Promoting Silicon Valleys in Latin America

Promoting Silicon Valleys in Latin America PDF

Author: Luciano Ciravegna

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2012-08-06

Total Pages: 178

ISBN-13: 1136461590

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The spectacular economic performance of China, East Asia and India during the last ten years has ignited some profound changes in the world economy. The share of global demand, investments, trade and production of the traditional industrialized powers, the US, Europe and Japan, has gradually yet continuously declined. This rise of China also has implications for Latin America. On the one hand, booming Chinese demand for raw materials and food has sustained the economic performance of Latin America during the last decade. On the other hand, the competitiveness of China and as a hub for advanced manufacturing is threatening Latin America’s attempt to diversify its economy from its dependence on the export of natural resource-based goods. Most Latin American countries are not however waiting passively for their economies to become ever more reliant on high prices for food, minerals and oil. Leveraging the economic and political stability that they achieved during the last decades, many countries in the region, such as Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica and Uruguay, are attempting to capture the growing market for knowledge intensive products and services by breeding their own Silicon Valleys. This book discusses the promotion of ICT clusters in Latin America by analyzing the development of the Costa Rican cluster in particular, an often celebrated case of successful policy in the region. Costa Rica, a small country traditionally known for its coffee and wildlife, managed to build an information technology cluster within ten years, becoming the leading producer of ICT per capita in Latin America. Studying the Costa Rican case provides a solid starting point for understanding the challenges of building ICT clusters in Latin America.

Harnessing Globalization

Harnessing Globalization PDF

Author: Roy C. Nelson

Publisher: Penn State Press

Published: 2015-10-29

Total Pages: 282

ISBN-13: 027105123X

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How can countries in the underdeveloped world position themselves to take best advantage of the positive economic benefits of globalization? One avenue to success is the harnessing of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the “nontraditional” forms of the high-technology and service sectors, where an educated workforce is essential and the spillover effects to other sectors are potentially very beneficial. In this book, Roy Nelson compares efforts in three Latin American countries—Brazil, Chile, and Costa Rica—to attract nontraditional FDI and analyzes the reasons for their relative success or failure. As a further comparison, he uses the successes of FDI promotion in Ireland and Singapore to help refine the analysis. His study shows that two factors, in particular, are critical. First is the government’s autonomy from special interest groups, both domestic and foreign, arising from the level of political security enjoyed by government leaders. The second factor is the government’s ability to learn about prospective investors and the inducements that are most important to them—what he calls “transnational learning capacity.” Nelson draws lessons from his analysis for how governments might develop more effective strategies for attracting nontraditional FDI.

Strategy and Competitiveness in Latin American Markets

Strategy and Competitiveness in Latin American Markets PDF

Author: Urs P. Jäger

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

Published: 2014-12-31

Total Pages: 353

ISBN-13: 178471142X

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Using a combination of thorough research and practical examples, Strategy and Competitiveness in Latin American Markets explains how the concept of the sustainability frontier that the book develops resolves the long-running debate on whether sustainability requires trade-offs or not.

The Political Economy of Latin America

The Political Economy of Latin America PDF

Author: Peter Kingstone

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2018-03-09

Total Pages: 206

ISBN-13: 1317404475

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This brief text offers an unbiased reflection on debates about neoliberalism and its alternatives in Latin America with an emphasis on the institutional puzzle that underlies the region’s difficulties with democratization and development. In addition to providing an overview of this key element of the Latin American political economy, Peter Kingstone also advances the argument that both state-led and market-led solutions depend on effective institutions, but little is known about how and why they emerge. Kingstone offers a unique contribution by mapping out the problem of how to understand institutions, why they are created, and why Latin American ones limit democratic development. This timely and thorough update includes: A fresh discussion of the commodity boom in the region and the resulting "Golden Era" in Latin America; The recent explosion of social policy innovation and concerns about the durability of social reform after the boom; A discussion of the knowledge economy and the limits to economic growth, with case studies of successful examples of fostering innovation.

Dragonomics

Dragonomics PDF

Author: Carol Wise

Publisher: Yale University Press

Published: 2020-03-24

Total Pages: 329

ISBN-13: 0300252374

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An insightful examination of the political and economic ties between China and Latin America from the 1950s to the present This book explores the impact of Chinese growth on Latin America since the early 2000s. Roughly twenty years ago, Chinese entrepreneurs headed to the Western Hemisphere in search of profits and commodities, specifically those that China lacked and that some Latin American countries held in abundance—copper, iron ore, crude oil, soybeans, and fish meal. Focusing largely on Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Mexico, and Peru, Carol Wise traces the evolution of political and economic ties between China and these countries and analyzes how success has varied by sector, project, and country. She also assesses the costs and benefits of Latin America’s recent pivot toward Asia. Wise argues that while opportunities for closer economic integration with China are seemingly infinite, so are the risks, and contends that the best outcomes have stemmed from endeavors where the rule of law, regulatory oversight, and a clear strategy exist on the Latin American side.

Living with Algorithms

Living with Algorithms PDF

Author: Ignacio Siles

Publisher: MIT Press

Published: 2023-04-25

Total Pages: 235

ISBN-13: 026254542X

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A nuanced account from a user perspective of what it’s like to live in a datafied world. We live in a media-saturated society that increasingly transforms our experiences, relations, and identities into data others can analyze and monetize. Algorithms are key to this process, surveilling our most mundane practices, and to many, their control over our lives seems absolute. In Living with Algorithms, Ignacio Siles critically challenges this view by surveying user dynamics in the global south across three algorithmic platforms—Netflix, Spotify, and TikTok—and finds, surprisingly, a more balanced relationship. Drawing on a wealth of empirical evidence that privileges the user over the corporate, Siles examines the personal relationships that have formed between users and algorithms as Latin Americans have integrated these systems into the structures of everyday life, enacted them ritually, participated in public with and through them, and thwarted them. Sometimes users follow algorithms, Siles finds, and sometimes users resist them. At times, users do both. Agency lies in the navigation of the spaces in-between. By analyzing what we do with algorithms rather than what algorithms do to us, Living with Algorithms clarifies the debate over the future of datafication and whether we have a say in its development. Concentrating on an understudied region of the global south, the book provides a new perspective on the commonalities and differences among users within a global ecology of technologies.

Technological Leapfrogging and Innovation in Africa

Technological Leapfrogging and Innovation in Africa PDF

Author: Ethné Swartz

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

Published: 2023-10-06

Total Pages: 321

ISBN-13: 1800370393

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Offering invaluable insights into technologically-driven change in Africa, this incisive book envisions myriad positive economic changes brought about by new technologies and innovations. Rooted in original research from contributors who have worked and taught in Africa, it encapsulates developments and breakthroughs throughout the continent.

Spaces and Places in Central and Eastern Europe

Spaces and Places in Central and Eastern Europe PDF

Author: Gyula Horváth

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2014-08-21

Total Pages: 315

ISBN-13: 1317917537

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Across Europe there is a rapidly changing context for undertaking regional development. In the 20th century, development of the former planned economies (Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia), was defined by these countries differences, rather than their common ideological roots. These disparities altered over time and were marked by changing social structures. However, the ranking of regions has remained the same as core areas have strengthened their positions while the structural obstacles to the modernisation of peripheral areas have remained due to a lack of coherent regional policy. This book examines the specific regional development paths of Central and Eastern European countries and evaluates the effects of the determining factors of this process. Through analysis of the system of objectives, instruments and institutions used in different eras, and case studies of Hungary, East Germany and Germany, development models are established and compared with Western European patterns. The book summarises the experiences of Central and Eastern European regional cooperation and examines the basic nature of the cohesion problems of the Carpathian Basin trans-national macro region. It confirms by comparative historical analyses that the transformation was indeed unique. This book will make a welcome addition to the literature for students and academics interested in the broader picture of Central and Eastern European politics, future integration within the European Union and the history of regional development processes.

Degrowth in Tourism

Degrowth in Tourism PDF

Author: Konstantinos Andriotis

Publisher: CABI

Published: 2018-07-27

Total Pages: 223

ISBN-13: 178639278X

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The modern-day world faces a hostile climate, depleted resources and the destruction of habitats. The dream that growth will lead to a materialistic utopia is left unfulfilled by a lack of ecological and economic capacity. The only choice is to find alternatives to increased growth, transform the structures and institutions currently shaping the world, change lifestyles and articulate a more credible vision for the future and lasting prosperity. As a reaction to the problems accrued by capitalism, new development approaches such as the concept of degrowth have evolved. Degrowth in Tourism explores newly-emerging development and philosophical approachesthat provide more equity for host communities and offer a low-carbon future by looking at alternatives to the classic models of development and applying the concept of degrowth in a tourism context. Proposing that we need to shift tourism research from models which prioritize commodified tourism experiences to those that offer alternative decommodified ones this book: Provides topical analysis and illustrates the key themes of degrowth; Discusses the relationship between tourism and degrowth from both a historic perspective and through contemporary patterns of activity; Includes international examples and case studies to translate theory into practical new approaches. A comprehensive review of the subject, this book will be of great interest to researchers and practitioners within tourism, development, environment and economics, as well as those specifically studying degrowth.