This report gives an in-depth look at the major factors influencing competitiveness in Latin America, trying to assess the position of these countries, as well as indicating policies and actions to be promoted to improve their current situation.

The annual Global Competitiveness Report is widely recognized as the world's leading cross-country comparison of data and information relating to economic competitiveness and growth. Over the years, the Report has become the most authoritative and comprehensive assessment of the comparative strengths and weaknesses of national economies throughout the world. The World Economic Forum continues its tradition of excellence with The Global Competitiveness Report 2002-2003, which provides the most updated and recent data, rankings and analysis of 75 industrialized and emerging economies and the latest thinking and research from prominent academics and international institution leaders on global competitiveness. This year's report begins by presenting the widely quoted global competitive index that really comprises two indices-one for growth and one for productivity. It then provides global and regional analyses, with examinations of the competitive landscapes of Africa., Asia, Central and Eastern Europe and Latin America. Essays on a wide range of special topics follow, including national innovative capacity, governance, foreign direct investment, and trade performance. The Report concludes with detailed country profiles, data presentation and an exhaustive survey of senior business executives that touches on business conditions, infrastructure, the character of the regulatory regime, the quality of government, organized labor, corruption and tax evasion. The Global Competitiveness Report 2002-2003 provides essential information for business leaders, government decision-makers and for academics to examine the critical challenges facing a multitude of the world's economies.

Examines the nature of the economic policy agenda that the region should be pursuing after the better part of a decade that was punctuated by crises, achieved disappointingly slow growth, and saw no improvement in the region's highly skewed income distribution. Diagnoses the first-generation (liberalizing and stabilizing) reforms that are still lacking, the complementary second-generation (institutional) reforms that are necessary to provide the institutional infrastructure of a market economy with an egalitarian bias, and the new initiatives that are needed to crisis-proof the economies of the region to end its perpetual series of crises.

For over a decade, central and eastern Europe has been at the center of one of the most profound economic and political transformation in history. At the start of the 1990's, the region embarked on an ambitious reform program to depart from central planning towards more market-based economies. A decade later, and amid significant difficulties, the region has achieved remarkable accomplishments, with several countries becoming increasingly integrated into the global economy. Political structures have been transformed and new institutions have emerged. Indeed, the progress in structural reforms achieved in the region has been so substantial that several countries are now at the threshold of European Union membership. Aware of the significance of the successful integration of central and eastern Europe into the global economy, the World Economic Forum and Harvard University are proud to introduce The European Competitiveness and Transition Report, a thorough review of the transition process that has unfolded in the last decade. This comprehensive report presents new data and expert commentary on what the facts say about the enlargement of the European Union and the competitiveness and growth potential of both Europe and the candidate countries. It addresses the many important factors that will determine how these countries will fare in terms of economic growth over the next ten to twenty years. Written by independent experts, The European Competitiveness and Transition Report 2001-2002 is a truly unique data-driven guide that lays out the facts and reveals the real issues behind European enlargement.

Some of the nation's most respected scholars of international affairs examine the debates over U.S. grand strategy in light of U.S. security policies and interests in tactical regions around the world. The contributors begin by describing the four grand strategies currently competing for dominance of U.S. foreign policy: neo-isolationism argues that the United States should not become involved in conflicts outside specifically defined national interests selective engagement proposes that the United States, despite its position as the world's only remaining superpower, should limit its involvement in foreign affairs cooperative security advocates that the United States is not and should not act as an imperial country primacy asserts that the United States is an empire and therefore it should conduct an expansive foreign policy. Focusing on regions that present new challenges to U.S. grand strategy, such as Sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America, the contributors offer the most current examinations of U.S. policies and assess the effectiveness of competing strategies in each region. The Obligation of Empire offers an innovative set of foreign policy initiatives that explore the tensions between global agendas and regionalist approaches. Contributors: Andrew J. Bacevich, Doug Bandow, Dale Davis, Thomas Donnelly, James J. Hentz, Clifford Kiracofe, Charles Kupchan, Jeffrey Stark, S. Frederick Starr, and Brantley Womack. James J. Hentz, associate professor of international studies at the Virginia Military Institute, is the coeditor of New and Critical Security and Regionalism: Beyond the Nation State.

This volume is a successor of sorts to the Institute's 1986 volume Toward Renewed Economic Growth in Latin America, which blazed the trail for the market-oriented economic reforms that were adopted in Latin America in the subsequent years. It again presents the work of a group of leading Latin American economists who were asked to think about the nature of the economic policy agenda that the region should be pursuing after a decade that was punctuated by crises, achieved disappointingly slow growth, and saw no improvement in the region's highly skewed income distribution. The study diagnoses the first-generation (liberalizing and stabilizing) reforms that are still lacking, the complementary second-generation (institutional) reforms that are necessary to provide the institutional infrastructure of a market economy with an egalitarian bias, and the new initiatives that are needed to crisis-proof the economies of the region to end its perpetual series of crises. Contributors: Daniel Artana, Nancy Birdsall, Roberto Bouzas, Saúl Keifman, Pedro-Pablo Kuczynski, Ricardo López Murphy, Claudio de Moura Castro, Fernando Navajas, Patricio Navia, Liliana Rojas-Suarez, Jaime Saavedra, Miguel Székely, Andrés Velasco, John Williamson, and Laurence Wolff.

Latin America is at a uniquely important juncture in its history and the history of development more generally. Neoliberal market-orientated policies are being called into question, growth has been volatile and equity has stayed the same or worsened. In Latin America there is no clear direction for change. This book presents an alternative development path for Latin America based on an East Asian model. East Asia remains the only developing region so far with high stable and equitable economic development. Based on in depth analysis and the presentation of new and unique material, this study provides a new perspective on the lessons of China's rapid development and examines relations between states and companies that have led to greater success by East Asian companies entering new international markets. More importantly, it highlights how Latin American politics can and must be transformed.

In spite of the defeat of hyperinflation and improvements in macroeconomic management, the 1990s Washington Consensus-based reforms failed to reverse long-existing declines in productivity in Latin America. They also failed to create adequate local credit markets necessary for higher and more stable growth. By neglecting key matters of distribution, social welfare and investment in the region's human resources, the reforms have limited the prospects for long-term growth and left millions of Latin Americans feeling as if they have little stake in democratic governance and market economics. Drawing upon insights from top political and economic analysts from Latin America and the United States, Latin America after the Washington Consensus: Re-assessing Policies and Priorities discusses the need to reduce current levels of inequality and unemployment, invest in education to increase productivity and competitiveness, and strengthen the capacity of the state to withstand changes in the global economy. Reaching higher rates of growth would solve many of the region's problems, but most Latin American countries have yet to generate the institutional and social conditions that would sustain such growth and endow local economies with more resilience. Warning against one-size-fits-all solutions, Latin America after the Washington Consensus insists that each Latin American state must respond to these challenges with pragmatic strategies based on its own strengths and weaknesses.

There is now a wide spread interest in regions as a key focus in the organization and governance of economic growth and wealth creation. This important book considers the factors that influence and shape the competitive performance of regions. This is not just an issue of academic interest and debate, but also of increasing policy deliberation and action. However, as the readings in this book make clear, the very idea of regional competitiveness is itself complex and contentious. Many academics and policy makers have used the concept without fully considering what is meant by the term and how it can be measured. Policy formulation has tended to rush ahead of understanding and analysis, and the purpose of this book is to close this important gap in understanding. This book was previously published as a special issue of Regional Studies.