Latin America

Latin America is the most democratic of all developing regions. However, in spite of considerable progress in economic growth and social development in recent years, the region is still characterised by high poverty rates and some of the world’s highest levels of inequality. Over the last decade, Latin American economies have grown increasingly dependent on natural resources and commodity exports. Many governments combine this with a solid macro-economic management and smart social policies, but the economic and social risks of the resource-based development path are high and the negative environmental impacts of mining, agriculture and deforestation threaten to jeopardise the opportunities of future generations.

The German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS) conducts research on Latin America with a focus on the following issues:

Domestic revenue mobilisation: When do elites pay taxes?
Fiscal decentralisation
Rents from non-renewable resources and development
Criminal violence and governance reform
Green growth planning and implementation

Research staff

Altenburg, Tilman
Breuer, Anita
von Haldenwang, Christian
Malerba, Daniele
Rodríguez de Francisco, Jean Carlo
von Schiller, Armin
Stamm, Andreas

Publications

The Current Column

The marginalised as the weakest link in pandemics
Broocks, Anne-Katrin / Anna-Katharina Hornidge (2020)
The Current Column of 11 May 2020

Assuring equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines and treatments
Stamm, Andreas / Jeffrey Orozco (2020)
The Current Column of 4 May 2020

Can the Amazon forest survive populists in power?
Burni, Aline (2019)
The Current Column of 30 September 2019

Why we need to talk more about “climate migration” in Latin America
Serraglio, Diogo / Benjamin Schraven (2019)
The Current Column 9 September 2019

An evangelical movement shakes party-political democracy in Costa Rica
Stamm, Andreas (2018)
The Current Column of 12 March 2018

Election in Ecuador: A watershed moment for Latin America’s progressive dream?
Heiss, Mona / Angelike Páez (2017)
The Current Column of 13 February 2017

Peace agreement in Colombia – what next?
Crncic, Zeljko (2017)
The Current Column of 6 February 2017

Leave no one behind!
Crncic, Zeljko (2016)
The Current Column of 18 April 2016

Colombia on rocky road to peace
Crncic, Zeljko (2015)
The Current Column of 03 August 2015

Brazil in focus: the mighty South-American country decides on its coming future
Saravia, Enrique (2014)
The Current Column of 07 October 2014

The Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation: What next for a global architecture?
Talaat, Abdel-Malek
The Current Column of 08 May 2014

Discussion Paper

Partnerships for policy transfer: how Brazil and China engage in triangular cooperation with the United Nations
Waisbich, Laura Trajber / Sebastian Haug (2022)
Discussion Paper 15/2022

How sustainable is recycling? Reconciling the social, ecological, and economic dimensions in Argentina
Pegels, Anna / Stefanie Heyer / David Ohlig / Felix Kurz / Lena Laux / Prescott Morley (2020)
Discussion Paper 23/2020

Digitalisation in the lives of urban migrants: evidence from Bogota
Martin-Shields, Charles P. / Sonia Camacho / Rodrigo Taborda / Constantin Ruhe (2019)
German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE)

Urban sewage in Brazil: drivers of and obstacles to wastewater treatment and reuse; governing the Water-Energy-Food Nexus Series
Stepping, Katharina M. K. (2016)
Discussion Paper 26/2016

The political economy of cash transfers: a comparative analysis of Latin American and sub-Saharan African experiences
Scarlato, Margherita / Giorgio d'Agostino
Discussion Paper 6/2016

The Effects of Conditional Cash Transfers on Social Engagement and Trust in Institutions: Evidence from Peru’s Juntos Programme
Camacho, Luis A.
Discussion Paper 24/2014

Bureaucratic Pluralism in Global Development: Challenges for Germany and the United States
Lundsgaarde, Erik (2014)
Discussion Paper 16/2014

Understanding Regime Support in New and Old Democracies: The Role of Performance and Democratic Experience
Camacho, Luis A. (2014)
Discussion Paper 10/ 2014

Promoting Democracy - What Role for the Democratic Emerging Powers?
Schönwälder, Gerd (2014)
Discussion Paper 02/2014

Towards Renewal or Oblivion? Perspectives for cooperation between the European Union and the Africa, Caribbean and Pacific Group after 2020
Negre, Mario/Niels Keijzer/Brecht Lein/Nicola Tissi (2013)
Discussion Paper 09/2013

Macroprudential Financial Market Regulation
Schmitz, Birgit (2013)
Discussion Paper 20/2013

Studies

Wandel von Sozialpolitik im Kontext von Global Social Governance: das Beispiel Peru
Licht, Nathalie (2019)
Studies 99

Reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD) in Peru: a challenge to social inclusion and multi-level governance
Zelli, Fariborz / Daniela Erler / Sina Frank / Jonas Hein / Hannes Hotz / Anna-Maria Santa Cruz Melgarejo
Studies 85 (2014)

Análisis de impacto del Fondo Contravalor
Perú-Alemania
Ashoff, Guido/Beate Barthel/Dennis Eucker/Adelheid Knäble de Revollo/Sabine Moron/Martin Scheiber (2012)
Studies 72

External Publications

TUC Urban Lab Profile: Alliance for the Residencial Edgar Gayoso, Teresina, Brazil
Guerra, Flávia / Monique Menezes / Lucas Turmena / Alejandra Ramos-Galvez / Simone Sandholz / Michael Roll / Camila Alberti / Tátila Távora (2024)
TUC Profile No. 10, Bonn: United Nations University - Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS)

TUC Urban Lab Profile: Alliance for the Centre of Recife, Brazil
Turmena, Lucas / Flávia Guerra / Altiere Freitas / Alejandra Ramos-Galvez / Simone Sandholz / Michael Roll / Isadora Freire / Millena Oliveira (2024)
TUC Profile No. 9, Bonn: United Nations University - Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS)

TUC Urban Lab Profile: Naucalpan, Mexico
Roll, Michael / Marisol Romero Magallán / Andrea Ramírez / Flávia Guerra / Alejandra Ramos-Galvez / Simone Sandholz / Mariana Campos-Sánchez / Gorka Zubicaray / Óscar Jair Pozos-Espinosa / Andrea Villasís-Escobedo / Ana Iris Enríquez-Alcaraz (2024)
TUC Profile No. 8, Bonn: United Nations University - Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS)

TUC Urban Lab Profile: León, Mexico
Ramírez, Andrea / Sabrina González Barbosa / Flávia Guerra / Alejandra Ramos-Galvez / Simone Sandholz / Michael Roll / Mariana Campos-Sánchez / Ana Iris Enríquez-Alcaraz / Andrea Villasís-Escobedo / Óscar Jair Pozos-Espinosa (2024)
TUC Profile No. 7 Bonn: United Nations University - Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS)

TUC Urban Lab Profile: Barrio 20, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Guerra, Flávia / Julia Nesprias / Alejandra Ramos-Galvez / Lucas Turmena / Simone Sandholz / Michael Roll / Jorgelina Hardoy / Florencia Almansi / Macarena Ochagavía / Fernando Almansi (2024)
TUC Profile No. 6, Bonn: United Nations University - Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS)

EU-LAC cooperation on climate change and energy transitions
Riaño, Maria Alejandra / Damien Barchiche / Alexia Faus Onbargi / Niels Keijzer (2024)
in: ETTG Collective Report 2/2024, A common future for Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, Brussels: European Think Tanks Group, Brussels, European Think Tanks Group (ETTG), 15-26

What foreign investors want: findings from an investor survey of investment facilitation measures in Latin America and the Caribbean
Berger, Axel (2022)
Geneva: International Trade Centre (ITC)

Green Economy, innovation and quality infrastructure: a baseline study about the relevance of quality infrastructure for innovations in the green economy in Latin America and the Caribbean
Harmes-Liedke, Ulrich / Andreas Stamm (2021)
Braunschweig: Physikalisch-technische Bundesanstalt

A political ecology of green territorialization: frontier expansion and conservation in the Colombian Amazon
Hein, Jonas / Carlos Del Cairo / Daniel Ortiz Gallego / Tomás Vergara Gutiérrez / Juan Sebastian Velez / Jean Carlo Rodríguez de Francisco(2020)
in: Die Erde - Journal of the Geographical Society of Berlin 151 (1), 37-57

Using behavioral science to increase recycling in Argentina
Castaneda, Jorge Luis / Mario Negre / Anna Pegels (2019)
Washington, DC; Bonn: World Bank; German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE) August 14th, 2019 (Online)

Ecosystem-based adaptation projects: more than just adaptation: analysis of social benefits and costs in Colombia
Richerzhagen, Carmen / Jean Carlo Rodríguez de Francisco / Felix Weinsheimer / Alessandro Döhnert / Lukas Kleiner / Marjam Mayer / Julia Morawietz / Eric Philipp(2019)
in: International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 16 (21), 4248

Payment for ecosystem services and the water-energy-food nexus: securing resource flows for the affluent?
Rodríguez-de-Francisco, Jean Carlo / Bibiana Duarte-Abadía / Rutgerd Boelens(2019)
published in Water 11 (6) online

PES hydro-social territories: deterritorialization and repatterning of water control arenas in the Andean highlands
Rodriguez de Francisco, Jean Carlo / Rutgerd Boelens(2017)
in: Rutgerd Boelens / Ben Crow / Jaime Hoogesteger / Flora Lu / Erik Swyngedouw/ Jeroen Vos (eds.), Hydrosocial territories and water equity: theory, governance, and sites of struggle, London: Routledge

PES hydrosocial territories: de-territorialization and re-patterning of water control arenas in the Andean highlands
Rodriguez de Francisco, Jean Carlo / Rutgerd Boelens(2016)
in: Water International 41 (1), 140-156

Pago por servicios ambientales, ambientalismo de mercado y la indiferencia hacia el mundo campesino 109-132
Rodríguez de Francisco, Jean Carlo / Rutgerd Boelens(2016)
in: Bibiana Duarte Abadía / Cristina Yacoub / Jaime Hoogesteger (eds), Gobernanza del agua: una mirada desde la ecologia politica y la justicia hidrica, Quito: Ediciones Abya Yala - Justicia Hidrica, 109-132

Payment for environmental services: mobilising an epistemic community to construct dominant policy
Rodríguez de Francisco, Jean Carlo / Rutgerd Boelens(2015)
in: Environmental Politics 24 (3), 481-500

Payments for environmental services and control over conservation of natural resources: the role of public and private sectors in the conservation of the Nima watershed, Colombia
Rodríguez de Francisco, Jean Carlo / Jessica Budds(2014)
in: Ecological Economics 117 (September), 295-302

Commoditizing water territories: the clash between Andean water rights cultures and payment for environmental services policies
Boelens, Rutgerd / Jaime Dinge Hoogesteger-van-Dijk / Jean Carlo Rodríguez de Francisco(2014)
in: Capitalism Nature Socialism 25 (3), 84-102

Successful export promotion: lessons from emerging economies
Brandi, Clara (2014)
in: International Trade Forum Magazine 4/2014, 16-17

Payment for environmental services and power in the Chamachán Watershed, Ecuador
Rodriguez de Francisco, Jean Carlo / Rutgerd Boelens (2014)
Human Organization 73 (4) (forthcoming)

Pago por servicios ambientales, ambientalismo mercantil y la indiferencia hacia el mundo campesino
Rodríguez-de-Francisco, Jean Carlo / Rutgerd Boelens (2014)
Bibiana Duarte / Cristina Yacoub (eds), Justicia Hídrica: Cómo analizar y comprender los procesos de acumulación de los derechos de agua y la proliferación de los conflictos hídricos? Lima: Instituto de Estudios Peruanos (forthcoming)

Payments for environmental services changes control over natural resources conservation: the role of public and private sectors in the conservation of the Nima watershed, Colombia
Rodríguez-de-Francisco, Jean Carlo / Jessica Budds (2014)
Ecological Economics (forthcoming)

Digital technologies for democratic governance in Latin America: opportunities and risks
Breuer, Anita / Yanina Welp (eds.) (2014)

Governing the energy transition: the reform of fossil-fuel subsidy regimes in developing countries
Vidican, Georgeta (2014)
Conference proceedings: „The dynamics of transformational environmental policies“

Tax collection in developing countries: new evidence on Semi-autonomous Revenue Agencies (SARAs)
von Haldenwang, Christian / Armin von Schiller / Melody Garcia (2014)
published on The Journal of Development Studies

To be or not to be a member of a primary co-operative in Brazil: any difference in household decision making and gender equality? (forthcoming)
Burchi, Francesco / Sara Vicari (2014)
in: Oxford Development Studies

Payment for environmental services and unequal resource control in Pimampiro, Ecuador
Rodríguez de Francisco, Jean Carlo / Jessica Budds / Rutgerd Boelens (2013)
in: Society and Natural Resources 26 (10), 1217-1233

PES, peasants and power in Andean watersheds : power relations and payment for environmental services in Colombia and Ecuador
Rodríguez de Francisco, Jean Carlo (2013)
Wageningen, Univ., Diss.

How strong is the case for dollarization in Central America? An empirical analysis of business cycles, credit market imperfections and the exchange rate
Lindenberg, Nannette/Frank Westermann (2012)
in: International Journal of Finance and Economics 17 (2), 147-166

Injusticia hídrica y pagos por servicios ambientales: mirando detrás del telón en Pimampiro, Ecuador
Rodríguez de Francisco, Jean Carlo / Rutgerd Boelens (2012)
in: Edgar Isch / Rutgerd Boelens / Francisco Peña, (eds.), Agua, injusticia y conflictos,Lima: Instituto de Estudios Peruanos