This thesis examines the concept of masculinity as it concerns a group of male community leaders from impoverished neighbourhoods of Léon, Nicaragua. In collaboration with the non-governmental organization, Centro de Información y Servicios de Asesoría en Salud (CISAS) and utilizing person-centred ethnography, it explores masculinity in Nicaragua as reflected at the level of the individual. The work proposes that masculinities in Nicaragua are not as simple as some have suggested. Moreover, it relies on a Foucauldian analysis of disciplinary power to explicate the foundations of said conceptions as well as to develop new understandings of the idea of machismo.<p> Following analysis of an interview series and a thorough review of relevant literature, this thesis places Nicaraguan conceptions of masculinity as being discrete according to individuals. Moreover, the work deconstructs the notion of machismo as being nothing more than an individuated subject, most likely imposed on Nicaragua and, by extension, various other Latin American cultures, by forces exogenous to Latin America. Finally, this thesis discusses the tie that masculinity and health have as well as the influence that CISAS has on the personal lives of the research participants as well as their work in their communities.

Neoliberal agrarian reforms in Latin America have lead to both advances and set backs for the women’s and indigenous movements. While most neoliberal policies were the same in terms of goals, like creating institutions that encourage a capitalist markets, the results were somewhat heterogeneous in part due to the role of the women’s and indigenous movements in individual countries. The rise of the international women’s movement, which was marked by the UN’s decade on women from 1975-1985, coincided with an unfavorable economic climate in Latin America.

Over two billion people are currently living in poverty (less than $2 a day) around the world. 15 percent of this group is of indigenous backgrounds. Similar to the overall composition of the world, 10 percent of Latin America’s population is indigenous, yet one quarter is living on less than $2 a day. Approximately forty years ago the modern day microfinance movement began in Bangladesh and has since spread throughout the world. Microfinance strives to provide financial services to those who do not have access to the traditional financial sector. Making capital available helps alleviate poverty by providing the poor with credit and other financial services that can help generate income through smart investments. Bolivia and Peru currently have the most advanced microfinance sectors, which is in large part attributed to the financial reforms of the 1990s. However, regardless of the quality of the microfinance sectors in Bolivia and Peru, the indigenous people remain untouched by their services. Specifically, the Quechua and the Aymara, who live in the highlands of the Andes and around Lake Titicaca, are among the poorest people in both countries. The Quechua and the Aymara would greatly benefit from access to microfinance by utilizing their traditional cultures to make income-generating businesses.

Conventional wisdom holds that constitutions shape behavior, structures, and institutions. Looking at provisions in the constitutions of 19 Latin American countries, I show the level of judicial independence exercised by a country’s courts and judges is a function of constitutional provisions.

Unions are one of the most important institutions in labor markets, and are capable of affecting workers (wages) and employers (performance). Despite the relevance unions have had worldwide, most of the literature has concentrated on the economic effects of unions in the U.S. and other developed countries, with few studies concentrating on what unions do in developing countries. Because developing countries have contrasting differences compared to developed countries, in terms of economic development, legal settings and institutions, it is possible that conclusions reached in the broader literature might not be appropriate in the framework of developing countries. This dissertation aims to fill this gap in the literature studying the economic effects of unions on wages and performance in selected developing countries in Latin America: Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Mexico, Panama and Uruguay. The first essay focuses on the impact of unions on wages distribution in Bolivia and Chile, using the novel Recentered Influence Function decomposition. Although both countries have considerably different levels of economic development and institutions, the estimations indicate unions have similar effects increasing wages and reducing wage inequality at the top of the distribution. These results are similar to those found replicating the methodology using U.S. data. The results suggest that the common economic and political forces that govern the role of unions as collective bargaining units transcend other contextual differences in these countries. The second essay analyzes the impact of unions on economic performance of establishments in the manufacturing sector in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Mexico, Panama and Uruguay. Using an augmented Cobb Douglas production function, the essay finds that unions have a positive, but small, effect on productivity, with the exception of Argentina. Analyses on alternative measures of performance show that, for most cases, the positive productivity effects barely offset the higher union compensation; that unions show no relationship with sales growth; and that unionized establishments usually reduce investment in capital and R&D. While no single narrative can explain all observed effects across countries, the results provide a step forward to understand the role of unions on economic performance in developing countries.

Over the past two decades governments worldwide have begun to take action to correct gender disparity in representative bodies, resulting in drastic increases in women’s numeric representation. It is unclear, however, how these increases influence legislative behavior. This research contributes to our understanding of how increases in women’s numeric representation influences substantive representation of women. I collected an original dataset to examine this relationship across twenty-three subnational Argentine legislatures over eighteen years. This project represents one of the first empirical efforts to examine women’s substantive representation over a large number of legislatures over a long duration of time. A key piece of the puzzle is to understand if female exhibit distinct preferences from their male colleagues. The second chapter of the dissertation uses a new data set of ideal point estimates recovered from cosponsorship data to examine gender differences in legislative preferences. I find strong evidence to suggest women display different legislative preferences than their male colleagues. Chapter three investigates how increases in women’s numeric representation influence women’s legislative behavior. Previous research suggests that increasing women’s numeric representation should enhance the probability that women work together to pursue common legislative agendas. Yet, I demonstrate that as the percentage of women in the chamber increases, women are increasingly less likely to work together. I argue that this unexpected finding can be explained by considering how institutions shape women’s legislative incentives. In chapter four, I develop theoretical expectations about the conditions under which increases in the proportion of female legislators, in combination with institutional arrangements, will foster or stifle women’s opportunities and incentives to represent women’s interests. The chapter provides strong empirical support for the hypothesis that women behave differently conditional on institutional incentives. These findings imply that understanding institutions is key to understanding how and when female representatives will stand for women. Taken together, this dissertation makes an important contribution to our understanding of how changes in the proportion of female legislators and differences in institutional contexts shape women’s legislative behavior.

This thesis examines the concept of masculinity as it concerns a group of male community leaders from impoverished neighbourhoods of Léon, Nicaragua. In collaboration with the non-governmental organization, Centro de Información y Servicios de Asesoría en Salud (CISAS) and utilizing person-centred ethnography, it explores masculinity in Nicaragua as reflected at the level of the individual. The work proposes that masculinities in Nicaragua are not as simple as some have suggested. Moreover, it relies on a Foucauldian analysis of disciplinary power to explicate the foundations of said conceptions as well as to develop new understandings of the idea of machismo.<p> Following analysis of an interview series and a thorough review of relevant literature, this thesis places Nicaraguan conceptions of masculinity as being discrete according to individuals. Moreover, the work deconstructs the notion of machismo as being nothing more than an individuated subject, most likely imposed on Nicaragua and, by extension, various other Latin American cultures, by forces exogenous to Latin America. Finally, this thesis discusses the tie that masculinity and health have as well as the influence that CISAS has on the personal lives of the research participants as well as their work in their communities.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the macroeconomic effects of the earthquake that struck Chile in 2010 and the impact it had on the Chilean economy.  It is a narrative case study of a small, open emerging economy and the timeframe is short term. Like other studies made about macroeconomic effects of a natural disaster, it is surprising to find how fast a country can so rapidly recover from a big devastation like the Chilean earthquake 2010. The final economic impact depends on the structural conditions of the economy and the economic policy mix undertaken to handle the short-term effects. The paper shows that despite the big disaster, Chile showed great resilience to the adverse shook due to its sound finances and effective countercyclical policies.

The purpose of this study was to develop an instrument for assessing distance learning readiness of institutions in Latin America for international projects of food and agriculture with higher education institutions in the U.S. The data collection followed two approaches: a quantitative, which was processed statistically, including mean (percentage), mode and cross-tabulation, and a qualitative, through semi-structured interviews. The population of this research was animal biotechnology institutions in Latin American countries, Spanish speaking, partners with the major funding organizations in the U.S., with Web pages on the Internet. Population included 17 countries with N=150, a random sample of n=83 for the quantitative analysis and n=20 for the qualitative approach. The instrument was developed by the researcher. Items were based on readiness surveys used widely in the U.S., and founded in two culture theories: Bank’s (2001) cultural elements and Hosfstede’s (1984) cultural dimensions. Using Bank’s theory it was concluded that English proficiency was considered an essential tool for research. Interviews exposed that researchers were aware of nonverbal communication differences between Latinos and Americans. Cultural cognitiveness showed to be exposed when researchers were confronted with another culture. The perspective of distance education showed to be considered different from face to face education. There was an appropriate perception of the need, ownership, and use of computer technologies and Internet accessibility with fast connections. Researchers perceived computer technology equipment as a measurement of the quality of their institution. Using Hofstede’s (1984) dimensions it was concluded that Latin American countries were considered to have high power distance on four of the six items assessed; had strong uncertainty avoidance with four of the six items assessed, where a collectivist society, with five items out of six. Interviews determined that a masculine dimension was predominant in the study. Assessment of technology involved: Internet, technological resources, computer proficiency, distance education and instructional design experience. Results of this assessment showed that technology must be measured through a cultural perspective to achieve accurate responses because people express and understand through their mental constructs which are tainted with their cultural experiences and their perception of life, work, academics, and society.

This dissertation evaluates the changes in food retailing patterns in the face of openmarket trends in a medium sized city (Citlalicalli) in central Mexico. This evaluation is carried out using the model of retail trade-concentration. The following questions are addressed: whether trade-concentration had occurred in the field-site; if yes, what were the causes; and, what were the effects of retail concentration on preexisting food retailers. The fieldwork for this study was conducted over a 14 month period (May 2005 and June 2006). Empirical data were collected using three surveys, over 25 interviews, and several hours of participant observations. Along with these primary data, secondary data from official records were also collected. The survey data were analyzed using nonparametric tests. The findings from the study revealed that trade-concentration is proceeding in Citlalicalli and the recent spread of large stores in the region has been encouraged by free-trade policies adopted by Mexico since the mid-1980s. Trade-concentration in the Altepetl metropolitan area has also been aided by the positive behavior that consumers show towards large retail chains. Contrary to popular belief, the impact of retail concentration on preexisting small retailers in Citlalicalli has been minimal. Partly traditions and partly the nearness of a particular store explain the continued patronization of small stores by consumers. The product category and income of consumers also influence their purchase decisions. This research shows that competition in food retailing in developing countries is between same size and same type retailers. Small retailers are not always in direct competition with modern retailers as they serve different sections of the society. Retail development is a part of urban development and, therefore, has direct implications for the quality of life in cities. In emerging economies, cities like Citlalicalli have vibrant town centers which provide convenient access to offices, shops, and entertainment areas for its citizens. This study concludes that appropriate policy measures can ensure the coexistence of large and small retailers in developing countries and, thereby, the continued vitality of city centers.