Latin America

Senior Fellow Liliana Rojas-Suárez leads CGD’s research on Latin America. Issues include the impact of economic trends in the world, domestic financial regulations, regionalism and the effects of implementing rich-country regulatory frameworks. CGD President Nancy Birdsall, a former Executive Vice-President of the Inter-American Development Bank, is a major contributor to CGD’s work on the region. Since September 2004 CGD has hosted the meetings of the Latin American Shadow Financial Regulatory Committee, also known as the Comité Latino americano de Asuntos Financieros or CLAAF. The group includes leading economists from the region and is chaired by Rojas-Suarez. It meets periodically to discuss regional financial issues and to make policy recommendations, which are made public in a statement summarizing the discussion. The Group released their latest statement on Latin America’s Response to Global Financial Turmoil and the Food Price Crisis on May 21, 2008.

Visiting Fellow Nancy Lee is working on addressing constraints to growth and income convergence in the Western Hemisphere through regional integration. Her recent CGD Note and Video suggest a fresh approach to regional integration in the form of a proposed regional investment agreement.