Natural Resources in Latin Americaand the Caribbean : Beyond Booms and Busts?

Sinnott, Emily ; Nash, John ; de la Torre, Augusto

World Bank

关键词: ADVANCED ECONOMIES;    ADVERSE EFFECTS;    AGRICULTURAL COMMODITIES;    AGRICULTURAL COMMODITY;    AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION;   

DOI  :  10.1596/978-0-8213-8482-4
RP-ID  :  55550

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

Throughout, the history of the LatinAmerica and Caribbean (LAC) region, natural resource wealthhas been critical for its economies. Production of preciousmetals, sugar, rubber, grains, coffee, copper, and oil haveat various periods of history made countries in LatinAmerica-and their colonial powers-some of the mostprosperous in the world. In some ways, these commodities mayhave changed the course of history in the world at large.Latin America produced around 80 percent of the world'ssilver in the 16th through 19th centuries, fueling themonetary systems of not only Europe, but China and India aswell. The dramatic movements in commodity markets since theearly 2000s, as well as the recent economic crisis, providenew data to analyze and also underscore the importance of abetter understanding of issues related to boom-bustcommodity cycles. The current pattern of global recovery hasfavored LAC so far. Countercyclical policies have supporteddomestic demand in the larger LAC economies, and externaldemand from fast-growing emerging markets has boostedexports and terms of trade for LAC's net commodityexporters. Prospects for LAC in the short term look good.Beyond the cyclical rebound, however, the region'smajor longer-run challenge going forward will be to craft abold productivity agenda. With LAC coming out of this crisisrelatively well positioned, this may well be possible,especially considering that the region's improvedmacro-financial resiliency gives greater assurance thatfuture gains from growth will not be wiped out by financialcrises. In addition, LAC has been making significant stridesin the equity agenda and this could help mobilize consensusin favor of a long overdue growth-oriented reform agenda.But it remains to be seen whether the region will be able toseize the opportunity to boost long-run growth, especiallyconsidering the large gaps that LAC would need to close insuch key areas as saving, human capital accumulation,physical infrastructure, and the ability to adopt and adaptnew technologies.