Shannon K. O'Neil

Latin America's Moment

O'Neil analyzes developments in Latin America and U.S. relations in the region.

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Showing posts for "Chile"

Despite Hurdles, Latin Americans “Satisfied” According to OECD

by Shannon K. O'Neil
A view of new homes in La Comarca Lagunera (Daniel Aguilar/Courtesy Reuters). A view of new homes in La Comarca Lagunera (Daniel Aguilar/Courtesy Reuters).

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) released a report this month on the overall well-being of its thirty four member countries (as well as Brazil and Russia). Looking specifically at the three Latin American countries in the study—Mexico, Brazil, and Chile—some of the results aren’t surprising. The three countries all come in the bottom four positions (joined by Turkey) in categories such as safety, education, and income, far outpaced by the more mature economies within the organization. Read more »

Latin America’s Economic Outlook

by Shannon K. O'Neil
Source: The 2012 IMF Economic Outlook Report for the Western Hemisphere Source: The 2012 IMF Economic Outlook Report for the Western Hemisphere

The recent IMF economic outlook report entitled, “The Western Hemisphere: Rebuilding Strength and Flexibility,” is overall quite bullish on the region. Fueled by favorable commodity prices and plentiful international credit, it lauds (as much as the IMF does) the steady growth of the past decade. Perhaps as important for the IMF, many Latin American governments have used rising revenues in economically sound ways. The region as a whole has turned deficits to surpluses, and lowered debt to GDP levels by some 15 percent. Many countries invested in targeted social programs, helping reduce regional poverty levels from 44 percent in 2002 to 33 percent in 2008. Read more »

Investing in Latin America

by Shannon K. O'Neil
The Botafogo neighborhood is seen with the famous Sugar Loaf Mountain in the background in Rio de Janeiro (Ricardo Moraes/Courtesy Reuters). The Botafogo neighborhood is seen with the famous Sugar Loaf Mountain in the background in Rio de Janeiro (Ricardo Moraes/Courtesy Reuters).

I just came back from speaking on a panel, on Brazil and Latin America more broadly, at a conference for institutional investors. We five panelists came from research, investing, and on-the-ground business backgrounds, providing a variety of perspectives and interesting conversation.  Overall three big themes emerged in our discussion: Read more »