Latin America in the Mirror: Objective and Subjective Dimensions of Social Inequity and Well-Being in the Region

Foreword:

This book was prepared jointly by the ECLAC and Latinobarómetro, with support from the Spanish International Cooperation Agency for Development (AECID).

ECLAC pursues a development agenda that emphasizes the linkages and synergies between economic growth, social equity, democratic consolidation and environmental sustainability, taking into account the productive transformation requirements that the countries of  Latin America face in order to integrate into the global economy.

In addition to these elements, in recent years there has been growing concern about the social cohesion of  the countries in the region. ECLAC has been strongly pushing a broader agenda of  development processes, through which it has emphasized the need for institutions to make efforts to reduce wide social gaps and promote a sense of  belonging to the national community, with full respect for diversity. This new agenda includes proposals by ECLAC for building social pacts that promote social protection, with the understanding that all citizens, men and women alike, are equal in rights.

The collaboration between ECLAC and Latinobarómetro has helped create this broader vision. Traditionally, our organization has used household surveys as data sources to analyse the dynamics of  economic and social development in the countries in the region. The relationship with Latinobarómetro has enabled us to use information from opinion surveys, which adds to an understanding of  the principal equity and social cohesion challenges facing Latin America and the Caribbean.

This publication is the fruit of  collaborative efforts between ECLAC and Latinobarómetro and a contribution on the road to preparing a broader vision of  development processes. This book illustrates the efforts of  both institutions to build a joint vision with respect to the relationships between indicators from household surveys and indicators generated from opinion studies. As the reader will appreciate upon perusing the pages of  this book, this exercise was not without its complexities, owing to the lack of  suitable conceptual frameworks, the peculiarities associated with differences between the countries and the methodological problems entailed in establishing relationships between information that was not produced for these purposes.
This book seeks to contribute to the creation of  a more comprehensive understanding of  objective living conditions and well-being, a challenge the cuts across the different regions of  the planet. I am convinced that the lessons obtained from this experience can be useful for similar efforts made in other regions of  the world.

Alicia Bárcena
Executive Secretary
Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC)