The Brazilian Perspective on Emerging Leaders

The global unemployment rate inched up to 5.7 percent this year after several years of decline. This reflects sharp increases in unemployment in the Latin America and Caribbean region and among fuel-exporting countries. Hence, while the total number of people unemployed around the globe will remain somewhat stable at about 175 million, several million people will be added to the ranks of the unemployed in these two groups of countries. Unemployment rates are expected to decline in m ...

Housing is part of the United Nations 11th Sustainable Development Goal, which is to “make cities inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable”. One of the most important targets of such a goal is to “ensure access for all to adequate, safe and affordable housing1 and basic services and upgrade slums”. Since 2007, the world has faced rising inequality, insecurity and climate change impact. According to UN Habitat, 54% of the world´s population currently live in cities. By 2050, this n ...

Latin American economies are facing two historically defining challenges. First, how to cope with the end of the commodities “super-cycle” and the prospect of a long period of low prices for basic natural resources. After all, raw materials production and semi-industrialized goods encompass most of their comparative advantages. Second, and even more exacting, how to adjust to the present disruptive transition from an old to a new global economic and social model. The 20th century in ...

The tendency towards urbanisation in the emerging world accompanied by the constant pursuit of higher productivity has prompted many studies which aim to understand agglomeration economies. In the context of Brazil, a country with extremely high regional disparities, exploring this issue is important not only for private stakeholders but also for public policy practitioners. In the framework of static agglomeration effects, we investigate the industrial scope of agglomeration econom ...

A recente evolução da ciência brasileira é caracterizada pelo crescimento acelerado da produção científica e pela intensificação da colaboração entre seus pesquisadores. Este trabalho tem por objetivo apresentar elementos sobre o papel da geografia na evolução da produção e colaboração científica no Brasil entre 1992 e 2009, por meio da identificação de padrões espaciais e da importância relativa das regiões em termos de produção, especialização científica e grau de interação colabo ...

Along with phosphorus and nitrogen, potash constitutes one of the three nutrients used in the production of fertilizers. Although the factors that influence its demand are mostly common to other fertilizers and in large part determined by the agricultural market conditions, its supply depends on specific factors. Long known to be controlled by two production and export cartels, the potash market experienced a major change in 2013 with the end of the RussianBelarusian agreement. In a ...

If one opens the newspapers nowadays, Brazil will come out as a melting opportunity. The country is currently facing its largest economic crisis, mostly resulting from a negative political environment where the current Administration has been deeply swollen by Brazil´s largest corruption scandal, the so-called Lava Jato (Car Wash) Operations, whose investigations have brought to light the fact that billions of US$ dollars were being used for campaign financing, illicit enrichment an ...

The IMF recently revised down its growth forecasts, making large changes in the forecasts for some emerging markets, in particular Brazil and oil-producing countries (such as Nigeria and Saudi Arabia). This report presents a snapshot of the global unemployment outlook and discusses what the recent revisions could mean for the unemployment outlook for these countries based on past relationships between growth and unemployment. We conclude with a look at the growth-unemployment link f ...

Q: The U.S. Federal Reserve on Dec. 16 raised interest rates, ending what Fed Chairwoman Janet Yellen called an “extraordinary seven-year period” during which policymakers kept the federal funds rate near zero in an effort to support the economy. How will the Fed’s action affect Latin American economies, many of which are struggling with anemic growth and low prices for their commodity exports? How will the interest rate hike affect Latin American countries’ ability to pay off ...