The paper analyses the main features of trade agreements covering services concluded between Latin American countries and developed country partners. The General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) is devoted a full section with a view to setting out key analytical parameters for the ensuing approach to individual agreements with the United States, the European Union and Japan. By means of a very detailed comparison across agreements, a typology is established for classifying specific elements with relation to whether they simply mirror GATS provisions (GATS-neutral ), go beyond GATS pr…
For most developing countries, open regionalism has emerged as quite a sensible response to the undergoing turbulent and asymmetric process of economic globalization. Moreover, the successful experience of the countries which are now part of the European Union, has made regional integration an increasingly attractive option for the developing world. Whenever regional integration is intended to go beyond merely a free trade agreement, macroeconomic coordination becomes a key issue. Theoretically, the underlying idea of the macroeconomic coordination is the interdependency between econo…
In March 2010, negotiations aimed at enlarging the Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership Agreement (TPP) were launched. Nine countries from Asia, Oceania and the Americas currently participate in them. The United States, which in practice has assumed a leading role, has stated that this process has the ultimate goal of transforming the TPP in a platform for large-scale trans-Pacific economic integration. It has also expressed that the enlarged TPP should be a high-quality, 21st century agreement. For the current two Latin American participants (Chile and Peru), as well as for…
This survey provides an overview of the macroeconomic performance of countries of the Caribbean Development and Cooperation Committee (CDCC) for the year 2006 and their outlook for 2007. The report consists of three chapters. The first one provides a regional analysis of the main economic indicators from a comparative perspective. The second chapter deals with two selected topics of particular relevance for the economic development of Caribbean countries, namely remittances and migration, and natural resources dependency. The last chapter presents country briefs with the main macroeconomic dev…
AbstractUsing a GTAP CGE model/database, this paper assesses the possible effects of a free trade agreement (FTA); between the MERCOSUR and the European Union (EU);. The study takes into consideration the most important recent free trade agreements signed among the Latin American countries, as well as the latest European Union enlargements. With a 2004+ benchmark base scenario where tariffs were updated by the addition of information on trade agreements just signed by Latin American countries, two different policy simulations are addressed: (i); full liberalization, (ii); liberalization exclu…
Abstract As in other parts of the world, small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Latin America are important generators of employment while contributing to establishing certain social as well as regional 'equilibria' in the development process within the country. However, SMEs in Latin America are much less 'export-oriented'than their East Asian counterparts. SMEs in Latin America tend to produce import substitutes and non tradables while manufactured exports are still produced by large firms in relativelycapital-intensive ways. In contrast, many East Asian SMEs are…
La edición 2008-2009 del Panorama de la inserción internacional de América Latina y el Caribe se divide en tres capítulos. En el capítulo I se analiza la coyuntura económica internacional con una mirada de mediano plazo. Se presta especial atención a las variables que más pueden modificar el escenario global y afectar la inserción internacional de las economías de América Latina y el Caribe. Como ejemplo de los cambios que está generando o acentuando la crisis cabe destacar la creciente importancia de las economías emergentes, con el consiguiente impacto sobre las corrientes comerciales de la…
In this paper we estimate the fiscal implications of the free trade agreement signed between the United States of America and the five Central American countries of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. Of the five possible effects on fiscal revenue (direct, indirect, elasticity, substitution and induced), in this paper we estimate the first three. The fourth effect is most likely negligible, whereas the estimation of the fifth one would be plagued by uncertainty, so we do not attempt it here. We use comparative statics to estimate the impact. We find the adverse …
The objective of this document is to analyse some of the main issues, effects and implications of the FTAA for Caribbean Community (CARICOM) economies. It also considers when relevant and for comparison purposes the cases of non-independent States. The document is divided into seven sections. Following the introduction, the second section describes, albeit briefly, the main issues that are found in the Free Trade Areas literature. The third section introduces the FTAA participants highlighting their economic and social disparities. The fourth section centers on the FTAA underlying principles …
Puerto Rico and Caribbean Community (CARICOM); Caribbean countries share important
common characteristics. They are open economies and while their trade specialization
patterns are heterogenous, historical, institutional and geographical factors have shaped
export and import linkages that are closely tied to those of the United States and Western
Europe.
CARICOM Caribbean economies and Puerto Rico also adopted, early on, a common approach
to development, that of 'industrialisation by invitation'. Its main elements included
fiscal incentives, the attraction of foreign direct investmen…
1. Rasgos generales de la evolución reciente La actividad económica en el Istmo Centroamericano registró en 2005 una expansión igual a la del año anterior (4%), apenas por debajo del promedio de América Latina y el Caribe (4,3%). Excluyendo a Panamá, la tasa de crecimiento se elevó de 3,3% a 3,6%. También fue notable una menor dispersión de las tasas alrededor del promedio. Todos los países se hallan en la fase expansiva del ciclo económico, ya que se cumplieron tres años de incremento del producto interno bruto (PIB) por habitante, después del retroceso ocurrido en el bienio 2001-2002. Si …
Given the risks the world economy is still facing and the ascendancy of Brazil and India as major growth poles of the global economy, government authorities in Latin America and the Caribbean should redouble their efforts to identify and capitalize upon the potential complementarities created by greater integration with the BRICs. In view of the inter-industrial nature of trade between India and Latin America including Brazil, the region should seek to create partnerships between its firms and successful Indian companies, in order to gain access to supply chains that produce more complex, tech…
Abstract
This Manual is part of the teaching material prepared especially for the use of training workshops dealing with techniques for collecting information, country by country, on all measures pertaining to trade in services in the countries of the western hemisphere. The Manual is designed to be updated as the training workshops progress, to take account of the suggestions and improvements that come out of these.
The Manual includes basic background material on quantitative aspects of services trade in the world and in the countries of the hemisphere (Section I);. Next, information is give…
Creative industries have become a new engine of growth and development in the world economy. This dynamic sector, which ranges from traditional arts to multimedia, has been an important driver of innovation and productivity growth. The present study argues that the creative industries can become a pillar for economic diversification and export growth in the Caribbean. The study adds to the developing literature on the creative sector by evaluating export performance in the context of constraints as well as opportunities. The Caribbean creative sector possesses a number of advantages that are r…
Information technologies (ITs) and supply chain management (SCM) are increasingly considered as indispensable tools of competitiveness especially for companies facing excessive global competition, although these companies have not necessarily succeeded in taking full advantage of such cutting-edge technologies and management systems. Their use, especially of international SCMs, is limited to a small number of purchaser-suppliers groups that are formed primarily by transnational corporations (TNCs). The factors impeding a proliferation of SCMs at a global scale include the difficulties that com…
Introduction Trade and development issues have been the focus of economists, policy makers and international organizations for decades. However, environmental concerns have only come to the fore within the last couple of decades largely as a result of the work of scientists on, for example, climate change and loss in biodiversity as well as the lobbying activities of environmental groups, such as Greenpeace. The linking of environment to trade only gained international prominence since the negotiations for the Canada-United States Free Trade Area in the 1980s. However, although enviro…