Is School Funding Unequal in Latin America?: A Cross-country Analysis

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eleonora Bertoni ◽  
Gregory Elacqua ◽  
Luana Marotta ◽  
Matias Martínez ◽  
Humberto Santos ◽  
...  

Public spending on education has increased significantly in Latin America over the last decades. However, less is known whether increased spending has been translated into a more equitable distribution of resources within countries in the region. This study addresses this gap by measuring the inequality in per-pupil spending between regions with different levels of socioeconomic status (SES) within five Latin American countries: Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. Results show that Brazil, a federal country, has the widest socioeconomic funding gap due to large inequalities in local revenues between high and low SES regions. However, the country's funding gap has narrowed over time. School funding in Colombia has become more regressive over time, but its gap is half the size of the one in Brazil. The distribution of school funding in Peru has changed over time from being regressive-benefiting the richest regions-to being progressive-benefiting the poorest regions. Education spending in Chile and in Ecuador are, on the other hand, consistently progressive. However, while the progressiveness of funding in Ecuador is driven by transfers targeted at disadvantaged rural areas, the funding formulas in Chile addresses socioeconomic inequalities beyond the rural-urban gap.

1977 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 157-166 ◽  
Author(s):  
Milton Silverman

A survey was conducted on the promotion of 28 prescription drugs in the form of 40 different products marketed in the United States and Latin America by 23 multinational pharmaceutical companies. Striking differences were found in the manner in which the identical drug, marketed by the identical company or its foreign affiliate, was described to physicians in the United States and to physicians in Latin America. In the United States, the listed indications were usually few in number, while the contraindications, warnings, and potential adverse reactions were given in extensive detail. In Latin America, the listed indications were far more numerous, while the hazards were usually minimized, glossed over, or totally ignored. The differences were not simply between the United States on the one hand and all the Latin American countries on the other. There were substantial differences within Latin America, with the same global company telling one story in Mexico, another in Central America, a third in Ecuador and Colombia, and yet another in Brazil. The companies have sought to defend these practices by contending that they are not breaking any Latin American laws. In some countries, however, such promotion is in clear violation of the law. The corporate ethics and social responsibilities concerned here call for examination and action.


2019 ◽  
pp. 114-135
Author(s):  
David Brydan

Social experts played an important but contested role in Francoist attempts to establish Spain as an influential power in Latin America during the 1940s and 1950s. By encouraging Spanish experts to form ties with their Latin American colleagues, the Franco regime aimed to promote an image of itself as modern, scientific, and technically advanced on the one hand, and as socially progressive on the other. Despite the significant resources dedicated to this task, the Francoist narrative was strongly resisted both by Latin American leftists and by exiled Republican social experts who promoted a more collaborative model of Ibero-American identity. Nevertheless, Latin America did offer a route through which Francoist experts were able to engage with wider forms of international health and welfare. In areas such as social security, it also provided an opportunity for the regime to promote its vision of Francoist modernity to the outside world.


1985 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 123-143 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arpad Von Lazar ◽  
Michele McNabb

Latin American societies and economies are. in a world of change and transition. The past decade, from 1973 to the present, has been for them an era of anxiety on the one hand and of opportunity on the other, a paradoxical era in which prospects for development had to compete with the high social costs of stagnation in many instances.Energy was the catchword, and the name of energy was oil. Its price, its availability, and its promise (a road to riches for those fortunate enough to possess it, a threat of increasing poverty for those unfortunate enough to have to buy it) brought turmoil to the economies, and the bodies politic, of Latin America.


Author(s):  
Laura Wills-Otero

Since the beginning of the third wave of democratization in the late 1970s, Latin American party systems have confronted several challenges, and they have frequently been transformed. There have been various types of changes. While some systems collapsed in the 1990s (e.g., Venezuela and Peru), others realigned (Colombia, Chile, and Uruguay), or expanded (Argentina and Mexico), or were able to become consolidated and ensure their stability over time (e.g., Brazil). What factors explain the transformations in party systems during the past three decades, and how can Latin American party systems be classified according to their attributes? In trying to answer these questions, scholars of Latin America have undertaken studies that are both theoretically and empirically rich. Their work has increased our knowledge of the party systems and representative democracies in the region. Different factors have been highlighted in order to explain the changes these systems have undergone since the third wave of democratization. Some works emphasize the importance of institutional reforms introduced by politicians or by constitutional assemblies. The questions they address are the following: What political reforms have been introduced into Latin American political systems, and what effects have they had on the party systems in different countries? The researchers do not limit their attention to reforms of electoral systems. For example, some of them also study decentralization processes and their effects on party systems. From a different perspective, other authors focus on changes in electoral preferences and their effects on the configuration of political power, exploring how regional economic, political, and social changes have affected voter preferences and the political configuration of party systems. Still others consider the crises of democratic representation in these countries, underlining the decline in the programmatic character of parties as an explanatory variable for the crises and noting that the level of institutionalization of a party system declines when parties abandon this distinctive feature and become clientelistic or personalistic instead. On the other hand, in order to describe party systems and to observe the changes they have undergone, academics have proposed a set of concepts and measurements that make it possible to identify their levels of institutionalization (i.e., stability vs. volatility), nationalization, and programmatic structuration, among other aspects. The operationalization of these concepts has provided researchers with useful data for describing, comparing, and analyzing the party systems of the region transversely over time. Understanding the transformation and characteristics of Latin American party systems over time sheds light on both the progress democratic regimes have made and the setbacks they have suffered within specific countries and in the region at large.


Author(s):  
Wilhelm Wachholz

The Latin American Christian worship service celebrated in most of Latin America until the beginning of the 19th century was Catholic, particularly the one that was prior to the Catholic Reformation or the Counter-Reformation. As of the 19th century, the Catholic worship lost its exclusiveness as a result of the incoming of immigrants and foreign missionaries. Among other worship services, there emerge those of the so-called ethnic Protestantism and of the mission endeavor. Latin American Protestantism was characterized as apologetic with regard to the relation with Roman Catholicism. Instigated by the goals of missionary work and the conversion of the Catholics, mission Protestantism tended to construct its worship identity as being “nonliturgical.” This identity can still be perceived in current times, especially in the Pentecostal and neo-Pentecostal churches. The roots of the liturgical identity of Latin American Protestantism will be presented in this text, culminating in the liturgical renewal movement of the second half of the 20th century.


1997 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-69 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sidney Weintraub

The United States, during the past several years, has squandered a heaven-sent opportunity to cement its already deep economic relations with Latin America. There is no certainty that the neglect will be altered in the near term.A series of transformations made the 1990s an ideal time to consolidate improved economic relations with Latin America. The end of the Cold War meant that US dealings with Latin America could be based on mutual realities in the Hemisphere rather than be shaped through the one-way prism of East-West confrontation. There was a profound paradigm shift that swept just about all the countries of the Hemisphere, away from protectionism and toward open markets as the path to economic growth.


2017 ◽  
Vol 35 (5) ◽  
pp. 439-454
Author(s):  
Nestor Garza

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to assess alternative economic explanations of buildings’ height in Latin America and Chile, inductively producing a theory about skyscrapers’ height in emerging countries. In the quest for height, global exposure as advertising guides developers located in emerging economies, while ego-building for investors. Design/methodology/approach This paper uses mixed methods triangulation (MMT). Findings with small sample econometrics for 38 cities from 13 different countries are re-interpreted by linguistically analyzing 11 semi-structured interviews with local experts in Santiago. Findings Globalization is the main determinant of skyscrapers height in the Latin American region, its interaction with the need to portray management and technical skills of developer firms, determines a process toward over-construction. Research limitations/implications Because of small sample bias, the quantitative results are not fully reliable, but this is precisely why it makes sense to use MMT. Practical implications Santiago offers a valuable case study because, on the one hand, Chile was the first Latin American country to undertake neoliberal type reforms, as early as 1973. On the other, the tallest Latin American skyscraper is to be completed in this city by 2015. The theory developed, derived from the evidence and the perceptions, has a Global South reach and can open-up an empirical research agenda. Originality/value This paper innovates in real estate research by using MMT, not just to confirm quantitative findings, but as an inductive theory building tool. It also analyses Latin America, a region with scarce presence in the literature.


2012 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 211-236 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marco Parriciatu ◽  
Francesco Sindico

This article critically assesses the nature and the content of a possible human right to water for Indigenous People in the Latin American context. On the one hand, after introducing the deliberately unclear definition of Indigenous People, the article considers that a human right to water is embedded in Indigenous Peoples’ customary laws, which, according to legal pluralism, are to be considered as a legitimate source of law. The article then moves to the content of a possible human right to water for Indigenous People in the Latin American context. The importance of the jurisprudence of the Inter American Court of Human Rights is highlighted, and the obligation for States to consult with Indigenous People when dealing with their water resources is hailed as one of the key elements of a human right to water.


2020 ◽  
pp. 030913252092657
Author(s):  
Ibán Díaz-Parra

Studies on gentrification in Latin America currently face two main obstacles. On the one hand, there appears to be a refusal by the academy in Latin America to use the term, regarding it as an expression of cultural imperialism. On the other hand, there has been an excessively flexible and ambiguous use of the term, obscuring political and scholarly debates on the issue. Both obstacles are partly a consequence of the lack of dialogue between the different authors in the field. This article generates a critical dialogue with the most relevant works and researchers on gentrification in Latin America, as well as with those scholars reluctant to use the term. Specifically, the author advocates for a more restrictive and clarifying definition of the phenomena and defends the utility of the concept as a tool to promote the critical analysis of the specific processes in many Latin American cities, as well as in cities outside the region. The paper concludes that, even though it should not be the main political concern for urban researchers in the region, gentrification is a relevant ongoing process in some Latin American cities and its study would contribute to a better comprehension of recent processes of urban restructuring.


1999 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-71 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pablo Yankelevich

This article studies the role which the Constitutionalist group of the Mexican Revolution assigned to propaganda of their actions and programs. It evaluates the significance of the publicity campaigns launched after 1914, in an effort to counter negative reports and information about the Revolution coming from the United States. In particular, it reconstructs the propaganda campaign carried out in Latin America. On the one hand, it reviews the various mechanisms which made it possible for Mexico and its Revolution to achieve a presence in the press and the academic and political venues of Latin America; on the other, it evaluates the effects of that propaganda, the solidarity which it aroused, and the exemplary model which the Mexican Revolution became in certain spaces of Latin American society. / En este artículo se estudia el papel que el núcleo constitucionalista de la Revolución mexicana asignó a la propaganda de sus acciones y programas. Se evalúa el significado de las campañas publicitarias puestas en marcha a partir de 1914, con el fin de contrarrestar noticias e informaciones provenientes de los Estados Unidos. En concreto, se reconstruye la estrategia propagandística desenvuelta en Latinoamérica. Por un lado, se analiza los distintos mecanismos que hicieron posible que México y su Revolución alcanzaran una presencia visible en medios de prensa, ámbitos académicos y políticos de América Latina; y por otro lado, se reconstruyen los efectos de aquella propaganda, las acciones de solidaridad que despertaron y el perfil ejemplificador que comenzó a adquirir la Revolución Mexicana en determinados espacios de las sociedades latinoamericanas.


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