Seminar on Institutions and Development

The following reports are the final versions of those presented and discussed at the Seminar on Institutions and Development held at the Institute for Economic and Social Development (IDES) in Buenos Aires, Argentina, August 11-12, 2006.

The seminar was the final stage of a joint comparative project which aimed at a detailed study of three key institutions in each of three Latin American nations: Chile, Colombia, and Mexico. The individual institutional studies were conducted with the same methodology, aimed at producing comparable findings. Each study resulted in a description of the institution, a qualitative analysis of its developmental potential, and its fulfillment of the central goals for which it was created. Each institution was "scored" in a binary and a five-point scale on a set of six dimensions representing key aspects of the internal quality of its personnel and performance and its external presence and effectiveness.