This research note provides historical context for the creation of Brazil's labor judiciary and tells the story of an innovative partnership forged between the archive of Pernambuco's regional labor tribunal and the Federal University of Pernambuco. It also engages methodological questions about the use of these labor court cases, reviewing some of the scholarly literature based on these sources and describing some research projects under way. Pernambuco has powerful historical links to the sugarcane industry, and because the history of labor in this industry is the terrain of our work, this note pays particular attention to the relevance of labor court cases for studying Pernambuco's sugarcane region.

This article builds on the literature on property rights and associational life in Latin America during and after transitions to democracy by assessing participation in voluntary associations as a determinant of land title. It uses survey data collected from rural properties near Santarém, Pará, to describe who participates in voluntary associations and, more important, whether participation in specific groups is aligned with possessing secure title, an important scarce resource in the Brazilian Amazon. This quantitative analysis shows that owners who participate in one union with state-controlled, corporatist roots are more likely to possess secure title to their land than those who do not participate. This systematic variation is important in an era of soy expansion, with a shift from small-scale subsistence farming to large-scale mechanized agricultural and a subsequent increase in land value.

Numerous studies on the determinants of foreign direct investment flows in Latin America underscore the importance of risk- and cost-mitigating institutions that support good governance, political and economic freedom, and demonstrate a credible commitment to economic reform by regional governments. This study tests these variables against market size, macroeconomic policy, and factor controls to assess which combinations of variables explain the distribution of foreign inflows. Using a time-series cross-sectional data set of fifteen Latin American economies from 1985 to 2003, the study concludes that past performance on the current account provides sufficient commitment by regional governments and that regime, good governance, and reform variables are, by comparison, inconsistent predictors of foreign direct investment.

Aunque suele plantearse que la relación migración-desarrollo es un fenómeno complejo y multifacético, al final de cuentas el debate ha estado hegemonizado por la visión que los países receptores y organismos internacionales tienen de ella. Según esta perspectiva, la migración adquiere un sentido y significado político diferente según se trate de los países emisores o receptores de migrantes. En el primer caso, la migración es vista como una oportunidad para potenciar sus procesos de desarrollo económico y social. En el caso de los países de destino, en cambio, se habla más bien de una cuestión migratoria, enfocándose el análisis en los problemas sociales, económicos o políticos que plantea la inmigración masiva, máxime cuando se considera la alta proporción de migrantes indocumentados. En este contexto, nos interesa aportar elementos analíticos e información empírica que contribuyan a visibilizar diversos aspectos de la relación migración-desarrollo que han sido invisibilizados en este debate. Para ello, nos centraremos en el análisis de la inmigración latinoamericana a los Estados Unidos en las últimas décadas. En concreto, presentamos datos estadísticos en torno a tres aspectos que nos parecen de particular relevancia. Por un lado, en cuanto a las causas y factores desencadenantes de la migración internacional; por otro lado, en relación a las contribuciones de la inmigración latinoamericana a la economía y demografía de los Estados Unidos; y finalmente, sobre los costos e impactos de la emigración en los países de origen en América Latina.

Declining profitability of agriculture and/or higher prices of forest products and services typically drive an increase in forest cover. This article examines changes in forest cover in Candelaria Loxicha, Mexico. Forest cover increased in the area as a result of coffee cultivation in coffee forest-garden systems. Dependence on forest products and services, and not prices of forest products, drive the process in our study site. Low international coffee prices and high labor demand outside the community might pull farmers out of agriculture, but they do not completely abandon the lands. A diversification in income sources prevents land abandonment and contributes to maintaining rural populations and coffee forest gardens.

Partiendo de la discusión reciente sobre la integración económica en dos regiones periféricas, Asia y América del Sur, este artículo evalúa si existen condiciones de convergencia económica en el ámbito de los grupos denominados Asociación de Naciones del Sudeste Asiático más China, Japón y la República de Corea (ASEAN+3, por sus siglas en inglés) y el Mercado Común del Sur (Mercosur), que puedan llevar a una mayor integración monetaria o financiera en ambas regiones. Por una parte, se analizan los aspectos históricos e institucionales de la construcción de los acuerdos de integración regional, destacando los elementos económicos y políticos que están favoreciendo o dificultando un mayor acercamiento económico-financiero entre los países miembros de los dos bloques regionales. Y, por otra, utilizando el referente analítico de la teoría de áreas monetarias óptimas, se estima si ambas regiones obtendrían ventajas al abandonar su autonomía en la gestión macroeconómica, especialmente en lo que se refiere a la política monetaria y cambiaria, a cambio de una adhesión a un sistema monetario coordinado internacionalmente.

This essay explores the intellectual foundings of Argentine constitutionalism from the 1830s to the 1850s. Focusing on the writings of Juan Bautista Alberdi and some of his critics, it argues that Argentine constitutionalism had liberal roots but invoked arguments that could neither bring unity to the state-building coalition nor resolve some basic tensions within the framework of national sovereignty.

Studies on the Argentine public administration have usually underlined the weakness of Argentine state bureaucracies. On the basis of these assertions, scholars have tended to equate the number of state jobs with cases of patronage. By doing so, they have neglected the crucial issue of the scope of appointments effectively controlled by political parties. This article applies an innovative empirical inquiry to measure the extent of party patronage, assessing where, how deeply, and to what extent parties reach into the Argentine federal state structures. While the results by and large confirm the widespread notion of the broad scope of political appointments in Argentina, they refute the conventional hypothesis of a state thoroughly colonized by parties. Overall, the results suggest that parties' distribution of public jobs in the Argentine federal state is oriented less to mass-style patronage than to gaining effective and broad control over state institutions.