Publications (12)

With data from the World Bank Enterprise Survey, this paper examines how firm-level resilience capabilities interact with government support in the reduction of lay-offs among formal firms in Central America. We estimate two latent variables to approximate resilience-related capabilities before...

During the 2000s Honduras grew less than the average Latin American country and labour market indicators moved, in general, in a worsening direction. The only exceptions were the reduction in the unemployment rate and the improvements in the mix of employment by occupational group and educational...

We examine the drivers of inequality change in Honduras between 1991-2007, trying to understand why inequality increased in Honduras until 2005, while it was falling in most other Latin American countries. Using annual household surveys, we document first rising inequality between 1991-2005, which...

Growth that reduces poverty is often considered pro-poor regardless of whether the poor benefit from it more than the non-poor. Such growth could simply be termed poverty-reducing growth. This paper argues that for growth to be pro-poor it should disproportionally benefit the poor. The paper...

To be competitive in the global economy, some argue that Latin American countries need to reduce or eliminate labour market regulations such as minimum wage legislation because they constrain job creation and hence increase poverty. On the other hand, minimum wage increases can have a direct...

Success of the debt-relief HIPC and poverty-reduction PRSP initiatives demands annual growth rates of 5 percent sustained for fifteen years in Honduras. However, existing evidence on the impact of AIDS on economic growth in Africa raises concern on the viability of such growth targets in Honduras...

This paper discusses the experience with opening up to the global economy of two small Central American countries, Honduras and Nicaragua. They have both strengthened democratic processes and reduced defence expenditure dramatically. Both have liberalized their trade régimes in the context of...