Getting a different perspective on the world

While the focus of the world economy has been on China and India, there are other emerging markets that have shown good growth and strong sovereign balance sheets. While Latin America has not matched the behavior of many Asia countries, it is an important trading partner to the United States and may be one of the places where we could see the greatest change in growth.

To better understand this region requires a local Latin perspective, yet there are few places where an alternative perspective can be gained. One place which is a good resource is Opinion Sur http://www.surnorte.org.ar/index.php. It is a free online publication dedicated to finding new solutions to poverty in Latin America and to analyzing the impact of global processes in the region.

Two of the recent articles worth noting in Issue #43 March 2007 are Looking Ahead: The Incipient Diversity of the Global Economy. ttp://www.surnorte.org.ar/southopinion/note.php?id_note=179 and A Bird's Eye View: General trends in Latin America Politics in the First Decade of the 21st Century http://www.surnorte.org.ar/southopinion/note.php?id_note=180

Looking Ahead discusses the increasing diversity of growth in the world economy and that the United States may not be the driver of global growth. While many of the arguments for the decline of the dollar are familiar, the Latin voice provides an interesting perspective.

The dollar may not be the currency of choice for many emerging markets countries in the coming decade. Many are now paying down their dollar debt and trying to develop local financial markets. This is a new phenomena given that a major theme in many countries over the last decade has been dollarization of economies.

The General Trends in Latin America Politics is an insightful piece on the politics of this important region. The area is undergoing large transformations which go beyond the extremism of Venezuela. The political landscape offers significant economic opportunities and something that should be watched closely in the coming years.