El proceso de integración en el MERCOSUR

The fiscal impact of trade liberalization and commodity price fluctuation: the case of Dominican Republic, 1980-1998

Summary During the 1980's, the Dominican Republic made attempts at macroeconomic reform that saw little success. A decade later a stabilization and structural reform package was implemented. This package included, among other aspects, inflation control through monetary restraint and a tax and tariff reform which sought to increase the efficiency of the prevailing tax structure and eliminate its relative price distortion while maintaining fiscal equilibrium. Price stabilization was achieved, nominal import tariff rates were reduced and the economy started on a growth trajectory th…

The fiscal impact of trade liberalization and commodity price fluctuation: the case of Costa Rica, 1980-1998

Summary Following a period of economic growth, political stability and poverty reduction spanning two decades (1960-1979), Costa Rica experienced at the beginning of the 1980´s the worst recession in its most recent history. In 1981 and 1982 gross domestic product (GDP) fell by -2.3% and -7.3%. Analysts pinpoint to short term economic factors and long run structural problems as the main causes of the recession. Short term economic factors comprise the end of the coffee price bonanza and the second oil shock. Long run structural factors are rooted in the economic imbalances generated b…

Foreign Investment in Latin America and the Caribbean 1999

This study attempts to contribute to a better understanding of foreign direct investment (FDI) in Latin America and the Caribbean by examining the plentiful but disparate statistical information available on the subject within the context of a conceptual framework based on an analysis of corporate strategies. The research programme of the Unit on Investment and Corporate Strategies is structured around the analysis of the specific situations of individual investor countries and of FDI recipient countries and destination industries in the region. This research, combined with the statistical inf…

ECLAC Notes Nº 8

Preliminary overview of the economies of Latin America and the Caribbean 1999Regional panoramaOpinion: The Latin American economy in 1999External sectorLow prices and decline in intraregional trade cause a reduction in exportsMacroeconomic policy and reformExchange rate policies become more flexibleDomestic performanceStatistical appendix Recent titlesCalendar…

ECLAC Notes Nº 8

Balance preliminar de las economías de América Latina y el Caribe 1999 ; Panorama regional ; Opinión:La economía latinoamericana en 1999 ; El sector externo ; Bajos precios y caída del comercio intrarregional comprimen las exportaciones ; Política macroeconómica y reformas ; Flexibilidad de la política cambiaria ; El desempeño interno l; Apéndice estadístico; Publicaciones recientes…

La Inversión Extranjera en América Latina y el Caribe 1999

El presente estudio tiene por objeto contribuir a comprender mejor el fenómeno de la inversión extranjera directa (IED) en América Latina y el Caribe, examinando la abundante pero heterogénea información estadística disponible sobre el tema en el contexto de un marco conceptual basado en un análisis de las estrategias empresariales. El programa de investigación de la Unidad de Inversiones y Estrategias Empresariales está estructurado en el estudio de las situaciones particulares de determinados países inversionistas, de países receptores de IED y de industrias de destino de la IED en la región…

Impacto del TLCAN en las exportaciones de prendas de vestir de los países de América Central y República Dominicana

Export growth in Latin America: policies and performance

Export Growth in Latin America: Policies and Performance by Carla Macario with Regis Bonelli, Adriaan ten Kate and Gunnar Niels. Latin American and Caribbean countries have substantially transformed their economies over the past decades by adopting policies that set aside import substitution development strategies and foster a greater outward orientation of their economies, assigning a high priority to increasing exports. Nevertheless, in most cases export performance is still deficient, and many countries in the region have not fully taken advantage of the opportunities arising from …

Integración regional, desarrollo y equidad

Introducción En los albores del próximo siglo, la trama de compromisos integradores suscritos en las Américas quedará reducida a cinco tratados fundamentales clasificables, según se propone en este trabajo, en dos grandes tipos. De un lado a nivel hemisférico el Acuerdo de Libre Comercio de las Américas (tipo A:'); absorberá a todos los actuales tratados similares que están vigentes. De otro lado a nivel subregional sobrevivirán cuatro tratados (tipo B );: el Mercado Común del Sur, la Comunidad Andina de Naciones, el Mercado Común Centroamericano, y la Comunidad del Cari…

Cinqüenta anos de pensamento na CEPAL

Este livro (em dois volumes) comemora os cinqüenta anos da Comissão Econômica para a América Latina e o Caribe, a CEPAL, entidade da ONU que por meio século tem se destacado no cenário latino-americano, pela criatividade e ousadia de suas teses e propostas. O livro reúne textos clássicos, assinados por alguns dos grandes intelectuais das ciências sociais da América Latina, como, por exemplo, Raúl Prebisch, Celso Furtado, Aníbal Pinto, Medina Echavarría, Osvaldo Sunkel, Maria da Conceição Tavares e Fernando Henrique Cardoso, entre outros. A coletânea está organizada de maneira a orientar o leit…

Trade policy in CARICOM: overview of the main trade policy measures

Executive Summary This paper reviews trade policy regimes in CARICOM countries during the 1980s and 1990s. CARICOM trade policy regimes have undergone substantial changes in the 1990s reflecting the desire of the grouP's member countries to move away from inwardlooking to more outward-oriented growth and development. The growing recognition of the importance of export promotion policies led to the adoption of a programme for the Harmonization of Fiscal Incentives to Industry in 1993. All the CARICOM countries have introduced a series of export promotion measures, including fiscal incentiv…

Recent trade performance of Caribbean countries

Executive Summary The paper analyzes the evolution of trade patterns of the countries comprising the Caribbean Development and Cooperation Committee (CDCC); with the following integration groupings: Andean Community, the Central American Common Market (CACM);, the Southern Cone Common Market (MERCOSUR);, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA); and the European Union (EU); in the 1990s. CDCC trade with the Andean Community was relatively small compared to that with Europe or NAFTA. Non-CARICOM CDCC member countries were dominant in the Andean market with the average value of their expo…

Perfil de los sistemas regionales de transporte en las Américas

Resumen La visión panorámica de los sistemas de transporte de la región permite destacar algunos rasgos importantes del transporte del comercio internacional en el hemisferio: - En el intercambio entre los grupos, domina el modo de transporte marítimo mientras que en el comercio interno a los grupos regionales, el transporte carretero es, en general y con la excepción del Caribe, el modo de transporte de mayor importancia, tanto en volumen como en valor. - El comercio intracontinental más intenso entre grupos corresponde lógicamente al que intercambian las economías regionales de mayor enverga…

Multilateral rules on competition policy: an overview of the debate

Summary Competition policy has become an important topic in the context of the global trade and capital liberalization processes of the past decade. The average tariff rate on imports has decreased substantially and various non-tariff restrictions have been abolished. Barriers to trade erected by private parties have hardly been tackled, however, although these business practices can distort trade and investment flows and lead to conflicts between countries. Competition policy deals with anti-competitive business practices (sometimes called restrictive business practices). Competition laws wer…

Open regionalism in Asia Pacific and Latin America: a survey of the literature

Abstract Both in Asia Pacific and Latin America, considerable confusion and ambiguity surround the notion of 'open Regionalism' that question its relevance for practical purposes. Chapter I will examine various interpretations and applications of the concept and study under what circumstances the two elements 'open' and 'regionalism' come into contradiction. The chapter first put to provide some precision on the relationship that may exist between Open Regionalism and regional integration, and then it inquires of under what conditions regionalism can be a 'st…

Trade reforms and trade patterns in Latin America

Summary The relationship between trade and economic growth is nuclear to the literature of economic development. Due to the importance of the external sector to developing countries, most development models have trade regimes and the related system of incentives as central determinants of economic performance. Also, there exists an extensive empirical literature on exports and growth with mixed results. Many studies find evidence of association between exports or exports growth and economic growth although the direction of the causality has not yet been clearly established. Moreover, other stu…

Comparative analysis of regionalism in Latin America and Asia-Pacific

Abstract The growing participation of developing countries in multilateral trade liberalization, as well as the boom of free trade agreements that grant exclusive preferences to its members, are both closely related to what has been denominated as 'open regionalism'. Additionally, this regionalism is associated with a process of 'deep integration' that transcends free trade issues. The concepts of 'deep regionalism' and 'open regionalism' do not have a precise definition and rather refer to a range of strategic decisions which governments might resort to…

Trade liberalization and industrial pollution in Brazil

Abstract This paper attempts to estimate the effect of trade liberalization on the industrial structure and pattern of pollution emissions in Brazil. An input-output approach is used to estimate the value of production and potential pollution intensity estimates are undertaken using the industrial pollution projection system. We find that the aggregate intensity of pollutant emission has decreased for the whole industrial sector, but for the export sector, the pollution intensity has been increasing after trade liberalization.…

América Latina y las crisis