Source page: McKinsey & Company
Commentary
Latin America in a new era
Latin America | Technology
August 18, 2023 – Given the events that have disrupted society and business over the past few years, how might Latin America fare in a new era? Senior partner and McKinsey Global Institute director Olivia White and colleagues explore this notion in their latest research. They note that technology adoption has been supported by the rise of new, innovative firms: four-fifths of Latin American start-up “unicorns” focus on fintech and e-commerce. Yet the region imports about eight times more intellectual property than it exports, placing it at risk of falling behind other regions as tech such as AI takes off.
To read the article, see “What could a new era mean for Latin America?,” July 20, 2023.
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Visual form
Sankey flow diagram.
Layout / body structure
The visual runs left to right with exporter regions on the left, importer regions on the right, and crossing bands in the middle that show where intellectual-property value flows.
What is being compared
It compares cross-regional trade in intellectual-property charges, linking exporter regions such as Asia-Pacific, the EU-30, the United States and Canada, Latin America and the Caribbean, and MENA to the regions that import those flows.
Measurement system
The measure is billions of dollars and share of total cross-regional exports or imports, with region totals labeled on both outer columns and ribbon thickness carrying the flow size.
Visible structure inside the graphic
Rectangular region blocks anchor the two sides, curved ribbons of different widths travel between them, and a highlighted blue path pulls Latin America and the Caribbean into focus inside the wider network.
Main takeaway from the visual
The flow pattern makes Latin America’s dependence visible by showing a much larger inbound stream of intellectual-property value than outbound stream.
Key standout values or extremes
The headline’s eight-times ratio is the central extreme, and the side labels show Latin America and the Caribbean at about 2.1 on the exporter side versus roughly 16.5 on the importer side.
Controls / sequence, when applicable
This is a static chart image with no in-chart controls to operate.
Companion media, when applicable
There is no separate companion audio or video; the chart image is the full visual on this page.