The economies of the Caribbean face several challenges, such as a lack of economies of scale in production of goods and services exacerbated by small populations, narrow internal markets and scarce capital, which limit the economic gains from self-sufficiency. For this reason, more emphasis should be placed on building export capacity and facilitating trade. If we examine the characteristics of firms in the subregion, the majority can be categorized as small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Moreover, only about 13 per cent of these SMEs export. This suggests that on average the subregion i…
This document adopts a network analysis approach to examine the vertical trade relations between Latin America and Asia, showing the potential of these techniques for providing new insights into the patterns and dynamics of countries’ GVC linkages. Particularly, network-based measures are used to assess how important countries are as users and suppliers of foreign intermediate inputs in each network, at both the aggregate and sector level. In addition, clustering techniques are applied to identify groups of supplier countries.…
El Boletín de Comercio Exterior del MERCOSUR analiza la dinámica comercial del Mercado Común del Sur desde una perspectiva estructural. Se trata de una publicación anual de la Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL), elaborada en forma conjunta por las oficinas de la CEPAL en Brasilia, Buenos Aires y Montevideo, en coordinación con la División de Comercio Internacional e Integración y bajo la supervisión de la Oficina de la Secretaria Ejecutiva de la Comisión. El Boletín cuenta con el apoyo del Mecanismo Regional para el Desarrollo en Transición (Regional Facility for Develo…
Seeking to deepen the understanding about the relationship between non-tariff measures (NTMs) and international trade, this work estimates bilateral volume effects of imposing NTMs on international trade, focusing on two of the most observed measures: technical barriers to trade (TBT) and sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures. Estimates were carried out for more than 5,000 products at the 6-digit level of the Harmonized System using a panel for 2001-2015 with NTM data notified by more than 150 member countries of the World Trade Organization (WTO).…
The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is affecting the economies of Latin America and the Caribbean through external and domestic factors, the combined effect of which will lead to the worst contraction that the region has ever undergone, exceeding those seen in 1914 and 1930. According to the latest estimates, an average regional contraction of -5.3% is forecast for 2020, ECLAC indicated today while launching a new report.
The Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), Alicia Bárcena, presented on this Tuesday, April 21, the COVID-19 Special Rep…
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has become one of the most important players in the global trading system. Comprising 10 countries with very diverse income levels, ASEAN is now the world’s fifth largest economy and plays a central role in the so-called “Factory Asia”. This document begins with an overview of the history and institutions of ASEAN, before focusing on one of its three pillars: the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), including a critical assessment of outcomes in the areas of trade in goods, trade in services and investment, among others. The document draws best pra…
This document contributes to the scarce empirical literature on the role of services as a source of manufacturing competitiveness in developing economies, providing evidence on the Latin American region. The 2018 release of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)’s Trade in Value Added (TiVA) database is used to assess the servicification of manufacturing exports in seven Latin American countries (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Mexico and Peru) between 2005 and 2015, in comparison with ten Asian emerging economies (eight ASEAN countries (Brunei Daruss…