Interest rate forecasts in Latin America

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ibrahim Filiz ◽  
Jan René Judek ◽  
Marco Lorenz ◽  
Markus Spiwoks
Keyword(s):  
Interest Rate ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Individual Interest ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Money Markets ◽  
Consensus Forecasts ◽  
Accuracy Test ◽  
Research Gap ◽  
Forecast Time

PurposeThis paper aims to assess the quality of interest rate forecasts for the money markets in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico and Venezuela for the period between 2001 and 2019. Future interest rate trends are of key significance for many business-related decisions. Thus, reliable interest rate forecasts are essential, for example, for banks that make profits by carrying out maturity transformations.Design/methodology/approachThe data that we analyze were collected by Consensus Economics through a monthly survey with over 120 renowned economists and were published between 2001 and 2019 in the journal Latin American Consensus Forecasts. The authors use the Diebold-Mariano test, the sign accuracy test, the TOTA coefficient and the unbiasedness test to determine the precision and biasedness of the forecasts.FindingsThe research reveals that the forecasting work carried out in Brazil, Chile and Mexico is remarkably successful. The quality of forecasts from Argentina and Venezuela, on the other hand, is significantly poorer.Originality/valueOver 50 studies have already been published with regard to the accuracy of interest rate forecasts, emphasizing the importance of the topic. However, interest rate forecasts for Latin American money markets have hardly been considered thus far. The paper closes this research gap. Overall, the analyzed database amounts to a total of 209 forecast time series with 28,451 individual interest rate forecasts. This study is thus far more comprehensive than all previous studies.

Latin American farmers face coffee price crisis

2019 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Latin American ◽  
Humanitarian Crisis ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Rural Economies ◽  
National Federation ◽  
Tax Refunds ◽  
Farming Families ◽  
Coffee Farming ◽  
Coffee Price

Subject Coffee troubles. Significance The head of Colombia’s National Federation of Coffee Growers on May 8 warned of a “humanitarian crisis” in the industry, as low global prices force farmers to abandon coffee. His comments follow the announcement by President Ivan Duque on April 13 of additional spending of 32 million dollars to help Colombia’s 540,000 coffee-farming families. A 13-year price slump has seen farmers across Latin America struggle to cover their costs, forcing governments to consider how to alleviate the impacts on rural economies. Impacts Renewed calls for a restructuring of international coffee pricing mechanisms to favour growers are likely. Differing volumes, varieties and quality of exports will hinder producer countries’ efforts to coordinate calls for price improvements. Guatemala’s recently approved special coffee fund to help farmers renegotiate debts and get tax refunds may be replicated elsewhere.

Do sustainability practices influence university quality? A Colombian case study

2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (7) ◽  
pp. 1525-1543 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paula M. Hernandez-Diaz ◽  
Jorge-Andrés Polanco ◽  
Sandra Milena Castaño
Keyword(s):  
Quality Assurance ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Social Impact ◽  
Economic Benefits ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Study Approach ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Study Results

Purpose This paper aims to know how university’s strategic managers, from botacademic and administrative systems, perceive the relationship between sustainability and accreditation as sustainability incorporation and the quality of their processes are amongst the actual challenges of universities. Design/methodology/approach This paper opted for an inductive, exploratory study using the case study approach, including 19 in-depth interviews to administrative and academic managers in a private, high-quality certified university in Colombia. The data were assessed using the content analysis methodology. The Colombian accreditation guidelines were the base to analyse the data as accreditation is part of the quality assurance system. Findings This paper provides empirical insights into how the implementation of sustainability in universities relates to the Colombian accreditation factors. The main links found were in the areas of the university’s social impact and organisational responsibility, which are highly relevant to graduates, external stakeholders and sustainability skills. Sustainable campus operation was associated with environmental management and improvement of the quality of the physical plant, with social and economic benefits in the long-term. Additionally, this research found a need for administrative and academic managers to understand and increase their commitment to sustainability. Research limitations/implications Because it was a case study, results are not generalisable. Consequently, further research on similar lines is required to universalise the mentioned observation and results. Practical implications The accreditation factors related to sustainability, inductively defined and exposed in this paper, provide an idea of how sustainability implementation could contribute to higher education quality assurance. Originality/value This paper contributes to filling the knowledge gap about embedding sustainability in Latin-American universities. This paper postulates a starting point considering accreditation standards and the link of the strategic manager’s perceptions of sustainability.

Factors of higher education quality service: the case of a Peruvian university

2020 ◽  
Vol 28 (4) ◽  
pp. 219-238
Author(s):  
María del Carmen Arrieta ◽  
Beatrice Avolio
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Service Quality ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Higher Education Institutions ◽  
Private University ◽  
Curriculum Planning ◽  
Educational Quality ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Education Service

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the factors that impact the quality of the education service in a Peruvian private university, based on the perception of students and graduates. Design/methodology/approach The sample consisted of 29 students and 20 graduates from the Administration and Finance Program of a Peruvian private university. The data was collected through focus groups and in-depth interviews based on the students’ and graduates’ perspectives of their experiences. The collected data was subjected to content analysis. Findings The study identified ten factors or the underlying dimensions that drive the quality of the education service provided by a Peruvian private university. The factors are professors, lecturers, curriculum, extracurricular activities, position and recognition of the university, infrastructure, library, admission, adequate communication mechanisms with faculty and authorities and services. The main quality indicators of the education service were the professors and curriculum planning. As the students were using the education service, they were more focused on “how” they received the service, rather than “what” services they received, i.e. they evaluated the quality of the process. In contrast, graduates gave more importance to functional service quality. They evaluated the quality of “what they received,” i.e. the result. Research limitations/implications The study has several limitations. First, the qualitative approach does not allow generalizing data. The sample size was relatively small and only involved one Peruvian private university. The study was based on the respondent’s perceptions, which were considered accurate. Practical implications Based on the study findings, the authors made recommendations to meet the needs of the students and graduates. These findings can help universities to develop strategies that improve educational quality and to allocate resources more effectively. Further research could focus on factors that impact service quality in higher education at different stages of the student lifecycle, namely, applicants (service expectations), students (quality of the process) and graduates (results). The authors suggest validating these results quantitatively. Originality/value The study proposes a framework of the higher education service quality based on the experiences of students and graduates that can be used by higher education institutions to continue improving educational quality. The originality of the study lies in the perspective on service quality according to the experiences of students and graduates. Also, this study provides empirical evidence on service quality research in Latin American higher education institutions.

Applying the high performance organisation framework in the horticulture and greenhouse sector

2017 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 136-151 ◽  
Author(s):  
André de Waal ◽  
Alex Meingast
Keyword(s):  
High Performance ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Agricultural Sector ◽  
Questionnaire Data ◽  
Improve Performance ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Agricultural Enterprises ◽  
Study Results ◽  
Research Gap

Purpose The Dutch agricultural sector nowadays experiences many challenges. To deal with these, the sector has been interested in finding ways to improve performance. Mostly, the improvement research has concentrated in the areas of innovation of products and quality, supply chain management, cooperatives, entrepreneurship and human resources. However, hardly any research has been done into ways to strengthen the internal organisation, encompassing the quality of management, employees and processes and systems of the agriculture company. This paper aims to address this research gap by evaluating whether the high performance organisation (HPO) framework, a scientific validated analysis and improvement technique, can be used to help agricultural enterprises to strengthen their internal organisation. Design/methodology/approach The HPO Questionnaire was applied at four Dutch horticulture companies to evaluate their performance. Subsequently, at each company, interviews were held to obtain more information about the scores. Then, a workshop was organised with the management of all four companies to discuss the study results. Findings The workshop showed that the framework was suitable for the participating companies to start improving their organisations, as management of all four companies agreed that the analysis and recommendations, derived from analysing the questionnaire data and the interviews, were highly relevant to their business. Originality/value As there is no holistic organisational evaluation and improvement technique which looks specifically at the internal organisation of horticulture companies, available for the agricultural sector, the application of the HPO Framework in this sector is the first of its kind.

The moderating effect of bureaucratic quality on the pricing of policy instability

2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 303-334 ◽  
Author(s):  
Swee-Sum Lam ◽  
Weina Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Interest Rate ◽  
Interest Rates ◽  
Risk Premium ◽  
Developing Economies ◽  
Moderating Effect ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Chinese Policy ◽  
Policy Risk ◽  
Quality Policy

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine how policy instability is priced in interest rates. Policy instability refers to the likelihood that the current policy will be changed in the future in the absence of political power shifts. Design/methodology/approach – Chinese government’s experimental policy-making approach provides an ideal set of frequent policy flip-flops which allows us to identify the effect of policy changes. Findings – Conditional on the bureaucratic quality of policymaking, a good-quality policy reversal is related to reductions in interest rate term spread and volatility; a bad-quality policy reversal is related to increases in the spread and volatility. The bureaucratic quality is multi-dimensional and the moderating effect is stronger on interest rates when it is measured more precisely. Originality/value – First, we can use the interest rate dynamics to infer the policy risk premium, which is a more objective market indicator of the bureaucratic quality of the policy change. Second, the study is among the first that documents the pricing of policy instability can be moderated by the bureaucratic quality. The results indicate that it is important for a government to be responsive and consistent in liberalizing the financial market. It will lead to reduced cost of capital and volatility for investors and firms in the economy. Third, given that the bureaucratic quality is multi-dimensional and produces stronger impact jointly, a country shall continue to improve on different aspects of the bureaucratic quality. Although the study is based on the empirical evidence from Chinese policy environment, the results can be broadly applied to any developing economies that intend to liberalize the market to spur economic growth.

An affordable, sustainable tourist QoL model: the case study of Appalachian mountain towns

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
John M. McGrath
Keyword(s):  
Secondary Data ◽  
The United States ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Appalachian Mountain ◽  
The Us ◽  
Research Gap ◽  
Index Value ◽  
First Time

PurposeThis article proposes a model for benchmarking tourism quality of life (QoL) that is practical and affordable to implement by communities of all sizes. The model is tested on a group of 30 mountain towns in the Appalachian region of the United States.Design/methodology/approachAn existing model measuring resident QoL from Roanoke, Virginia, is discussed and a new model for tourist QoL is proposed. Both models employ secondary data from free sources to calculate a practical, affordable and quantifiable QoL index.FindingsAnalysis of the data indicates the Appalachian mountain town with the highest tourist QoL score is Lynchburg, Virginia, with a composite QoL index value of 128, followed closely by Charlottesville, Virginia, with an index of 126 (where an index of 100 = the US national average).Practical implicationsA tourist QoL model has practical value because it can be used by local policymakers to benchmark their region's QoL, make comparisons with other destinations, and ultimately, as a tool to help market their community – all using free and readily available data.Originality/valueThis case study adds value to the hospitality and tourism literature by sharing the Roanoke QoL model for the first time with the academic and practitioner community and extends its methods to propose how a tourist QoL model would work. It also addresses the research gap noted by Uysal et al. (2016) who observed a dearth of tourism research studies that utilize objective measures.

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
Keyword(s):  
Latin American ◽  
Migrant Workers ◽  
Education Quality ◽  
Caribbean Region ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Usa ◽  
The Caribbean ◽  
Latin American Countries ◽  
Former Soviet Republics

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.

Latin American universities expand but quality lags

2017 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Latin American ◽  
High School Graduates ◽  
Tertiary Education ◽  
Research Capacity ◽  
Drop Out ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Research And Innovation ◽  
New Institutions

Subject Tertiary education in Latin America. Significance Between 2000 and 2015, universities in Latin America grew significantly, driven by higher demand from the emerging middle class and more high school graduates. However, the quality of many new institutions remains low, and governments have failed to implement effective regulations. The research capacity of the tertiary system is uneven and concentrated in a few universities in some of the wealthiest countries. Impacts New funding mechanisms are needed to move universities beyond free education for a minority and excessive borrowing for many. More attention will need to be paid to high drop-out rates. Research and innovation will continue to lag across the region.

Institutional quality and agglomeration of fast food multinationals in Latin American cities

2017 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 251-267
Author(s):  
Fernando Robles
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Fast Food ◽  
Institutional Quality ◽  
Location Decision ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Food Networks ◽  
American Cities ◽  
The City

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the location decision of multinationals across major cities in Latin America. Based on agglomeration economics and institutional theory, the paper explores whether institutional quality of a city can temper the attraction of agglomeration factors. Design/method/approach The paper analyzes the geographic dispersion of three global fast-food franchise networks in 45 Latin American cities. The explanatory variables are horizontal aggregation of other multinationals and the institutional quality of a city. The direct and indirect impacts of horizontal agglomeration are explored through negative binomial regression with controls for city population and economic power [gross domestic product (GDP)]. Findings The key finding is that location choice of fast-food networks is driven principally by market conditions and to a lesser extent by horizontal agglomeration. The institutional quality of a city has a positive influence on the agglomeration of fast-food networks. A city with strong institutional quality makes this relation stronger. Research limitations Other multinational and national fast-food franchises are not included in the paper. Future studies should include a greater number of global and local fast-food franchisers. Practical implications The positive reinforcements of agglomeration and strong institution are important for the investment location decision of fast-food multinationals. The institutional quality of the city should be an important consideration in the location decision as it expands regionally and within a country. Smaller cities may not offer the agglomeration advantages of the large metropolitan areas, but their good institutional quality may reduce the business costs for multinationals. Social implications Large cities in Latin America tend to reap the benefits of agglomeration. As a result, smaller secondary cities struggle to be relevant in generating economic activity and attracting private investments. One strategy to achieve relevance is to build strong and transparent institutions and a solid business environment. Originality/value The inclusion of institutional quality at the city level as moderation of the agglomeration factors influencing the location decision of a multinational is original. This paper contributes to our understanding of the importance of regional cities in attracting the investment of multinational firms.

scholarly journals The comparative exploration of mobile money services in inclusive development

2018 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 124-139 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simplice Asongu ◽  
Ndemaze Asongu
Keyword(s):  
Latin American ◽  
Mobile Phones ◽  
Ordinary Least Squares ◽  
Inclusive Development ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Mobile Money ◽  
Poverty And Inequality ◽  
Development Goals

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to respond to some challenges in the transition to sustainable development goals by examining the correlations between mobile and inclusive development (quality of growth, poverty and inequality) in 93 developing countries for the year 2011. Design/methodology/approach Mobile money service entails: “mobile used to pay bills” and “mobile used to receive/send money.” Interactive ordinary least squares are employed. Findings The following findings are established. First, increasing use of the mobile phones to pay bills is positively linked to “quality of growth” in lower-middle-income countries and negatively correlated with inequality in Latin American countries. Second, growing use of mobile phones to send/receive money is negatively associated with poverty in Asia and Pacific and Central and Eastern Europe. Originality/value Macroeconomic data on mobile money service are scarce. No study to the best of our knowledge has used this macroeconomic mobile money service data before.

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