Forecasting more risk of social unrest for Nicaragua than Costa Rica in 2014, indicates ignorance of the political, economic and social realities of Central America.
EDITORIAL
The print edition of "The World in 2014" by The Economist Intelligence Unit reported a measurement of the risk of social unrest in 150 countries, categorizing them into 5 levels.
A recipe that mixes statistical data, reasoned argumentation and good intentions, ends in an absurd list of more or less pacific countries.
The industry of producing Indexes and Rankings, which at times provides useful information for business decision making, turns out real absurdities more often than not.
The Global Peace Index (GPI), developed by The Economist Intelligence Unit and the Institute for Economics and Peace, is a good example of this. It is based on the questionable premise that peace has a monetary value, as an economy can reach its maximum productive capacity under states of peace. It mixes, relates and weights statistical data provided by various international agencies to produce a figure that measures – according to its authors – how peaceful is each of these nations when compared to others. Its creators allege the number must be used to conduct strategic business analysis (“Using the Global Peace Index for Strategic Business Analysis”).
The Economist’s Unit of Economic Intelligence revised its growth estimate which was at 3.4% for 2009 downward, fixing it at minus 1.4%.
The forecast for 2010 is a slight recovery of 1.4% over 2009. The report also predicts victory in the upcoming presidential elections for opposition candidate Ricardo Martinelli.
With regard to this report, the Ministry of Finance signaled that it had possibly "(not taken) into account the financial incentive program recently announced by President Martín Torrijos.”
To be held in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, on March 18, 2009, with the theme "Responding to the global economic crisis".
After years of stable economic performance, the Dominican Republic will face difficult external conditions as a result of the US financial crisis and global economic downturn. Inflows of foreign direct investment and tourism arrivals could well decline.
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