Income distribution in Latin America is among the most unequal in the world. Both the poor and the wealthy have paid a price for this inequality, which is partly responsible for the region's low economic growth rates. The essays in BEYOND TRADEOFFS: MARKET REFORMS AND EQUITABLE GROWTH IN LATIN AMERICA, edited by Nancy Birdsall, Carol Graham and Richard Sabot, propose new ways of reducing inequality, not by growth-inhibiting transfers and regulations, but by eliminating consumption subsidies for the wealthy, increasing the productivity of the poor, and shifting to a more labor -and skill-demanding growth path. (Co-published with the Brookings Institution Press, English, 373 pp., $22.95)
LA CIUDAD EN EL SIGLO XXI (THE CITY IN THE 21ST CENTURY), edited by Eduardo Rojas and Robert Daughters, examines Latin America's transformation into one of the most urbanized areas on the planet. The growth of cities will help accelerate social and economic development in the region, but it will also exacerbate problems such as unemployment, crime, insufficient access to health care and education services, environmental degradation and poverty. (Spanish, 368 pp., $12.50)
Banking crises occur in both industrial and developing countries, but in Latin America, they tend to last longer, affect a larger number of banks, and cost the public more. In BANKING CRISES IN LATIN AMERICA, edited by Ricardo Hausmann and Liliana Rojas-Suárez, distinguished policymakers, scholars and bankers examine the main causes of such crises, how governments can manage them more effectively and how they can be prevented. (English and Spanish, 267 pp., $21.95).