Lopez, J. Humberto

Person:
Lopez, J. Humberto

Latin America and the Caribbean

Fields of Specialization

Latin America, Remittances, Pro-Poor Growth, Poverty

Departments

Latin America and the Caribbean

Last updated: February 1, 2023

Biography

Humberto Lopez is the World Bank Director of Strategy and Operations for the Latin America and the Caribbean Region. In this position, he oversees the day-to-day operations of the institution in the region and contributes to the definition and successful implementation of the strategic vision for Latin America. Previously, he was the World Bank Country Director for Central America (Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama). In that position, he managed the support and technical cooperation programs, financing operations and the studies of these six nations. Before that, he was Director of Economic Policy and Poverty Reduction in Latin America and the Caribbean at the World Bank. In addition, Lopez has an extensive publication record in areas such as fiscal policy, exchange rates, armed conflict and growth. He has also been editor of three books on FTAs, remittances and development, and investment climate in Latin America, and was the principal author of the flagship report of the World Bank's Latin America 2006 on growth and poverty reduction. Before joining the World Bank, Lopez was professor of economics at the University of Salamanca (Spain) and visiting professor at Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge (USA). Lopez received a BA from the University of the Basque Country, where he studied economics. He then studied at the University of Warwick (UK), where he earned his master's (1991) before attending the University Institute.

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Now showing 1 - 10 of 17

Costa Rica's Development: From Good to Better
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2015-06-11) Oviedo, Ana Maria; Sanchez, Susana M.; Lindert, Kathy A.; Lopez, J. Humberto
Costa Rica stands out for being among the most politically stable, progressive, prosperous, and environmentally conscious nations in the Latin America and the Caribbean region. Its development model has brought important economic, social, and environmental dividends, with sustained growth, upward mobility for a large share of the population, important gains in social indicators, and significant achievements in reforestation and conservation. However, there are a number of development challenges that need to be addressed to maintain the country’s successful development path. This Systematic Country Diagnostic takes stock of the poverty, inequality, and growth trends, addressing the following questions: To what extent has the Costa Rican development model been inclusive? What has driven growth in Costa Rica in recent years, and what are the bottlenecks that need to be addressed? How sustainable is the development model of Costa Rica economically, socially, and environmentally?
Honduras: Unlocking Economic Potential for Greater Opportunities
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2015-10-26) Hernandez Ore, Marco Antonio; Sousa, Liliana D.; Lopez, J. Humberto
Honduras is Central America’s second-largest country with a population of more than 8 million and a land area of about 112,000 square kilometers. The 20th century witnessed a profound economic transformation and modernization in Honduras. Honduras’ persistent poverty is the result of long-term low per capita growth and high inequality, perpetuated by the country’s high vulnerability to shocks. First, over the past 40 years the country has experienced modest growth rates marked by considerable volatility. Second, high levels of inequality have weakened the ability for growth to reduce poverty by limiting the extent to which a large segment of the population is able to fully access physical and human capital. Third, a large share of the population is vulnerable and exposed to regular shocks - both large and small which has exacerbated poverty by destroying or slowing asset accumulation. This systematic country diagnostic (SCD) explores the drivers of these development outcomes in Honduras, and reflects on the policy priorities that should underlie a development strategy focused on eradicating poverty and boosting shared prosperity. After identifying a number of critical factors affecting the country’s development outcomes, the SCD concludes that there is a need for a comprehensive agenda that tackles simultaneously the problems that have kept the country in a low development equilibrium for many decades, as well as emerging challenges that have the potential not only to prevent progress but also worsen the current situation. The SCD also argues that the policy agenda needs to be ambitious and move away from marginal interventions in order to move Honduras from a situation where its economic potentials are just potentials to another where they become actuals.
El Salvador: Building on Strengths for a New Generation
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2015-06-23) Calvo-Gonzalez, Oscar; Lopez, J. Humberto
Since the end of the Civil War in 1992, El Salvador has advanced on both the social and political fronts. Despite this progress and the recent reductions in income inequality, poverty remains high, largely as a result of low economic growth. This Systematic Country Diagnostic argues that the challenge in El Salvador is not to identify the proximate constraints to growth, but how those constraints are inter-connected and what entry points may help break what can be characterized as "vicious circles." The Systematic Country Diagnostic identifies three inter- connected vicious circles that hamper growth and shared prosperity: (1) a cycle of low growth and violence; (2) a cycle of low growth and migration; and (3) a cycle of low growth, savings and investment. Moreover, it also notes action on the identified entry points will require a "big push" (rather than marginal interventions) that help break the existing development dynamics. But this Systematic Country Diagnostic also identifies some strengths that El Salvador could build on to propel growth. Areas of opportunity include migration with the positive impact of diaspora on development, geographic and cultural proximity to large export markets, particularly the U.S., and an industrial base that can support an expansion of the tradable sector. At 20 percent of GDP the manufacturing sector is large by Latina American and by middle-income country standards.
Guatemala: Closing Gaps to Generate More Inclusive Growth
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2016) Scott, Kinnon; Sanchez, Susana M.; Lopez, J. Humberto
This Systematic Country Diagnostic (SCD) looks at why a country with such great potential has not been able to materialize it. The SCD analysis has identified several knowledge gaps. The analysis in this report focuses on the 2000 to 2014 period, covering the boom years before 2008 and the global financial crisis and recovery years up to 2014. It is based on a rich household data set from the National Living Standards Measurement Survey (ENCOVI) as well as on data on malnutrition from the 2014 National Survey of Maternal and Child Indicators (ENSMI). Where relevant and where there are available data, longer times series have been constructed, but the focus of the report is on this 15-year period. The analysis has some limitations. The SCD team identified various countries that could be considered to be Guatemala’s peer and aspirational countries in terms of their income level and population size, and whenever it is relevant to do so, the report benchmarks Guatemala’s performance against the performance of those countries. The report is organized as follows: After the overview presented here in Chapter 1, Chapter 2 provides evidence of the trends in poverty, shared prosperity, and inequality in Guatemala. The first section benchmarks Guatemala’s progress in reducing income poverty against its peer countries. This is followed by an examination of consumption poverty, which is the official measure of poverty used in Guatemala. The analysis highlights the gaps between the two Guatemalas. The chapter ends with some findings concerning the drivers of poverty, specifically focusing on the roles played by prices, labor, and transfers. Chapter 3 attempts to answer the question of how inclusive economic growth has been in Guatemala, looking first at the limited role played by labor markets in helping people to rise out of poverty and at the limited human capital and the dearth of opportunities to increase it. The chapter then discusses the ineffective and inadequate public spending that rives these outcomes and demonstrates the link between limited opportunities and poor outcomes, focusing specifically on malnutrition and vulnerability. Chapter 4 analyzes the drivers of growth and the roles and characteristics of key sectors. Important changes in trade policies are then covered, and the chapter ends with a detailed discussion of the main constraints to increasing investment and productivity and to creating high-quality jobs. Chapter 5 focuses on various fiscal, environmental, and social challenges. Major concerns about tax revenues, water resources and land use are highlighted. The final chapter summarizes the priorities that have emerged from the analysis and describes a set of policies or areas of action that have the potential to put Guatemala on a path of higher and more inclusive growth.
Panama: Locking in Success
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2015-06-23) Scott, Kinnon; Koehler-Geib, Friederike; Soliman, Ayat; Lopez, J. Humberto
Panama has made significant progress in reducing poverty in recent years, progress that compares positively to that of the rest of the Latin America and Caribbean region. This report takes stock of this progress and reflects on the constraints and opportunities that Panama faces in continuing on its path of shared prosperity and poverty reduction. The education and skills agenda, energy, public sector reform, the inclusion of indigenous peoples, and water management are identified as areas that will require attention to ensure the sustainability of Panama’s success story. Following a detailed analysis of poverty—recent trends, drivers of poverty reduction, and demographic factors—the report provides foundations to answer three main questions: • What has driven growth in Panama in recent years? • To what extent has this growth been, or not been, inclusive? • How sustainable is the growth and more generally, the development model of Panama?
Getting the Most Out of Free Trade Agreements in Central America
(World Bank, 2011-06-21) Shankar, Rashmi; Lopez, J. Humberto
Peace came accompanied not only by the end to the human drama associated with the conflicts, but also by a significant economic dividend, a much needed development in a region where per capita gross domestic product (GDP) had stagnated between 1970 and 1990 and where two countries (El Salvador and Nicaragua) had been experiencing negative average growth rates for more than two decades. The social dimension of the dismal growth performance is well captured in the poverty rates. According to World Bank statistics, in the first half of the 1990s the average poverty rate in the region was close to 60 percent in countries such as Honduras and Nicaragua; almost three-quarters of the population lived on less than US$4 a day. Several lessons emerge from getting the most out of free trade agreements (FTAs) in Central America, but the author will like to stress three. First, Central America should not take the positive results of signed FTAs as a given. Second, trade promotion needs to be complemented by a strong focus on the poor. In some cases, this focus is because of the challenges brought by additional external competition, which may negatively affect some industries or sectors. Third, is the need for more competitive markets? Although many of us tend to think about the benefits of growth in terms of quantities (that is, more exports, more employment, and increased access to goods) many of the welfare effects of FTAs are transmitted through prices (such as lower prices for imported goods).
Poverty Reduction and Growth : Virtuous and Vicious Circles
(2006) Perry, Guillermo E.; Arias, Omar S.; López, J. Humberto; Maloney, William F.; Servén, Luis; Arias, Omar
Poverty Reduction and Growth is about the existence of these vicious circles in Latin America and the Caribbean about the ways and means to convert them into virtuous circles in which poverty reduction and high growth reinforce each other. This publication is organized as follows: Chapter 1: From vicious to virtuous circle; Chapter 2: Dimensions of well-being, channels to growth; Chapter 3: How did we get here? Chapter 4: The relative roles of growth and inequality for poverty reduction; Chapter 5: Pro-poor growth in Latin America; Chapter 6: Does poverty matter for growth? Chapter 7: Subnational dimensions of growth and poverty; Chapter 8: Microdeterminants of incomes: labor markets, poverty, and traps?; and Chapter 9: Breaking the cycle of underinvestment in human capital in Latin America.
Remittances and Development : Lessons from Latin America
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2008) Fajnzylber, Pablo; López, J. Humberto
There are four main messages that emerge from this book. First, no matter how authors look at the issue, remittances are extremely important in the Latin American context. With remittances estimated to have topped more than US$50 billion in 2006, Latin America is now the main destination of these flows. Second, remittances generate a number of important positive contributions to economic development. In particular, they tend to reduce poverty and inequality in recipient countries, as well as increase aggregate investment and growth. Third, even though remittances have a positive impact on the development indicators of the recipient economies, the magnitude of the estimated changes tends to be modest. Fourth, policy makers may take actions to enhance the development impact of remittances. One important message of this book is that the way countries benefit from remittances appears to be positively related to the countries' own institutional and macroeconomic environments.
Fiscal Redistribution and Income Inequality in Latin America
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2008-01) Goñi, Edwin; López, J. Humberto; Servén, Luis
Income inequality in Latin America ranks among the highest in the world. It can be traced back to the unequal distribution of assets (especially land and education) in the region. But the extent to which asset inequality translates into income inequality depends on the redistributive capacity of the state. This paper documents the performance of Latin American fiscal systems from the perspective of income redistribution using newly-available information on the incidence of taxes and transfers across the region. The findings indicate that: (i) the differences in income inequality before taxes and transfers between Latin America and Western Europe are much more modest than those after taxes and transfers; (ii) the key reason is that, in contrast with industrial countries, in most Latin American countries the fiscal system is of little help in reducing income inequality; and (iii) in countries where fiscal redistribution is significant, it is achieved mostly through transfers rather than taxes. These facts stress the need for fiscal reforms across the region to further the goal of social equity. However, different countries need to place different relative emphasis on raising tax collection, restructuring the tax system, and improving the targeting of expenditures.
Inequality in Latin America : Determinants and Consequences
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2008-02) Perry, Guillermo; Lopez, J. Humberto
Latin America is together with Sub-Saharan Africa the most unequal region of the world. This paper documents recent inequality trends in the Latin American region, going beyond traditional measures of income inequality. The paper also reviews some of the explanations that have been put forward to understand the current situation, and discusses why reducing income inequality should be an important policy priority. In particular, the authors discuss channels through which inequality can affect growth and output volatility. On the whole, the analysis suggests a two-pronged approach to reduce inequality in the region that combines policies aimed at improving the distribution of assets (especially education) with elements aimed at improving the capacity of the state to redistribute income through taxes and transfers.