Research Library

Over a decade ago, the Inter-American Development Bank led an in-depth analysis of eight South American countries that profoundly influenced the understanding of political institutions and the policymaking process in Latin America. In 2018, the Baker Institute’s Latin America Initiative expanded the project to include four additional Central American countries: Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador and Panama. These country reports, written in Spanish, are available below. Hace casi una década, el Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo (BID) impulso un análisis sobre ocho países suramericanos que influyó profundamente el entendimiento de instituciones políticas y el proceso de formulación de políticas públicas en América Latina. El Latin America Initiative del Baker Institute amplió el análisis para incluir a cuatro países de Centro América: Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador y Panamá. Estos ensayos forman parte del análisis sobre los países de Centro América.    

Measuring the costs of corruption around the world is challenging due to varying definitions of corruption, the invisibility of many corrupt acts, and the subjectivity of perceptions. In this research paper, postdoctoral research fellow Jose I. Rodriguez-Sanchez explores the difficulties of measuring corruption in Mexico.

Why do unaccompanied minors flee their home countries and what happens when they reach Mexico or the United States?  This report provides an overview of the perilous journey and the reality of detention centers, concluding that a child-centric approach in both countries should address the needs of these children.

The Trump administration's family reunification policy is insufficient to address the lasting impacts of the president's zero-tolerance immigration policy, writes Erika de la Garza, program director for the Latin America Initiative, in the Baker Institute Blog: https://bit.ly/2NMQnCU.

Mexico’s Ministry of the Interior estimates there could be 430,000 to 600,000 children and youth who are U.S. citizens but now reside in Mexico. Without the necessary documents, they become a vulnerable population without proper access to schools or social and health services. This brief explores the issues related to this population and calls for more research to be done to understand its impact.

While academic and popular debates tend to focus on differential benefits and costs of trade across countries or industries, this brief highlights winners and losers at the level of individual firms. The authors demonstrate that preferential liberalization produces concentrated benefits among a relatively small number of very large and productive firms.

The author examines the performance and impact of Mexico’s Programa Frontera Sur, an effort designed to deter unauthorized migration of Central Americans through Mexico’s southern border.

This issue brief offers insights into the evolution and future of Mexico's Comprehensive Plan for the Southern Border to stem migration flows from Central America.

As Zika virus infection spreads across the Latin American and Caribbean region and into the southern United States, we can expect to see thousands of additional children born with microcephaly and more newborns or older infants with signs of more subtle but significant neurologic defects and developmental delays.