Niobium---Brazilian Mining’s Ace in The Hole
November 29, 2018 | Latin Trade
Fed up with high crime rates, massive corruption, and a poorly performing economy, Brazilians voiced their pleasure with the status quo by electing in October as president a right-wing congressman and ex-army captain from a very small nationalist and populist political party...... more
La Nueva Organización
Noviembre 10, 2018
Los cambios tecnológicos, políticos, económicos y demográficos observados durante los últimos años han generado cambios fundamentales en los modelos de negocios que requieren la introducción y adaptación a nuevos modelos de estructura organizacional, de liderazgo y de manejo del talento...... more
Financial Technology: The Continuing Evolution of a Revolution
October 18, 2018 | Miami Today
What is fintech? In simple terms: financial technology. We experience it, we live it when we send money via Pay Pal, swipe our Starbucks card to purchase a latte, deposit a check via the photo app on our smartphone, or use a ride-sharing service like Uber or Lyft. Fintech is a true disruptor and will continue to be so. According to a recent PwC report, investment in fintech grew from $5.6 billion in 2014 to $12.2 billion in 2015. For the first half of 2018, the global fintech sector raised nearly $42 billion...... more
New NAFTA's auto rules are a toxic elixir
October 11, 2018 | The Hill
In The Art of the Deal Donald Trump declares: “Leverage--don’t make deals without it.” His trade negotiators clearly followed this advice by successfully concluding earlier this month the USMCA (U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement), a replacement of NAFTA which the president has railed against as “the worst trade agreement in history”...... more
Trump on the Economy: Smoke, Mirrors and Half-Truths
August 6, 2018 | The Hill
Euphoric over the Commerce Department's announcement of second quarter GDP numbers, President Trump asserted at a July 27 South Lawn news conference: "We are on track to reach the highest annualized growth rate in 13 years"...... more
Argentina’s Good News—Technological Entrepreneurship
July 18, 2018 | Latin Trade
Pundits are claiming the bloom is off the rose with the Macri administration. That could well be. The emerging market sell-off in recent months, the country’s need to secure a $50 billion standby IMF deal, interest rate spikes and fiscal policy tightening all weigh heavily on a downward revision to GDP growth for the remainder of the year...... more
The truth is Mexico’s new president will be neither socialist nor savior
July 3, 2018 | Miami Herald
Mexico’s newly elected president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, is the personification of how Churchill described Russia--a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma. How will AMLO / Peje (his nicknames) govern? Even Mexican political analysts seem mystified...... more
Like Trump in US, Mexico rolls dice with populist president
July 3, 2018 | The Hill
Mexico resides in a major earthquake zone, and Sunday they experienced a really big one — though this time the shock was political, not geological. On his third try for the presidency, Andrés López Obrador (AMLO) defeated his opponents and is well-positioned to set Mexico on a course that will be anything but “business as usual."...... more
Trade War with Canada: The Apex of Stupidity
June 8, 2018 | The Hill
Lamenting the unequal and contentious relationship between his country and the United States, the 19th century Mexican president Porfirio Díaz remarked: “Poor Mexico, so far from God and so close to the United States.” Take out “Mexico” and insert “Canada,” and no doubt that you will be reading the mind of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau today...... more
Are We Prepared for the Artificial Intelligence Revolution?
May 31, 2018 | Miami Today
Imagine a future where homes will be able to use the most efficient, cost-effective electronic technology where sensors in dishwashers can determine the optimum amount of water to be used to clean a certain number of dishes and regulate the intensity of the water jets based on the dirtiness of the material...... more
Redirecting Capital to Sustainable Investment
March - April, 2018 | America Economia
We are living at an unprecedented time in human history. Never before have consumers been so empowered to influence corporate behavior and firms' impact on society and the environment. New market incentives driven by selective consumer groups such as millennials and women have begun to redirect capital towards enterprises the importance of being good corporate citizens...... English | Spanish
Innovation in Mexico: Rays of Sunshine Among The Clouds
April 2, 2018 | Latin Trade
The Age of Anxiety is a long, six-part poem composed by W.H. Auden in 1947. The title is also an apt description for what Mexicans are experiencing today, as well as foreign companies that do business in and with that nation...... more
Commentary: Emerging artificial intelligence can transform how we live and work
March 14, 2018 | Orlando Sentinel
It’s been a little more than 20 years since IBM’s Deep Blue computer beat chess champion Garry Kasparov in a six-game match. Since that time, artificial intelligence — also known as machine intelligence — has achieved an unimaginable level of breadth, depth and speed. To say it is revolutionizing our daily lives is an understatement...... more
On trade, Trump team shows Ivy League schooling no match for common sense
March 9, 2018 | The Hill
Being well-credentialed is not the same as being well-educated. Donald Trump (Wharton), Wilbur Ross (Harvard) and Peter Navarro (Harvard) are living proof of that assertion when it comes to trade policy. Having been associated with both institutions, I can vehemently state that I had never met a student or faculty member who seriously believed that protectionism is the answer to correcting trade imbalances...... more
Despite it Corruption Scandals, Brazil Remains a Magnet for Foreign Investment
January-February 2018 | América Economia
The “Country of the Future” has also distinguished itself during the last several years as the poster child for corruption. A federal investigation began in 2014 under the name Lava Jato (“Car Wash”) uncovered a huge and widespread conspiracy to defraud Petrobrás, the national oil company...... more
Latin America is poised for a turnaround in 2018
January 12, 2018 | The Miami Herald
In these early days of 2018, it is sad and ironic that just as Latin America is reemerging from a prolonged period of recession and sluggish growth, its most important trading and investment partner, the United States, is looking inward and embracing economic nationalism...... more