Brookings: Experts - Santiago Levy

Latin America Economic Perspectives: Is there a Future for Financial and Commercial Integration in Latin America?

Fri, 20 Apr 2012 09:15:00 -0400

Event Information

April 20, 2012
9:15 AM - 11:30 AM EDT

Falk Auditorium
The Brookings Institution
1775 Massachusetts Ave., NW
Washington, DC

After successfully weathering the global financial crisis, Latin America and the Caribbean have shown remarkable economic resilience despite facing major challenges that could derail growth and development. The region is falling behind its peers in emerging Asian nations, particularly in commercial integration, at a time when regional markets would offer a welcome counterpoint to growing Chinese influence.

On April 20, the Latin America Initiative at Brookings hosted a discussion on its biannual Brookings Latin America Economic Perspectives report (BLEP). The report analyzes the possibility of stronger financial and commercial ties between Latin American countries in order to profit from the region’s positive growth prospects and to shield the region from external economic shocks. Brookings Nonresident Senior Fellow Eduardo Levy-Yeyati presented the report, followed by a panel discussion featuring Jose de Gregorio, distinguished professor from the University of Chile; Santiago Levy, vice president of Sectors and Knowledge at the Inter-American Development Bank; Moisés Naím, senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace; and Alejandro Werner, director of Global business at BBVA Bancomer. Brookings Senior Fellow Daniel Kaufmann provided introductory remarks.

Participants

Panelists

Moderator: Alejandro Werner

Managing Director, Corporate Investment Banking
BBVA Bancomer

José de Gregorio

Distinguished Professor, Department of Economics
University of Chile

Santiago Levy

Nonresident Senior Fellow, The Brookings Institution
Vice President of Sectors and Knowledge, Inter-American Development Bank

Eduardo Levy-Yeyati

Nonresident Senior Fellow, The Brookings Institution
Professor, Universidad Torcuato di Tella

Moisés Naím

Senior Associate, International Economics Program
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

Beyond the Crisis? Thinking Strategically About Mexico’s Economic Future

Fri, 25 Jun 2010 09:00:00 -0400

Event Information

June 25, 2010
9:00 AM - 1:00 PM EDT

Falk Auditorium
The Brookings Institution
1775 Massachusetts Ave., NW
Washington, DC

Mexico’s economy was one of the most severely affected by the global economic crisis. The country’s GDP shrank by 6.5 percent in 2009—the most serious contraction since the 1995 peso crisis. Even prior to the collapse, Mexico grew at relatively low rates even under highly favorable global economic conditions. This suggests that there are structural problems that must be addressed if Mexico is to bolster its development.

On June 25, the Latin America Initiative at Brookings and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) hosted a conference with leading Mexican and international experts to discuss Mexico’s economic future. The conference diagnosed Mexico’s development strategy and highlighted key aspects of an economic agenda to take Mexico beyond the global economic crisis.

Arturo Sarukhan, the Mexican ambassador to the United States, and Luis Alberto Moreno, President of the Inter-American Development Bank, delivered opening remarks. Alejandro Werner, deputy secretary of Finance of Mexico, Santiago Levy, IDB vice president for sector and knowledge, and Jesús Silva-Herzog Márquez, of the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México, served as panelists. Brookings Senior Fellow Mauricio Cárdenas, director of the Latin America Initiative, was joined by Brookings experts Kevin Casas-Zamora, Vanda Felbab-Brown and Carol Graham as moderators and discussants. After each panel, participants took audience questions.

Transcript

Event Materials

Participants

Panelists

Moderator: Mauricio Cárdenas

Senior Fellow and Director, Latin America Initiative

Luis Alberto Moreno

President
Inter-American Development Bank

Ambassador Arturo Sarukhan

Ambassador of Mexico to the United States

Alejandro Werner

Deputy Secretary of Finance, Government of Mexico

Santiago Levy

Nonresident Senior Fellow, Global Economy and Development
Vice President for Sector and Knowledge, Inter-American Development Bank

Moderator: Kevin Casas-Zamora

Senior Fellow, Foreign Policy, Latin America Initiative

William F. Maloney

Lead Economist, Development Economics Research Group, The World Bank

Manuel Molano

Assistant General Director, Instituto Mexicano para la Competitividad, A.C.

Aaron Tornell

Professor of Economics
UCLA

Moderator: Carol Graham

Senior Fellow, Global Economy and Development

Jesús Silva-Herzog Márquez

Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México

Declining Inequality in Latin America: A Decade of Progress?

Mon, 14 Jun 2010 18:00:00 -0400

Event Information

June 14, 2010
6:00 PM - 7:00 PM EDT

Saul/Zilkha Rooms
The Brookings Institution
1775 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20036

In Declining Inequality in Latin America: A Decade of Progress? (Brookings Press, 2010) editors Felipe López-Calva and Nora Lustig bring together leading scholars and policymakers to examine the decline of inequality in the region. Since the late 1990s, income concentration has fallen throughout Latin America. The book’s contributors take an in-depth look at four countries—Argentina, Brazil, Mexico and Peru—to determine the primary impetus to this trend. The book reveals two leading factors that may account for the reduced inequality: the narrowing of the earnings gap between skilled and low-skilled workers and the increase of government transfers to the poor.

On June 14, the Latin America Initiative at Brookings hosted Nora Lustig, one of the book’s editors and contributors, to present its findings. Her presentation was followed by a panel discussion with Francisco H.G. Ferreira of the World Bank and Santiago Levy of Brookings and the Inter-American Development Bank. Brookings Senior Fellow Mauricio Cárdenas, director of the Latin America Initiative, also served as a panelist and moderated the discussion, which focused on what the lessons learned are for policymakers looking to continue this positive trend.

Audio

Declining Inequality in Latin America

Transcript

Transcript (.pdf)

Event Materials

Participants

Panelists

Francisco H.G. Ferreira

Deputy Chief Economist, Latin America and the Caribbean Region
The World Bank

Santiago Levy

Nonresident Senior Fellow, The Brookings Institution
Vice President for Sector and Knowledge, Inter-American Development Bank

Nora Lustig

Professor of Latin American Economics, Department of Economics
Tulane University

Stuck in the Middle: Is Fiscal Policy Failing the Middle Class?

Fri, 15 May 2009 10:00:00 -0400

Event Information

May 15, 2009
10:00 AM - 11:30 AM EDT

Falk Auditorium
The Brookings Institution
1775 Massachusetts Ave., NW
Washington, DC

The economic well-being of the middle class can be crucial to the success of economic policies in both developed and developing countries. Yet many public policies are not aimed at the middle class. If governments want lasting political support for national economic policies, the interests of the middle income earners must be addressed, especially in today’s difficult economic circumstances.

On May 15, the Brookings Institution hosted a discussion on the need to assess how fiscal policy affects the middle class around the world. Panelists Antonio Estache of the Université Libre de Bruxelles, Carol Graham of the Brookings Institution and the University of Maryland, and Danny Leipziger of the World Bank are contributors to Stuck in the Middle: Is Fiscal Policy Failing the Middle Class? The new Brookings Institution Press book argues for focusing the policy agenda on the forgotten middle of the income distribution. Johannes Linn, executive director of the Wolfensohn Center for Development at Brookings, moderated the discussion, which also featured commentators Santiago Levy of Brookings and the Inter-American Development Bank and Vinod Thomas of the World Bank.

Transcript

Transcript (.pdf)

Event Materials

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Participants

Moderator

Panelists

Antonio Estache

Bernard Van Ommeslaghe Chair, Economics Department, Université Libre de Bruxelles

Danny Leipziger

Special Advisor to the Managing Director, The World Bank

Vinod Thomas

Director General, Independent Evaluation Group, The World Bank

Good Intentions, Bad Outcomes : Social Policy, Informality, and Economic Growth in Mexico

Santiago Levy — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 12:00:00 -0400

Brookings Institution Press 2008 357pp.

Despite various reform efforts, Mexico has experienced economic stability but little growth. Today more than half of all Mexican workers are employed informally, and one out of every four is poor. Good Intentions, Bad Outcomes argues that incoherent social programs significantly contribute to this state of affairs and it suggests reforms to improve the situation.

Over the past decade, Mexico has channeled an increasing number of resources into subsidizing the creation of low-productivity, informal jobs. These social programs have hampered growth, fostered illegality, and provided erratic protection to workers, trapping many in poverty. Informality has boxed Mexico into a dilemma: provide benefits to informal workers at the expense of lower growth and reduced productivity or leave millions of workers without benefits. Former finance official Santiago Levy proposes how to convert the existing system of social security for formal workers into universal social entitlements. He advocates eliminating wage-based social security contributions and raising consumption taxes on higher-income households to simultaneously increase the rate of growth of GDP, reduce inequality, and improve benefits for workers.

Good Intentions, Bad Outcomes considers whether Mexico can build on the success of Progresa-Oportunidades, a targeted poverty alleviation program that originated in Mexico and has been replicated in over 25 countries as well as in New York City. It sets forth a plan to reform social and economic policy, an essential element of a more equitable and sustainable development strategy for Mexico.

Book Event: Good Intentions, Bad Outcomes, May 13, 2008.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Santiago Levy

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Good Intentions, Bad Outcomes: Social Policy, Informality and Economic Growth in Mexico

Tue, 13 May 2008 16:00:00 -0400

Event Information

May 13, 2008
4:00 PM - 5:30 PM EDT

Saul/Zilkha Rooms
The Brookings Institution
1775 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20036

Despite a decade of macroeconomic stability, Mexico’s growth and productivity performance has been lackluster. A significant factor restricting the Mexican economic growth rate is a social policy that gives workers incentives to seek informal, low-productivity jobs and restricts firms from making strides in growth and investment opportunities.

On May 13, the Wolfensohn Center for Development at Brookings hosted a discussion with Santiago Levy, Brookings nonresident senior fellow and former deputy minister of finance of Mexico. Levy, along with a panel of leading experts, discussed his new book Good Intentions, Bad Outcomes: Social Policy, Informality and Economic Growth in Mexico (Brookings Institution Press, 2008). In 1997, Levy created Progresa-Oportunidades, an anti-poverty program, focusing on nutrition, health and education. The program has been replicated in over 25 countries and New York City and has helped more than five million families escape from poverty by means of cash transfers. In his book, Levy recommends that these social programs should not be eliminated, but rather improved so that productivity and real wages will increase for all workers and contribute to bringing Mexico’s poor out of poverty.

Transcript

Transcript (.pdf)

Event Materials

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Participants

Moderator

Panelists

Jere Behrman

W.R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of Economics and Director of the Population Studies Center, University of Pennsylvania

Nancy Birdsall

President, Center for Global Development

Francisco Ferreira

Lead Economist, Development Research Group, The World Bank

The Impact of Health Insurance in Developing Countries: Experiences from China and Colombia

Tue, 15 Apr 2008 10:00:00 -0400

Event Information

April 15, 2008
10:00 AM - 12:45 PM EDT

Room 1026/1028
SEIU
1800 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20036

Many health systems in the developing world are plagued by unequal access to health care, low utilization of services and high user fees. While health insurance is needed to protect families from catastrophic expenditures and a further spiral into poverty, questions remain about the best way to implement health insurance and how to make insurance more effective for some of the world’s poorest people.

On April 15, Global Economy and Development at Brookings hosted presentations from leading authorities on the impact of health insurance in developing countries. Professors William Hsiao and Winnie Yip discussed their impact evaluation work on the Rural Mutual Health Care Scheme (RMHC) in two Chinese provinces. Ursula Giedion presented her work on impact evaluation of health insurance for both the poor and non-poor in Colombia. Presentations were followed by comments from Paul Gertler, University of California, Berkeley; Philip Musgrove, deputy editor of Health Affairs and Mead Over, Center for Global Development. David de Ferranti, Brookings senior fellow and executive director of the Global Health Initiative, provided introductory remarks. Dr. Cheryl Scott, a senior advisor with The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, moderated the discussion.

After the program, panelists took audience questions.

Event Materials

Participants

Moderator

Cheryl Scott

Senior Advisor, Global Health, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Panelists

William Hsiao

K.T. Li Professor of Economics, Harvard School of Public Health

Winnie Yip

Associate Professor, Harvard School of Public Health

Ursula Giedion

Health Economist , International Consultant on Health Systems

Paul Gertler

Professor of Economic Analysis & Policy, Haas School of Business, University of California at Berkeley

Philip Musgrove

Deputy Editor, Health Affairs

Mead Over

Senior Fellow, Center for Global Development

Progress Against Poverty: Sustaining Mexico's Progresa-Oportunidades Program

Mon, 08 Jan 2007 16:00:00 -0500

Event Information

January 8, 2007
4:00 PM - 5:30 PM EST

Falk Auditorium
The Brookings Institution
1775 Massachusetts Ave., NW
Washington, DC

Since its creation in 1997 by Santiago Levy, Mexico's anti-poverty program "Progresa-Oportunidades" has received widespread attention and acclaim for its success in helping more than five million poor families break out of poverty. With its comprehensive focus on nutrition, health, education and evaluation, Progresa-Oportunidades is being considered for replication across the globe, as other countries and cities search for effective ways to help end the cycle of poverty.

On January 8, the Wolfensohn Center for Development hosted a discussion with Santiago Levy, former Mexican Deputy Minister of Finance, about his book Progress Against Poverty. Levy analyzed the factors contributing to the success of the program and the challenges in further implementation. Following his remarks, leading experts discussed how the program has influenced the spread of similar anti-poverty initiatives in other countries.

Transcript

Transcript (.pdf)

Event Materials

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Progress Against Poverty : Sustaining Mexico's Progresa-Oportunidades Program

Santiago Levy — Wed, 01 Nov 2006 00:00:00 -0500

Brookings Institution Press 2006 166pp.

"Over the years I have encountered numerous successful development programs of a scale too small or duration too short to make a notable and lasting impact on poverty. That is why, in addition to the technical aspects of a poverty program, institutional elements that can ensure adequate scale and continuity are equally indispensable for effective poverty alleviation." From the Foreword by James Wolfensohn

In 1997, Mexico launched a radical new program to combat poverty. Initially named Progresa and now known as Oportunidades, the revolutionary program has become an important example of a sustainable and scalable poverty reduction strategy in the developing world. In Progress against Poverty, Santiago Levy—the main architect of Progresa-Oportunidades—offers his unique perspective on the development of the program, the reasons for its success, the challenges it faces, and its applicability in other nations.

Progresa-Oportunidades was pioneering in its approach. It dispenses money directly to poor households—a change from the traditional method of providing subsidized necessities through intermediaries. However, those cash transfers are conditioned on specific patterns of behavior—recipients must invest in their own nutrition, health, and education. Also, Progresa-Oportunidades was designed to have a widespread, measurable, and sustained impact on various indicators of poverty. It is ambitious in scale, with a national rather than local focus, and its progress is measured through comprehensive evaluation of program operations and results.

Scholarly evaluations of Progresa-Oportunidades have been overwhelmingly positive, and it has inspired similar strategies in numerous developing nations. In addition to discussing micro- and macroeconomic dimensions of the program, Levy reveals the factors that have contributed to its sustainability, as well as the public information mechanisms supporting its implementation and the role of the evaluation process. He identifies the future challenges the program faces, such as making its incentives compatible with those of other social programs, and discusses its transferability to other countries.

Read the Spanish translation: Introduccíon (PDF); Pobreza y transición democrática en México (PDF)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Santiago Levy

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Ordering Information:

{9ABF977A-E4A6-41C8-B030-0FD655E07DBF}, 978-0-8157-5221-9, $19.95 Order