China's decision to end its decade-old policy of pegging the yuan to the US dollar has been greeted in Latin America with enthusiasm and optimism. It is argued across the continent that a more flexible exchange rate for the yuan will reduce China's unfair advantage in international markets. This, we are told, will make Latin America's exports of manufactured goods more competitive internationally.
This optimism is misplaced, however. Despite the announced reforms, it is unlikely that there will be any significant exchange-rate flexibility in China's currency. Indeed, China's rulers have already stated that the new exchange-rate system will aim at maintaining currency stability. Its policy is tailored after that of Singapore, which has avoided large currency fluctuations -- and has maintained a significantly more competitive exchange rate during the last three years than all of Latin America's countries.
This means that in order to compete successfully with China, Latin American countries will need to increase productivity growth. Unfortunately, the continent is not well positioned for these challenges.
low quality
The main problem is the extremely low quality of the region's educational system. According to several international educational studies conducted in recent years, Latin American countries rank at the bottom, particularly in mathematics and science.
For example, tests administered by the OECD in 2003 found that Brazilian students ranked last in mathematics among 40 countries. In the same tests, Mexico was in 37th place, while Uruguay, the highest-ranked Latin American country, came in 35th.
Latin American students performed especially poorly on the "problem solving" part of these tests.
This reflects the old-fashioned nature of the region's educational systems, which still emphasize memorization and rote learning. Sadly, results are not much better in reading ability; again, the Latin American nations were at the bottom of the 40-country sample.
Similarly, according to the prestigious Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study, in 2003 Chile's eighth graders ranked 39th out of 44 countries in mathematics; in science they did only slightly better, ranking 37th. Interestingly, many countries that did better than Chile on the standardized tests had a lower income per capita.
equally weak
Latin America's educational performance is equally weak at the university level. According to a survey last year by the Times of London, not a single Latin American university is ranked among the top 200 in the world. This contrasts sharply with China and India, both of which have several world-class universities, especially in science and engineering. Thailand, Turkey and Singapore also have first-rate universities in the sciences, including biotechnology.
If Latin America is to succeed and move towards prosperity, it needs to reform its educational system. A sustainable economic growth rate that helps reduce poverty and inequality can be achieved only with a skilled and innovative labor force.
Reforms must aim at making grade-school and high-school teachers accountable. In addition, paying teachers according to performance must become the norm, while ineffective teachers should be dismissed. Moreover, competitive funding for research at the university level must be increased substantially.
Implementing these reforms will require political courage and vision. In particular, politicians need to be willing to confront teachers' unions, which have resisted reforms that introduce competition and accountability.
Sebastian Edwards, a former chief economist for Latin America and the Caribbean at the World Bank, is professor of economics at UCLA. Copyright: Project Syndicate
Congressman Mike Gallagher (R-WI) and Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) led a bipartisan delegation to Taiwan in late February. During their various meetings with Taiwan’s leaders, this delegation never missed an opportunity to emphasize the strength of their cross-party consensus on issues relating to Taiwan and China. Gallagher and Krishnamoorthi are leaders of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party. Their instruction upon taking the reins of the committee was to preserve China issues as a last bastion of bipartisanship in an otherwise deeply divided Washington. They have largely upheld their pledge. But in doing so, they have performed the
It is well known that Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) ambition is to rejuvenate the Chinese nation by unification of Taiwan, either peacefully or by force. The peaceful option has virtually gone out of the window with the last presidential elections in Taiwan. Taiwanese, especially the youth, are resolved not to be part of China. With time, this resolve has grown politically stronger. It leaves China with reunification by force as the default option. Everyone tells me how and when mighty China would invade and overpower tiny Taiwan. However, I have rarely been told that Taiwan could be defended to
It should have been Maestro’s night. It is hard to envision a film more Oscar-friendly than Bradley Cooper’s exploration of the life and loves of famed conductor and composer Leonard Bernstein. It was a prestige biopic, a longtime route to acting trophies and more (see Darkest Hour, Lincoln, and Milk). The film was a music biopic, a subgenre with an even richer history of award-winning films such as Ray, Walk the Line and Bohemian Rhapsody. What is more, it was the passion project of cowriter, producer, director and actor Bradley Cooper. That is the kind of multitasking -for-his-art overachievement that Oscar
Chinese villages are being built in the disputed zone between Bhutan and China. Last month, Chinese settlers, holding photographs of Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), moved into their new homes on land that was not Xi’s to give. These residents are part of the Chinese government’s resettlement program, relocating Tibetan families into the territory China claims. China shares land borders with 15 countries and sea borders with eight, and is involved in many disputes. Land disputes include the ones with Bhutan (Doklam plateau), India (Arunachal Pradesh, Aksai Chin) and Nepal (near Dolakha and Solukhumbu districts). Maritime disputes in the South China