This paper describes the effects of the 2009 global financial crisis on firms' access to financing for investment projects. The analysis uses data from the Latin American and Caribbean Enterprise Surveys 2006 and 2010, demonstrating that during the crisis, the availability of internal sources was crucial for larger and foreign-owned firms or firms that were part of a group, while state-owned firms did not enjoy any financial privileges. Firms sought greater bank and supply-chain financing, larger firms used less internal funds, foreign firms relied more on internal funds, while firms that export and import used bank credits more intensively.

We use microdata from the National Social Security Administration to document pension inequality in Argentina between 1995 and 2009 and perform decomposition techniques to analyze the relationship between pension reforms and observed inequality. We find that before 2003, pensions under SIJP rules, the incorporation of provincial benefits into the national scheme and the increase of female retirees play important roles in accounting for increased inequality, while after 2003 the increase in the share of minimum pensions and implementation of the moratorium program appear to be the most significant factors in explaining more equal distribution.

This paper analyzes the relationship between economic growth and productivity to budget share ratios of government expenditures in Bolivia since 1940. Government expenditures are classified according to their functional and economic characteristics and place of origin. The results indicate that defense expenditures, decentralized expenditures (local or regional), and expenditures in Santa Cruz Department represent the best ways for government to boost the country's growth. Expenditures on additional areas, such as education, and in other promising departments, such as Beni and Oruro, have the potential for generating significant growth and should be considered areas for possible government intervention.

It is widely argued that good governance is an important determinant of foreign direct investment (FDI). With the exception of studies of corruption, however, empirical research on the link between governance and FDI is limited, particularly in the context of Latin America. Moreover, recent studies by Bellos and Subasat (2012a and 2012b) suggest that poor governance is a source of attraction rather than a hurdle for multinational companies in selected transition countries. By employing a panel data gravity model, this article aims to verify these unusual and interesting results in the context of selected Latin American countries. Our results confirm that the FDI enhancement role of poor governance exists not only in the transition countries but also in Latin America.