In May 2004, the first Copenhagen Consensus was held in Denmark's capital. This was a groundbreaking event, which for the first time brought together a group of the world's most eminent economists to jointly prioritize additional spending on some of the world's most pressing problems. A second global event took place in 2008 and, in the meantime, other focused projects have been run in conjunction with the United Nations. While these processes are all global in focus, this volume brings together the material from the first regional process: the Consulta de San José, held in Costa Rica in October 2007.

The need for prioritization is as real as ever. Good progress has been made in a number of areas in recent years, particularly on the overall economic front, but a number of problems in the Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) region are seemingly intractable. Potential solutions based on best practice, either in the region or more widely, form the basis of this volume, but to make real progress over the coming years, limited resources need to be committed where they are likely to do most good.

The LAC region is part of the developing world, but many countries within it have achieved considerable economic growth in recent years and can certainly not be considered among the world's poorest. This in itself is a compelling reason to focus an event purely on the region.