Ricardo Hausmann makes a point for immigration and how all the great nations benefited from imported talent. Panama is getting there and should pay close attention to this if we are to continue to grow.
Latin America is in the economic doldrums. After almost a decade of progress, GDP has been negative for the past two years, making it the region’s worst contraction since the 1980s.
But there’s one exception: Panama. Between 2001 and 2013, the country’s economy grew at twice the rate of the regional average. In fact, it has been one of the fastest growing economies in the world.
So what’s its secret sauce? Probably not what you’d expect, given the backlash across the rest of the world: immigration.