A new report from the Center for Democracy in the Americas on economic reforms in Cuba argues that the Cuban government has accepted that market forces can play a role in economic policy and that economic growth must be the central criterion for judging economic success. Cuba’s New Resolve: Economic Reform and Its Implications for U.S. Policy goes on to argue that existing U.S. policy should be updated to reflect ongoing change in Cuba, and offers a series of policy recommendations to U.S. policymakers.
The role of women as drivers of development in Latin America and the Caribbean is the focus of the new World Bank report, Work & Family: Latin American and Caribbean Women in Search of a New Balance. It finds that women’s impact on the creation of wealth, reduction of poverty and improvement of opportunities for children is greater now than at any time in history. The report offers concrete recommendations to optimize development outcomes through effective, gender-sensitive public policy decisions.
A recent study released by the German Bertelsmann Foundation, titled Social Justice in the OECD — How Do the Member States Compare?, illustrates how social inequality has risen in recent years in many OECD countries and the rapidly growing social divide in the United States. The study ranks countries according to an index that measures their successes in poverty prevention, access to education, labor market inclusion, social cohesion and nondiscrimination, health, and intergenerational justice. Within the Americas, Canada ranked the highest, followed by the U.S. and Chile. Mexico achieved a score close to Turkey.
