You will be reading a lot about elections in Latin America.  It is a sign of political maturity but there are challenges ahead, as Mr Ernesto Talvi of The Brookings Institute reminded us this week: "The new wave of leaders to be elected in the next 14 months will have to deal with a more adverse external environment, stricter financial constraints and significant economic challenges. Reigniting growth will require domestic transformations that are politically complex (e.g., education reform in Mexico) and take time to produce effects. At the same time, preserving macroeconomic stability and fiscal probity at a time when a dissatisfied electorate, with high expectations due to a decade of very high growth, will put pressure on governments to accommodate immediate popular demands at the expense of sound policies. How these tensions are resolved will be key in determining the economic prospects of the region in the coming years.   On the other hand, democracy...(Read Full Post)