{"id":4171,"date":"2007-01-01T14:37:37","date_gmt":"2007-01-01T18:37:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/?p=4171"},"modified":"2017-11-13T15:35:51","modified_gmt":"2017-11-13T20:35:51","slug":"professor-argues-that-latin-america-must-and-can-leap-into-21st-century","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/2007\/01\/professor-argues-that-latin-america-must-and-can-leap-into-21st-century\/","title":{"rendered":"Professor argues that Latin Am\u00e9rica must\u2014and can\u2014leap into 21st century."},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cThe vast majority of the problems in Latin Am\u00e9rica are self-created,\u201d said Jerry Haar<\/strong>, professor, Department of Management and International Business, and associate director, Knight Ridder Center for Excellence in Management in the College of Business Administration.<\/p>\n

\"Jerry
Jerry Haar<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

His latest articulation of that position appeared in an op-ed piece titled \u201cFocus on Competitiveness, Not Just Trade,\u201d in the Miami Herald<\/em> on December 3, 2006, timed to coincide with the 30th Conference on the Caribbean Basin, held in Miami. The Caribbean-Central American Action (CCAA) (c-caa.org<\/a>) sponsors the hemisphere-wide gathering of business people who zero in on policy issues in Central Am\u00e9rica and the Caribbean.<\/p>\n

\u201cTrade has often been perceived as a magic bullet, but it isn\u2019t,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s but one tool in the arsenal of a country\u2019s competitive assets. A country also needs to focus on several enduring internal issues, including institutions, infrastructure, and human capital.\u201d<\/p>\n

Op-ed piece admonishes and praises region\u2019s efforts.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The article begins with a stark summary of the obstacles to free trade.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor trade-dependent communities like South Florida and its hemispheric trading partners, the outlook for further liberalization of commerce appears bleak. The Doha Round of the World Trade Organization is stalled, the Free Trade Area of the Am\u00e9ricas is comatose, congressional ratification of U.S. free-trade agreements with Per\u00fa and Colombia are unlikely, and renewal of the Trade Promotion Authority is highly doubtful,\u201d Haar wrote.<\/p>\n

He then takes a balanced look at the weaknesses and strengths with respect to what he argues are the more important underlying matters of institutions, infrastructure, and human capital.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe very strengths can also expose weaknesses,\u201d he said. \u201cFor example, some countries are very strong in terms of maternal and child health, which is great. However, that achievement means that there are more surviving hungry mouths and an aging population, which translates into a drain on social services.\u201d<\/p>\n

Forthcoming book will examine the issues in greater depth.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Can Latin Am\u00e9rica Compete?<\/em>, co-written and co-edited by Haar and John Price, president of InfoAm\u00e9ricas, and due for publication in late 2007, offers a number of observations about where the region has been, where it\u2019s going, what it needs to do, and what its options are.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe 21st century is the \u2018Century of China\u2019\u201d Haar said. \u201cIts emergence in the global economy should be a wake-up call for Latin Am\u00e9rica to do what\u2019s necessary to establish its footing in the 21st century.\u201d<\/p>\n

As he put it in the op-ed piece, \u201cInstead of blaming its long-standing problems on China, protectionist policies in industrial countries, and insufficient foreign aid, Latin Am\u00e9rica should focus on internal transformation of institutions, infrastructure and human capital\u2014changes that will produce wider impacts and greater benefits in strengthening competitiveness and improving the daily lives of ordinary citizens.\u201d<\/p>\n

College has strong presence at the CCAA conference.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

At the CCAA conference itself, held December 4-6, 2006, Haar spoke on the \u201cCompetitiveness Panel.\u201d Carmen Algeciras<\/strong> (MIB \u201903, BA \u201901), director, USAID Farmer-to-Farmer Program, was a panelist in the \u201cAgribusiness Roundtable,\u201d and Ed Glab<\/strong>, director, Knight Ridder Center for Excellence in Management, co-chaired a panel titled \u201cRegional Energy Security,\u201d which focused on alternative transportation fuels, particularly ethanol.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cThe vast majority of the problems in Latin Am\u00e9rica are self-created,\u201d said Jerry Haar, professor, Department of Management and International Business, and associate director, Knight Ridder Center for Excellence in Management in the College of Business Administration. His latest articulation of that position appeared in an op-ed piece titled \u201cFocus on Competitiveness, Not Just Trade,\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":71,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[346,625,1288,1516,1543],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4171"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/71"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4171"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4171\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29748,"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4171\/revisions\/29748"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4171"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4171"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4171"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}