It is generally asserted that markets of internationally traded agricultural commodities are thin and more volatile, but with little supporting evidence. For internationally traded agricultural products, it is not clear what constitutes "thin" markets and how this "thinness" contributes to price volatility.

Nonetheless, in the current atmosphere of high food and agricultural prices, the sentiment that international prices are more volatile because agricultural markets are thin, is widely shared. This study examines whether selected agricultural markets have become thinner using a particular notion of market thinness relevant for internationally traded goods – exports as a share of production. The results suggest that for most of the commodities examined from 1970 to 2010 the answer is that markets have not become thinner.

To support this conclusion, two other measures are used for a robustness check to round out the analysis and provide a multidimensional picture. These two measures are the number of participants (countries) trading in any market and the level of market concentration as revealed by the Herfindahl Index.

Fuente: OECD

Documento  completo en: http://goo.gl/jda29

La logística se está convirtiendo en un elemento crucial de la competitividad y el rendimiento económico, tanto en sí misma como en el contexto de una globalización creciente. La mayoría de los países de América Latina y el Caribe (ALC) se están centrando en estrategias de aumento de las exportaciones. Para que estas estrategias puedan tener éxito, un componente clave es un marco logístico eficaz y eficiente que aborde todo el espectro (fase anterior, intermedia y posterior) de la cadena de valor y de producción.

Un marco logístico incluye el hardware, es decir, la infraestructura física necesaria para transportar los productos de manera eficaz, y el software, es decir, los servicios y procesos asociados necesarios para el transporte y la comercialización de los productos eficazmente. El impacto de los costos logísticos en la competitividad y la productividad, en la comercialización y la integración, en el precio de los alimentos, la desigualdad y la pobreza, es sustancial.

There is growing interest, worldwide, in the link between education systems and the production of skills that are valued in the labor market. With growth stagnating and unemployment soaring in much of the world, educators are being asked to focus more on producing skills that feed into labor productivity and support the sustainable growth of employment and incomes.

This timely volume contributes important new findings on the dynamics of education systems and labor market outcomes in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). It analyzes an important recent shift in labor market trends in LAC: the first decade of the 21^st century has witnessed a marked decline in the earnings premia for university and secondary education. This, in turn, is contributing to reduced income inequality across the region. The recent trend contrasts with the sharp rise in tertiary earnings premia that was observed in the 1990s and that helped to reinforce high levels of income inequality in the region at that time.