How do Latin American migrants in the USA stand on schooling premium? What does it reveal about education quality in their home countries?

2018 ◽  
Vol 39 (6) ◽  
pp. 855-879
Author(s):  
Daniel Alonso-Soto ◽  
Hugo Nopo

Purpose Indicators for quality of schooling are not only relatively new in the world but also unavailable for a sizable share of the world’s population. In their absence, some proxy measures have been devised. One simple but powerful idea has been to use the schooling premium for migrant workers in the USA (Bratsberg and Terrell, 2002). The purpose of this paper is to extend this idea and compute measures for the schooling premium of immigrant workers in the USA over a span of five decades. Design/methodology/approach In this paper, the authors focus on the schooling premia for the Latin American and the Caribbean region and compare them to those of migrants from other regions, particularly from East Asia and Pacific, India, Northern Europe and Southern Europe, all relative to immigrants from former Soviet Republics. The available data allow us to measure such premia for workers who graduated from school, either at the secondary or tertiary levels, in their home countries between 1940 and 2010. Findings The results show that the schooling premia in Latin America have been steadily low throughout the whole period of analysis. The results stand after controlling for selective migration in different ways. This contradicts the popular belief in policy circles that the education quality of the region has deteriorated in recent years. In contrast, schooling premium in India shows an impressive improvement in recent decades, especially at the tertiary level. Originality/value In this paper, the authors extend the idea of computing schooling premium for migrant workers in the USA (Bratsberg and Terrell, 2002) and present comparative estimates of the evolution of schooling premia in 17 Latin American countries for both secondary and tertiary schooling levels.

2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 60-69 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sheree-Ann Adams

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the opportunities and approaches needed to ensure the long-term sustainability of cruise companies as a source of employment for Caribbean nationals. Design/methodology/approach The format is one of a concept paper and not a review of primary data collected, but based on the authors observations, industry knowledge and review of secondary literature available in the public domain. Findings Some recommendations are made as to the facilitation of this concept in sustainable cruise employment for the Caribbean region that will provide not only economic sustainability but also social benefits to the Caribbean region at large through poverty reduction through employment and global travel exposure. Practical implications The paper puts forth a proposal for a centralized organization representative of the multiple stakeholders within the Caribbean Cruise community: to manage and facilitate a fund to assist Caribbean nationals desirous of working on cruise ships and to meet the necessary standards of training not only in hospitality qualifications but also in basic training standards of safety, security and watch keeping for seafarers. Social implications The employment opportunities for Caribbean persons on cruise ships have not been fully exploited with the majority of Caribbean nationals working on cruise ships found predominately within the Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines, Celebrity Cruises, Norwegian Cruise Lines and Carnival Corporation brands based in the USA. Originality/value This paper provides readers with insight into the existing Caribbean employment and shipboard employment scenarios, with the view of presenting an option for stimulating and supporting sustainable employment on cruise ships for Caribbean nationals.


2015 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 149-165 ◽  
Author(s):  
Verónica Baena

Purpose This study aims to enhance the knowledge that managers and scholars have on franchising expansion. In this sense, it is worth mentioning that although the body of literature on international management focusing on emerging markets is growing, the attention paid to the Latin American context continues to be limited. This is surprising given the substantive economic importance of the region with a population over 590 million, and a gross domestic product of approximately US$5 trillion. To cover this gap, the present study examines how a number of market conditions may drive diffusion of franchising into Latin America: geographical distance, cultural distance, political stability and economic development. The authors also controlled for the host country’s market potential, transparency, unemployment rate and efficiency of contract enforcement. Design/methodology/approach This study uses a quantitative approach applied to a sample of 77 Spanish franchisors operating through 4,064 franchisee outlets across 21 Latin American countries in late 2012. They are: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Bolivia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Uruguay and Venezuela. Findings Results conclude that geographical distance between the host and home countries, as well as the level of host country’s political stability, economic development, market potential and transparency are able to drive the spread of international franchising across Latin American nations. Research limitations/implications This study provides readers with a general overview of the current state of global franchising diffusion overseas. Results obtained in this study are useful for understanding and predicting the demand for franchising in Latin American countries. Practical implications Economics reports argue that by 2050, the largest economies in the world will be China, the USA, India, Brazil and Mexico. This fact highlights the substantive importance of Latin America for foreign investors willing to expand their business abroad. In an attempt to give insights from the Latin American context, the present paper develops and tests a model that can be useful to franchisors willing to establish new outlets in the region. In addition, our findings offer guidance to firm managers seeking to target their franchises in Latin America. Franchisors may then use the results of this study as a starting point for identifying such regions whose characteristics best meet their needs of expansion. Originality/value This paper explores how market conditions may drive international diffusion of franchising into Latin American markets. The scant theoretical or empirical attention given to this topic has usually been examined from the USA and British base and focused on developed markets. To fill this gap, the present study analyzes the international spread of the Spanish franchise system into Latin America as a market for franchising expansion.


Author(s):  
Elsa Lucia Escalante-Barrios ◽  
Sergi Fàbregues ◽  
Julio Meneses ◽  
María del Mar García-Vita ◽  
Daladier Jabba ◽  
...  

Child and adolescent sexual abuse (CSA) is an important global health problem, especially in non-Western low- and middle-income countries. A number of studies have indicated that, in Latin American countries, male CSA is phenomenon of great concern. However, research on this topic is seriously lacking, and more specifically, on male-on-male CSA. We carried out a qualitative and quantitative secondary analysis of 680 cases of alleged male-on-male CSA that occurred between the years 2017 and 2018 in the Caribbean Region of Colombia. We analyzed the contents of forensic interviews with the alleged victims, conducted by professionals working at the Colombian Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences. Our findings indicated a high prevalence of cases of alleged male-on-male CSA among young minors. Most of these cases were allegedly perpetrated by offenders known to the victim and involved high levels of violence. Evidence-based and culturally grounded preventative actions, such as training-based programs for teachers and parents among other public health initiatives are needed to address this type of CSA. Further research is also required to gain a more fine-grained understanding of the cultural and social context of CSA in the Caribbean Latin American countries.


2021 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 413-425
Author(s):  
Violetta M. Tayar

The article deals with the issues of trade cooperation between the European Union and Latin America and the Caribbean region (LAC). The characteristics of interregional trade are presented, and trade interaction between the EU and the subregional blocks of the LAC is analyzed. The author shows that Latin American regionalism predetermines the EU's approaches to trade and economic cooperation with LAC. Despite the fact that Latin American integration format differs from the European model, the EU countries manage to maintain trade and economic relations with subregional associations and particular Latin American countries, despite the growing competition in this region from the United States and China.


2012 ◽  
Vol 2 (8) ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Delio I. Castaneda ◽  
Luisa F. Manrique

Subject area Innovation and creativity in small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Latin America. Study level/applicability The case is recommended for creativity and innovation subjects, in undergraduate and MBA levels. The case is also suggested for subjects associated with the organizational dynamics on SMEs. Case overview Colchones Eldorado is a Colombian company dedicated to the bedding industry. The company was founded in 1957 by Gumercindo Gómez Caro, a creative man who in 1959 invented a machine to make springs, which allowed the company to grow steadily for several decades. On November 18, 2004, the founder's daughter, Martha Luz Gomez, was appointed as General Manager. On April 2011 it obtained a license from Sealy, the biggest mattress making company in the USA. The license implied a challenge - testing the company's innovative capacities to adapt Sealy mattresses to satisfy consumers in the Colombian market. Expected learning outcomes Students are shown the characteristics of the creative and innovation process in a Latin American SME, and the innovation challenges which are faced. From the reading and the case discussion, the students should be able to: analyse the manifestations of the creative process in an SME; identify examples of the innovation types of an SME; and discuss the organizational conditions to answer the creativity and innovation challenges in an SME. Supplementary materials Teaching notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email [email protected] to request teaching notes.


2020 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 261-276
Author(s):  
Lisana B. Martinez ◽  
Valeria Scherger ◽  
M. Belén Guercio ◽  
Sofía Orazi

PurposeThis paper analyses the evolution of the financial inclusion and its main determinants in seven Latin American countries.Design/methodology/approachThe database used is the Global Findex from the World Bank for the latest data released that includes the years 2011 and 2014. The variables used are formal financial accounts, formal savings and formal credit as proxies of financial inclusion for the years of study. Moreover, the use of debit and credit cards is considered. The methodologies applied are the mean difference tests, in order to contrast the hypotheses of the inclusion evolution and binary probit regressions models.FindingsThe results of the analysis show that there is a positive evolution in the use of financial instruments in the countries of the sample, especially in the use of formal accounts. On the other hand, considering the characteristics of the individuals, age, level of education and income positively affect their financial inclusion.Originality/valueThere are no similar works for the region of study that allow us to evaluate the evolution of financial inclusion considering the variables selected in the literature. It is possible to clearly fulfil the proposed objective, highlighting the importance of implementing financial inclusion policies in view of the low percentage of use of the instruments in the analyzed countries.


2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-57 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cut Maghfirah Faisal ◽  
Sherly Saragih Turnip

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to compare loneliness between the left-behind children of migrant workers and the non-left-behind ones, and identify the most significant predictors of loneliness among the left-behind children. Design/methodology/approach Incidental sampling was performed to select 629 participants aged 11–16 from 5 schools in the rural areas of Karawang and Lombok in Indonesia. They filled in paper-and-pencil self-report inventories. Findings Left-behind children were significantly lonelier than their counterparts were. Emotional loneliness was more affected by parental absence compared to social loneliness. Left-behind children would be more susceptible to experience loneliness if they had more access to entertainment gadgets, experienced less support and intimacy from friends, had been left by their migrant parents more than once, were female, had low self-esteem, experienced emotional difficulties and rarely communicated with their parents. Research limitations/implications Qualitative research was needed to provide more elaborative explanation about the findings. Practical implications Parents needed to consider the psychological cost and benefit of working abroad to their children. Governments could intervene by limiting the duration and frequency of work among the migrant workers. Social implications Some beneficial implications to prevent and reduce loneliness among left-behind children were provided, such as by maintaining the frequency and quality of communication with the children, motivating and guiding the children to interact with their peers and spend less time on entertainment gadgets, as well as encouraging the children to engage in several positive activities to enhance their self-esteem. Originality/value This study enriched the understanding about complex relationship between parental presence and adolescents’ mental health despite the fact that adolescents seemed to be more interested in relationships with peers.


2015 ◽  
Vol 74 (Suppl 2) ◽  
pp. 996.1-996
Author(s):  
R.M. Xavier ◽  
J. Morales-Torres ◽  
D.C.R. Ramos-Remus ◽  
P. Chalem ◽  
J.F. Molina ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Adrian St. Patrick Duncan

Purpose The purpose of this paper hinged on the concept of smart libraries and their development for the furtherance of information access, dissemination and information resources and services delivery in Caribbean libraries. Design/methodology/approach To conduct this research, the literature of smart libraries and technologically driven and their application in libraries were reviewed by examining existing literature on information and communication technologies and technology in libraries. Findings The literature highlighted that this technological advancement is not yet fully on stream in academic libraries of the Caribbean owing to the lack of financial, technological and organizational resources. It further outlined that certain aspects of library automation are fostered through the inclusion of technology. Research limitations/implications The limitation of this study is that only academic libraries of the Caribbean region were assessed. Other regions should be explored in future research. Originality/value The concept of smart libraries is an emerging issue with limited scope for scrutiny; a systematic and extensive review of recent research on smart in libraries is unavailable. This paper presents an overview of smart libraries or technologically driven libraries, its findings for potential research opportunities and development for academic libraries. In addition, it will build on the body of knowledge that is presently non-existent on smart libraries in the Caribbean.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document