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Special Report: How to be small and successful in Latin America (ISSN 17414474)
How to be small and successful in Latin America
The recently concluded Fifa World Cup, held in Russia, surprised many sports commentators.... Read More
Various analysts have noted that despite getting comparatively little coverage in the media, various small countries perform notably well in the global economy.... Read More
While the limitations of GDP as a measure of wellbeing are noted, it is still relevant to ask whether there is evidence that the group we have described as Latin America’s small and successful really has outperformed.... Read More
For over a decade Panama has been one of the world’s fastest growing economies.... Read More
Panama became independent from Spain in 1821 (as part of Greater Colombia) and seceded from Colombia in 1903, a rebellion supported at the time by the United States.... Read More
There is a tendency among Latin American journalists and economists to compare their own countries with their nearest neighbours, sometimes leading to hyper-critical views of the ‘home team’.... Read More
The World Bank has described Costa Rica as a “development success story” having experienced 25 years of steady economic expansion, based on outward oriented growth, openness to foreign investment, and gradual trade liberalisation.... Read More
One of the most-cited events in Costa Rican history is the civil war of 1949, which led to the abolition of the army and, in the eyes of many historians, a decisive break with the patterns of military interventions that have punctuated the timelines of many other Latin American countries.... Read More
Writing for the Harvard International Review in 2015 María José Sada described Costa Rica as Latin America’s success story, with high levels of economic growth, foreign direct investment, and literacy.... Read More
Compared with the rest of the region, Uruguay stands out as an egalitarian society, with low levels of poverty and low inequality.... Read More
Of our ‘small and successful’ country group composed of Costa Rica, Panama, and Uruguay, Uruguay did best of the three in the 2017 Democracy Index prepared by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), coming in 18th out of 167 countries (ahead of the United States which was ranked equal 21st with Italy).... Read More
Various analysts have come up with different reasons for Uruguay’s relative success.... Read More
One of the most widely accepted measures of country-level competitiveness is the Global Competitiveness Index (GCI) compiled every two years by the World Economic Forum (WEF).... Read More
One measure of how well an economy is likely to perform is the Doing Business survey carried out regularly by the World Bank.... Read More
Having low levels of corruption is clearly important for a successful economy: without that, resources are used inefficiently and development priorities are distorted.... Read More
The basic conclusion of this report is that it is legitimate to talk about Costa Rica, Panama, and Uruguay as a group of small Latin American countries that have outperformed their peers in the region.... Read More
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- Introduction
- The global role of small countries
- What is the evidence for faster growth?
- Panama background
- Panama’s political context
- The performance debate about Panama
- Costa Rica background
- Costa Rica’s political context
- The performance debate about Costa Rica
- Uruguay background
- Uruguay’s political context
- The performance debate about Uruguay
- The Competitiveness debate
- Doing business
- Corruption
- Conclusion