Latin American Development Priorities: Costs and Benefits

Many countries in Latin America and the Caribbean have achieved considerable economic growth, yet the region still faces many seemingly intractable problems. The conventional wisdom in development agencies - that prioritization is impossible and that everything must be done - is simply not effective. Latin American Development Priorities shows how limited resources could be used for the greatest benefit of the Latin American and Caribbean region. A panel of economists met over three days in San José to review proposals to tackle the ten most important challenges, which emerged from a survey by the Inter-American Development Bank. The expert panel was asked a question which appears simple but is actually very difficult to answer: What should Latin American governments do with an additional nominal $10 billion? Hard choices are needed if Latin America's problems are to be tackled effectively. This book provides the means to make those choices as objectively as possible.