Post: #1

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http://www.economist.com/news/business/2...-new-world

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THE history of Latin American emigration is best told over lunch. Taco and tostada stalls have spread across the United States because 12m Mexicans have settled there. In Madrid, steaks sizzle on parrillas tended by Argentines who fled the economic crisis of the early 2000s. To wash such delicacies down, bars in any big city serve mojitos mixed by Cuban exiles.

These days culinary ideas flow both ways. Mexico City is full of Spanish tapas bars. New Portuguese bakeries are springing up in São Paulo. Even American eateries are proliferating south of the border. The reason is that Latin America has become a destination as well as departure point for enterprising migrants.

As rich countries stagnate, they cease to be magnets for mobile hands and brains. Net migration from Mexico to the United States has fallen to roughly zero. In Spain, where more than half of young people are unemployed, the number emigrating each year to Latin America trebled in the five years to 2011. “Necessity has made them overcome the fear of moving abroad for work,” says Juan José Ribas, a Spaniard based in Costa Rica as regional head of Barceló, a Spanish travel company with 29 hotels in Latin America. Barceló now gets so many job inquiries from Spanish would-be émigrés that it no longer has to advertise its Latin American vacancies, Mr Ribas says.

In Portugal, where the economy shrank in four of the past five years, a generation of young Magellans has set off seeking work. Brazil now admits more immigrants (legal ones, at least) from Europe and the United States than from Latin America. Remittances from Brazil to Portugal are greater than those from Portugal to Brazil, says the World Bank. The same is true between Mexico and Spain. Spaniards in Argentina send home more than $1 billion a year, four times the amount that flows in the other direction.

Those who move often find they can learn more and advance faster than they could have back home. “Mexico is giving me an opportunity to grow professionally which would be hard to find in Europe,” says Jorge Laínez, a young Ibizan who moved west in 2010 to be country manager of McBains Cooper, a British property consultancy. The lifestyle is a bonus: Mr Laínez’s Mexico City office is 15 minutes by rented bicycle from his home.

Foreign firms are flocking to Latin America to service its new middle class. When starting up, most send expatriates to manage their operations. French executives in Mexico are overseeing a new cosmetics industry, which includes the world’s biggest hair-dye factory, opened in December by L’Oréal. In January Volkswagen inaugurated a big new engine plant to complement its gigantic car factory in Puebla (where a pumpernickel bakery feeds some of the 90 German VW executives based in Mexico).

Latin American firms are also snapping up immigrants. Manpower, a recruitment firm, says that 71% of Brazilian employers have difficulty filling jobs. Brazil’s expanding economy has created 12.5m new formal jobs in the past eight years, even though growth has slowed of late. Having expanded so suddenly, Brazil faces a shortage of people with experience, says Riccardo Barberis, an Italian who heads Manpower in Brazil. That means that bright sparks, Brazilian or otherwise, can charge a premium, which in turn makes Brazil a more tempting destination for migrants. Oil-and-gas engineers can earn perhaps 20% more in Brazil than in Europe, says Mr Barberis.

In the long run Latin countries could address their skills shortages by fixing their schools, which are bad. Mexican pupils score no better on tests than those in Thailand and Romania, which are much poorer countries. Brazil is even worse.

But things are looking up: Brazil has increased enrolment and Mexico recently arrested the leader of its teachers’ union, on charges of stealing more than $150m of union money to splurge on handbags and cosmetic surgery. (She denies it.) In some fields local skills have improved. “Ten or 15 years ago you would go to a big banking pitch in Brazil and [the bankers] would all be Americans flown in for the day. Now they are all Brazilians,” says Damian Fraser, a Briton who runs the Mexican office of UBS, an investment bank. The banks winning business are increasingly local ones as well.

Roll out the bienvenido mat
Even so, Latin firms would still benefit from easy access to foreign talent, knowledge and connections. Alas, many governments make hiring foreigners difficult. It can take six months to get a Brazilian visa. UBS has been waiting months to transfer a Portuguese analyst to its São Paulo offices, and was unable to transfer a Danish employee to Brazil because the financial-services exam can be sat only in Portuguese. Inefficient ports and high customs duties make relocation expensive. Once in, it is difficult to leave Brazil: departing expats must be prepared to submit to an inspection of their possessions to check that no cultural patrimony is being stolen. The government recently announced speedier visas for IT workers. For everyone else the process remains painful.

Even Mexico, a tenth of whose citizens live abroad and whose economy is more open than that of any other country its size, remains atavistically touchy about outsiders. Foreigners cannot buy property along its borders or coast (national security, you understand), or invest in certain industries. Oil remains in the ground because gringos are barred from investing in extracting it. Even foreign-born Mexican citizens cannot serve in the cabinet.

It is not surprising that Latin America is bad at managing immigration: for years it has had little to deal with. Whereas 13% of people in the United States and Britain were born abroad, in Mexico the figure is less than 1%. In Brazil it is 0.3%. As Latin America booms, its foreign-born population will swell. Employing clever foreigners will help its firms thrive.

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I'm beginning to notice that while Asian economies are reaching points where they've extracted a lot of useful knowledge out of expatriates and foreign companies and are starting to push them out.......some Latin American countries have reached a point in development where the economies are just developed enough to pay expats a reasonable salary and also welcome them for their management and technical prowess.

Asian economies/cultures are xenophobic by nature and are all more or less built upon manufacturing and export - i.e. China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam - etc etc.

You will always be a foreigner in Asia - even if you are an American born Asian.

In contrast, Latin American economies are "the new world" and it seems that they hold much more respect and affinity for foreigners - particularly Euro/Anglo expats.

This is not to say that the bureaucracy is not stifling and there do not remain serious impediments in the labor force in terms of getting hired. You can probably land a job in Singapore faster than you can one in Colombia/Mexico and especially Brazil.

Chile is probably the one place where it would be easy for an experienced person to get hired in LatAm.

I hope this information helps someone start an amazing new life/career/business in Latin America.

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Post: #2

The future of many Latin American economies looks bright. The biggest problem is the education system throughout Latin America is doing a terrible job educating its young citizens.

You need to understand spanish to watch this but its a great documentary on the corrupt teachers unions in mexico. They make the teachers union in the US seem flawless by comparison.

Post: #3

Latin America is/will continue to boom economically. They have vast untapped natural resources and are starting to stand up to the traditional economic powers to get what is rightfully theirs. I am plotting and planning on how to get a piece of this action. I think one way to get in for me anyway is doing a postgraduate degree somewhere in Latin America (Ideally Argentina, Brazil, or Colombia). There aren't many europeans that are making that jump. Maybe its because the education isn't as 'good' but I would argue that actual studies are about 1/10th of what a university experience is. It's more about making connections, improving social skills & awareness, and increasing your adaptability to living on your own. It could be invaluable once it comes time to look for a full time job.

Post: #4

(04-13-2013 10:15 AM)LaPastillaRoja Wrote:  Latin America is/will continue to boom economically. They have vast untapped natural resources and are starting to stand up to the traditional economic powers to get what is rightfully theirs. I am plotting and planning on how to get a piece of this action. I think one way to get in for me anyway is doing a postgraduate degree somewhere in Latin America (Ideally Argentina, Brazil, or Colombia). There aren't many europeans that are making that jump. Maybe its because the education isn't as 'good' but I would argue that actual studies are about 1/10th of what a university experience is. It's more about making connections, improving social skills & awareness, and increasing your adaptability to living on your own. It could be invaluable once it comes time to look for a full time job.

Exactly.

Connections

I know guys who are doing this in Peru, Colombia, and Beijing right now for this same reason (although the guy in Peru is actually Peruvian and not an expat). In a lot of these countries the top business programs are also in the capital city. Thus, MBA students and other postgrad students will often be able to have direct access to local elites who will do guest lectures at those universities as well as recruitment.

Recruitment

Moreover, the top local companies will generally select and recruit students out of the top programs in the top local university. Someone who goes through the same management/engineering program as the rest of all the other classmates but is also a bilingual/trilingual expat with the same level of technical expertise can leverage that into something more promising later on - particularly with masters-level corporate work placements that often lead to a full time offer afterwards.

Thus, one could do masters-level internships and corporate research placements while studying to gain practical and localized work experience. Obviously, this person's language skills would also improve significantly over that period of time.

I really love the "apprenticeship" model - whereby practical work placements get counted towards course credits and/or a student's graduate thesis project. I feel like most countries do this a lot better than the US does - particularly Europe (not sure about Latin America).

As it's in the university's interest to make sure that their students get placed in great jobs, you would be able to tap their career services department and alumni network.

Thus by combining a masters/MBA program in a major capital city in one of these countries, an expat would:

1. Build relevant technical/management skills, to a degree (school might not be that great)

2. Build an alumni network and connections for recruitment and business partnerships (90% of the reason to consider it)

3. Spend a significant amount of time on the ground and be able to utilize his status as a graduate student to qualify for local university-corporate partnerships for research and "apprenticeships"

4. Leverage this time, network, and localized work experience to get a full time offer

5. Dramatically improve language skills

6. Identify opportunities in the local marketplace due to rigorous academic, personal, and work experiences in a range of contexts - and also source potential partners to move on these opportunities


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Just another one of my rambles and rants.

Hope someone out there benefits from these ideas.

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Post: #5

The vast majority of American expats I have met in Latin America have been total weirdos. I really like some of the British and Spanish guys I've met, but many of the Americans seemed boorish, awkward, and/or intellectually weak.

Just saying.

Post: #6

(04-13-2013 10:15 AM)LaPastillaRoja Wrote:  Latin America is/will continue to boom economically. They have vast untapped natural resources and are starting to stand up to the traditional economic powers to get what is rightfully theirs. I am plotting and planning on how to get a piece of this action. I think one way to get in for me anyway is doing a postgraduate degree somewhere in Latin America (Ideally Argentina, Brazil, or Colombia). There aren't many europeans that are making that jump. Maybe its because the education isn't as 'good' but I would argue that actual studies are about 1/10th of what a university experience is. It's more about making connections, improving social skills & awareness, and increasing your adaptability to living on your own. It could be invaluable once it comes time to look for a full time job.

Definitely this as well.

I'm bullish on the Andean economies - Peru/Colombia/Chile. Not that countries like Brazil/Mexico are not going to do well - they are going to continue surging in their own right. However, I get the impression that there are more "low hanging fruit" opportunities in the Andean economies.

Post: #7

(04-13-2013 11:47 AM)youngmobileglobal Wrote:  

(04-13-2013 10:15 AM)LaPastillaRoja Wrote:  Latin America is/will continue to boom economically. They have vast untapped natural resources and are starting to stand up to the traditional economic powers to get what is rightfully theirs. I am plotting and planning on how to get a piece of this action. I think one way to get in for me anyway is doing a postgraduate degree somewhere in Latin America (Ideally Argentina, Brazil, or Colombia). There aren't many europeans that are making that jump. Maybe its because the education isn't as 'good' but I would argue that actual studies are about 1/10th of what a university experience is. It's more about making connections, improving social skills & awareness, and increasing your adaptability to living on your own. It could be invaluable once it comes time to look for a full time job.

Definitely this as well.

I'm bullish on the Andean economies - Peru/Colombia/Chile. Not that countries like Brazil/Mexico are not going to do well - they are going to continue surging in their own right. However, I get the impression that there are more "low hanging fruit" opportunities in the Andean economies.

Agree with the above as well. The Brazilian and Mexican economies are already pretty well developed and strong. Brazil's economic progress will to some extent mirror that of China as Brazil provides many vital raw materials such as rubber to China. This is visible in the meteoric rise of Brazil's GDP in recent years. They are essentially helping to fuel the fire of Chinese production. The Andean economies on the other hand are very new. Depending on what happens in the Venezuelan elections you are looking at four countries with massive potential for foreign investment. Very exciting time to get involved in this region without a doubt.

Post: #8

(04-12-2013 09:35 AM)bacon Wrote:  The future of many Latin American economies looks bright. The biggest problem is the education system throughout Latin America is doing a terrible job educating its young citizens.

The problem is that Latin American countries are not developing their own human resources. Filling up their top levels with expatriates, all while exporting cheap manual labor.

And when the french or spanish go back home, who is going to run the economy?

The problem I see is a cultural one. In Latin America ambition is a sin. Success makes you a pariah. Riches are evil.

I stated this to a few friends a few days ago:

McDonalds sets up a franchise in Mexico. They buy property, develop it, set up a fully equipped restaurant, hire and train employees, follow health and safety regulations, pay wages and taxes and offer health and retirement benefits to their workers. Perhaps they pay minimum wage, but its a job.

All this to sell perhaps 1000 McMeals in one day for an average price of $50 pesos.

An average corner taco stand sells perhaps those same 1000 orders in an evening for the same $50 pesos.

But the taco stand follows no health or safety regulations, they pay less than minimum, give no benefits to employees, doesnt owns the corner where it stands, pays no electricity or water bills, has no production values (they buy the cheapest meat they can find), and spend not even a cent in publicity or insurance.

Yet McDonalds opens up new locations in Mexico everyday, while the taco stand guy will grow old and die in that very same taco stand.

There no business culture.

Post: #9

(04-13-2013 03:55 PM)germanico Wrote:  The problem is that Latin American countries are not developing their own human resources. Filling up their top levels with expatriates, all while exporting cheap manual labor.

And when the french or spanish go back home, who is going to run the economy?

The same people who have been running it for the past 500 years: the pure European-blooded upper class.

Owners need servants. Low-skilled servants can be found locally in Latin America. High-skilled servants can be imported easily. If they go back home, import some more. Do you think that all 900+ MBAs that Harvard Business School produces every year find high-paying jobs at McKinsey or Goldman Sachs?

Post: #10

Quote:The problem is that Latin American countries are not developing their own human resources. Filling up their top levels with expatriates, all while exporting cheap manual labor.

Hmm. I agree with you strongly that their human resources probably aren't being developed. But I'm not sure that filling top levels with expatriates is the same thing as not developing HR.

I respectfully counter by raising the argument that sourcing high quality expatriate managers will make these institutions stronger and give local employees a role model to follow.....and also give local companies an institutional model to emulate.

You do raise a good point though - more can be done to empower and educate the local workforce. Eike Batista complains nonstop about the lack of talent in the labor force.

Quote:And when the french or spanish go back home, who is going to run the economy?

I'm not really sure what you mean by "run the economy" here. But I'll take a shot at this!

China, Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, all followed a model of making business incentives very attractive for foreigners and international companies and then setting up export-oriented economies.

Not having French/Spanish around to run the economy has never been a problem for them. Hasn't been a problem for Japan either.

Although, to be fair, Singapore would probably be in pretty serious trouble if all the foreigners left.

Not having enough foreigners around to run things has not been a problem because people in these countries work insanely hard to acquire all the knowledge and experience they can from foreign managers and international companies.

If all the French and Spanish leave.....there will be a talent vacuum.....salaries/opportunities for these openings will increase to reflect the demand for this talent in the job market.....and experienced managers in Europe/Australia/UK/Canada/USA will step in to fill those spots.

Also, with the way things are going in Europe/America, I don't think it'll be a problem to attract and retain talent in the future!

Quote:The problem I see is a cultural one. In Latin America ambition is a sin. Success makes you a pariah. Riches are evil.

There you go! Culture is the issue. Asians have tremendous respect for the relentless accumulation of wealth.

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Post: #11

(04-13-2013 11:46 AM)polymath Wrote:  The vast majority of American expats I have met in Latin America have been total weirdos. I really like some of the British and Spanish guys I've met, but many of the Americans seemed boorish, awkward, and/or intellectually weak.

Just saying.

Totally agree. The most dedicated Portuguese students in the US are either 1) gay dudes who do nothing for the plethora of single brasileiras in Brazil (not anything wrong with that) or 2) socially awkward dudes that are...smart students..but way off.

There's not many North American Asian guys or American dudes period fluent in Portuguese that can compete with my vibe down there, lol. Can't wait for next month!

Post: #12

Has anyone here gotten a job in Latin America outside of the typical translating/teaching English/NGO work?

I love the region and would be very interested in this, but I've never known anyone who took this path really. More common have been entrepeneurs who start little companies. Restaurants, hotels, hostels, tourism companies, import/export. But it seems like the expats I know making money in Latin America are not, say, lawyers or bankers or executives in established local companies.

Post: #13

YMG, while in Colombia I met a bunch of US raised Colombian Americans who were living in Bogota (most of them deported for crimes, some sent back over paper work, etc) and working in Call centres (the biggest one being Convergys). They told me that Convergys was taking advantage of the high amount of Colombians in Bogota who, although born in Colombia, they were raised in the USA and had the American accent and were better at the tech support roles than call centre agents in the more traditional call centre hot spots like India and the Philippines. I also ran into a couple of mexican call centre managers in Bogota who were opening a call centre in Bogota and told me how the labour costs were lower there than Mexico.

http://www.convergys.com/company/careers/colombia/

Out of curiosity, I asked the guys if they thought that I could get job there and they said it wouldn't be a problem, they're hiring criminals who've spent years in federal pens stateside, so why not me. Apparently they're quite flexible with the hours, although the pay is low as you can imagine (~$500 USD net/month on 40 hours/week), the only reason I would ever consider doing this is to get an easy work visa and be able to stay in Colombia long term and as most of you know, call centres are around 80% women, I could put up with getting bitched at by Americans who don't know how to turn on their computers so long as I was surrounded by hundreds of Colombian women all day. Potential lifestyle hack there guys.

Post: #14

If Latin America is to become anything other than a natural resource exporter, they have to do something about their education system. Most kids growing up there are completely uncompetitive internationally. Just look at the latest OECD test results:
http://www.oecd.org/pisa/46643496.pdf

Latin America doesn't have a single university in the world top 50 while Asian universities continue to move up the rankings.
http://www.shanghairanking.com/ARWU2012.html

I find all the anti Americanism on this thread calling Americans ignorant is entertaining given how decently we rank on the school age comparison and how our universities blow everyone out of the water.

Post: #15

(04-14-2013 12:18 PM)ao85 Wrote:  If Latin America is to become anything other than a natural resource exporter, they have to do something about their education system. Most kids growing up there are completely uncompetitive internationally. Just look at the latest OECD test results:
http://www.oecd.org/pisa/46643496.pdf

Latin America doesn't have a single university in the world top 50 while Asian universities continue to move up the rankings.
http://www.shanghairanking.com/ARWU2012.html

I find all the anti Americanism on this thread calling Americans ignorant is entertaining given how decently we rank on the school age comparison and how our universities blow everyone out of the water.

Latin America is a joke. It will never develop while there is widespread corruption and the educational system is crap. it will continue to be like when the first europeans came: 500 years of a handful enjoying the riches and the vast majority enjoying ignorance.

Post: #16

I agree with all the point you raised YMG.

It all comes down to a cultural issue.

Latinamerican locals wont emulate foreign talent, they will resent it. Instead of learning from thir german boss, they will hate him for being "too disciplined" or "straight to the point". There is however a new generation of guys doing things differently. Startups and freelance communities are popping out in every city, at least in Mexico. This will be the new generation, but we wont see results until a few years from now, when the old model is crumbling.

Economy in LA has always been one of extraction and explotaition, rather of one of development and creation. Latin American money has always come from monopolical behemots, big oil, big sugar, mining, state monopolies (of everything from state run dairy farms to state run movie theaters). Laws are mandated and created around this behemots. For example, in mexico there are only 2 television networks (a big improvement from a few yers back when there was only one). These TV networks have the leverage and the firepower (literally, a while ago a gang of armed mercenaries cleared the offices of a would be rival, which was promplty tken over by one of the big networks) to ensure that they keep their power. Point in case, the 2012 elections. Slim (richest man in the world) channeled funds to a popular (populist) candidate that spoke out against monopolies and swore he would open up the airwaves to at least 5 more networks. So the 2 networks mudded his campaign, and raised the "official candidate" to saintly status. Babies he kissed grew wings. A handshake from him cured your cancer, aids, and gave you minty breath.

Result? one of the winners first actions in office was to armor the current law ensuring that no new frequencies will be opened up, and even removed one "unused" frequency from a cell phone carrier that could have been used to transmit video.

Do you think a young college dropout could have created a billion dollar company in Latin America in less than a decade? Or that 2 geeky guys could have created a video sharing website and sold it a year later to another 2 geeky guys for 800 million each? I dont think so. Things need to change. I do think that the influx of expatriates will shake things up, give the upcoming guys a sink or swim attitude.

But people resent change, and they will resent having a foreign boss half their age telling them they have been doing it wrong all along.

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When I said "spanish and french" I didnt meant to be specific. I used those as an example because last week in Mexico City I met at least 3 spanish expatriates that couldnt get a job at McDonalds and now they are swimming in job offers. I also know 2 french dudes that are banking it in Mexico, one of them did construction work before emigrating, and now does money through IM and SEO. The other french dude had a low level clerical job, and now is a top level "business consultant to Latin America". I share a flat there with a brit, an american, and her dutch boyfriend. I met them trough a venezuelan friend. I dont mind where they come from. Hell, if it where up to me Id bring over all those unemployed young spaniards. There is plenty of everything for everybody in Mexico.

Post: #17

(04-13-2013 07:17 PM)scotian Wrote:  (~$500 USD net/month on 40 hours/week)

I have friends who do this in Colombia. The hours can be much more flexible. For instance a girl I know does it from 9-2 on weekdays. I think she still gets about $1 million COP a month. Her English is good but not perfect.

Would be hilarious working there, Colombian offices are very flirty and open compared to stuffy American ones. I wouldn't mind doing this for a short time at all.

Hell, why don't you try to become a manager or something there? Bet you'd make more than $500 a month.

Post: #18

(04-14-2013 12:18 PM)ao85 Wrote:  If Latin America is to become anything other than a natural resource exporter, they have to do something about their education system. Most kids growing up there are completely uncompetitive internationally. Just look at the latest OECD test results:
http://www.oecd.org/pisa/46643496.pdf

Latin America definitely needs to improve their education. In Mexico and Colombia, which are the two largest countries by population, there is no such thing as free education. From the time your child is little you have to pay for school, even if you're earning something like $250US a month.

A friend of mine who's now a lawyer remembers hustling as a 6 year old to pay for his school. Selling candy and potato chips just to pay his own tuition, not to mention his lunch.

The good thing is that the people in Latin America have a much more go-getter attitude than many Americans. They don't believe anything will just be handed to them, and so are willing to work as hard as possible to attain their goals. The problem is that, even if you graduate from a top University, there still aren't many opportunities for you.

A lawyer can easily make less than a call-center worker.

Post: #19

(04-14-2013 02:26 PM)Sonsowey Wrote:  In Mexico and Colombia, which are the two largest countries by population

What??? Brazil has more people than Mexico and Colombia put together.

Post: #20

(04-14-2013 02:34 PM)Icarus Wrote:  

(04-14-2013 02:26 PM)Sonsowey Wrote:  In Mexico and Colombia, which are the two largest countries by population

What??? Brazil has more people than Mexico and Colombia put together.

I meant Spanish-speaking countries.

Brazilians themselves are often quick to correct you if you call them Latin-American. To most Brazilians I've met, only Spanish-speaking countries are "Latin-American". Brazilians, I think, see themselves as above "those people".

Post: #21

(04-14-2013 02:26 PM)Sonsowey Wrote:  Latin America definitely needs to improve their education. In Mexico and Colombia, which are the two largest countries by population, there is no such thing as free education. From the time your child is little you have to pay for school, even if you're earning something like $250US a month.

I don't know about Colombia, but in Mexico you can get free education up to university and the government will pay graduate studies if you wish to continue with a masters or a phd (in STEM areas).

Granted, the education is still far from high quality, especially in rural zones, but in the cities the schools are "decent".

Post: #22

(04-14-2013 03:01 PM)Sonsowey Wrote:  Brazilians themselves are often quick to correct you if you call them Latin-American. To most Brazilians I've met, only Spanish-speaking countries are "Latin-American". Brazilians, I think, see themselves as above "those people".

What??? Of course Brazilians are Latin-Americans. Brazil is in South America, and Portuguese is a Latin language. By definition, Brazil is a Latin-American country.

Some Brazilians might object to being called "Hispanic", though. And they are probably right. Technically speaking, someone who's Hispanic is someone from the Iberian Peninsula (i.e., Portuguese or Spanish), but U.S. Americans have distorted the word to the point that it now means "mestizo from South of the Rio Grande". Given that many Brazilians are Italian-German or Amerindian-African, it would be stupid to call them "Hispanic".

Post: #23

(04-14-2013 03:14 PM)Icarus Wrote:  

(04-14-2013 03:01 PM)Sonsowey Wrote:  Brazilians themselves are often quick to correct you if you call them Latin-American. To most Brazilians I've met, only Spanish-speaking countries are "Latin-American". Brazilians, I think, see themselves as above "those people".

What??? Of course Brazilians are Latin-Americans. Brazil is in South America, and Portuguese is a Latin language. By definition, Brazil is a Latin-American country.

Some Brazilians might object to being called "Hispanic", though. And they are probably right. Technically speaking, someone who's Hispanic is someone from the Iberian Peninsula (i.e., Portuguese or Spanish), but U.S. Americans have distorted the word to the point that it now means "mestizo from South of the Rio Grande". Given that many Brazilians are Italian-German or Amerindian-African, it would be stupid to call them "Hispanic".

Yeah my former Portuguese teacher was born in the States, but moved to Brazil at age 6 and came back to the US in her 20's. She's a tall blonde Caucasian lady but proudly refers to herself as "Latin American" because of her upbringing in Brazil not to mention she lived multiple times again after her US-based education.

Post: #24

(04-14-2013 02:26 PM)Sonsowey Wrote:  

(04-14-2013 12:18 PM)ao85 Wrote:  If Latin America is to become anything other than a natural resource exporter, they have to do something about their education system. Most kids growing up there are completely uncompetitive internationally. Just look at the latest OECD test results:
http://www.oecd.org/pisa/46643496.pdf

The good thing is that the people in Latin America have a much more go-getter attitude than many Americans. They don't believe anything will just be handed to them, and so are willing to work as hard as possible to attain their goals. The problem is that, even if you graduate from a top University, there still aren't many opportunities for you.

Sorry, there is no data to back this up. China is/was poorer than Mexico or Brazil or Columbia a decade ago but because the culture values education, people busted their ass and the economy took off. I lived in Mexico for two years and pretty much never saw anyone read a book there. If people are so hard working then where is the innovation? And top university? Well perhaps but it's not a top university in terms of world ranking, so for an international corporation why would they want to hire if the graduate doesn't have a competitive skill set?

Hands down America wins in terms of go- getting attitude anyone that immigrated to the US had to be at least moderately ambitious.

I don't mean to bash the thread, though. Given the lack of high level talent in Latin America, someone with solid skills and a Western work ethic could probably do better there than be an average schlub in America, IF you can make the right connections. BUT, beware of romantizing the region and assuming it's going to take off. Absent a 5x increase in commodity prices or a 180 degree turn in the local culture, it's going to stagnate for now,

Post: #25

Where in Mexico did you lived?

I challenge you to take a subway ride in Mexico City and not find someone reading.

But I do admit that reading is not widespread in a country where the minimum wage is 60 pesos and the average book costs 180.