ABSTRACT
Arianna Legovini opened the discussion by noting the significant loss in human capital brought about by not addressing the issue of poverty. One reason Latin America had been able to withstand the crisis better than the rest of the world was that it had been able to address governance issues. The crisis's effect on growth had heightened awareness of the need to protect and develop human capital. Corruption still existed and funds were still being diverted, but things were moving in the right direction. Workfare programs generally did pretty well at targeting the right people, but they were expensive. Also missing from the safety net were children's programs not based on schooling. With school-based children's programs, street children were being left out and parents were not being reached. In Asia, the basic difference between countries at similar stages of development that were left behind was a large increase in human capital. There was no parallel in Latin America.
