politics relative to women\u27s and to accept domestic violence when interviewed by men rather than women. Two key actions emerge as a corollary: survey firms should always provide the gender of the interviewer in their data, and researchers should adjust for this bias in their analysis. Without implementing these recommended practices, survey data may not accurately reflect what individuals in the region think about gender issues, potentially skewing behaviors and public policy