What determines the capacity of countries to design, approve, and implement effective public policies? To address this issue, this book builds on the results of a comparative study of political institutions, policymaking processes, and policy outcomes in eight Latin American countries. The volume benefits from both micro detail on the intricacies of policymaking in individual countries and a broad cross-country interdisciplinary analysis of the process in the region.

The country studies demonstrate a deep knowledge of the specific historical dynamics and idiosyncratic structural factors at play in each case, while focusing on the effects of political institutions as viewed through a common analytical lens founded in game theory and institutional analysis. This book should become a staple on the syllabus of any class on Latin American politics or institutional politics and important background reading in many classes on development economics.

Damages are a topic of central importance in international arbitration, being very often the principal concern of the parties, and an indication of the performance of their counsel. They are also one of the most complex topics. This book addresses the many competing factors that contribute to their nature and amount: while they are compensatory, they may be subject to counterclaims and set-offs, affected by failures to mitigate, or inflated by considerations such as interest and costs. Specialist evidence is relied on to complete composite calculations, taking into account such evasive factors as the destruction of market value, uncertainty of future revenues, projected interest rate changes, and lost dividends. The lack of understanding of the underlying considerations, methods such as "splitting the baby", or dogmas such as the misinterpreted "efficient breach of contract", combined with the already high level of burden of proof, can make successful damages claims or properly reasoned awards difficult to achieve. This book provides in-depth analysis of the legal, financial, and economic issues involved in the preparation of claims and arbitral awards for damages and loss of income, for the breach of complex long-term contracts in international arbitration. The authors address matters such as the but-for method and the reconstruction of the hypothetical course of events as well as the quantification of damages. It provides a detailed coverage of issues arising when structuring, arbitrating, or making an award on damages, making it a valuable reference for practitioners in the field. It includes a number of leading cases (including commercial and investment arbitrations), focusing on the damages analysis for breach of contract.

Over the last twenty years, while developed countries witnessed unparalleled rise in new regulations, developing countries complemented their privatization, with deregulation practices in various sectors, and devised regulatory frameworks, particularly for the utilities sectors. The study analyzes the impact of economic regulation on productivity and efficiency among the Latin American and Caribbean developing countries, assessing their gains from regulatory reforms. Basic choices for regulation engineering are examined, both successful contract practices, such as in Jamaica, or specific legislation in Chile, to disastrous regulation decrees in Argentina, and shows contract practices, to be the salient choice for most Latin American countries. The study reviews various practices, such as franchises and concessions, as modes of private sector participation and alternatives to regulation, analyzing the design of these arrangements for competitive marketability of their goods and services. Privatization restructuring and regulation concepts are examined, and a methodology spells out considerations for state-owned monopolies, prior to privatization. Finally, the challenge of regulation is revised, where lessons on regulatory design are examined, and an analysis on discretionary practices, re-negotiation and structural issues is presented, along with regulatory best practices.