Economic Insecurity and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean

This chapter deals with economic insecurity as emanating from global economic volatility; weaknesses in domestic policies and institutions in responding to this; and structural changes that have led to increasing employment insecurity and income uncertainty at the household level. Latin America, more than most other developing regions, suffers from high degrees of economic insecurity, which has increased in recent decades with greater economic openness and a dismantling of traditional social protection systems. While societies and individuals will always have to live with a certain degree of economic uncertainty and insecurity, a high degree of this will be an impediment to development and poverty reduction. The chapter argues that much of economic insecurity can be mitigated through a proper integration of macroeconomic, industrial, labour-market, and social policies.