Regional integration and productivity : the experiences of Brazil and Mexico (Working Paper ITD = Documento de Trabajo ITD ; n. 14)

Regional integration and productivity : the experiences of Brazil and Mexico (Working Paper ITD = Documento de Trabajo ITD ; n. 14) PDF

Author: Mauricio Mesquita Moreira

Publisher: BID-INTAL

Published: 2015

Total Pages: 59

ISBN-13: 9507381546

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

What is the impact of integration on productivity? What are the main channels? Is there anything specific about productivity effects in regional agreements? This paper tries to answer these questions by looking at the experience of Brazil and Mexico. We estimate firm-level productivity and test its causal links with trade and FDI variables. The results suggest strong trade related gains, with import discipline emerging as the dominant effect. The results on learning-by-exporting were mixed, with gains restricted to Brazil's regional and worldwide exports. On FDI, foreign firms appear to have had a positive impact on their buyers and suppliers in Mexico, but in Brazil, the overall impact was statistically insignificant on productivity levels and negative on productivity growth.

Reciprocity in the FTAA: the roles of market access, institutions and negotiating capacity (Working Paper SITI = Documento de Trabajo IECI n. 2)

Reciprocity in the FTAA: the roles of market access, institutions and negotiating capacity (Working Paper SITI = Documento de Trabajo IECI n. 2) PDF

Author: Julio J. Nogués

Publisher: BID-INTAL

Published: 2003

Total Pages: 47

ISBN-13: 9507381554

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

The benefits of the FTAA to Latin American countries will materialize through two channels: improved access to the region's markets, and enhanced growth prospects through the strengthening of basic economic institutions. Furthermore, the importance of these negotiations is heightened by the fact that they are taking place against the failure of the Uruguay Round to liberalize agricultural trade, and the lack of progress in the ongoing negotiations of the Doha Round, Under these conditions, for Latin American countries who are net exporters of different bundles of agricultural products, the FTAA could be the best opportunity for accelerating growth in the region. The analysis includes a discussion of these issues stressing the fact that in order for the reciprocical exchange of concessions agreed in the FTAA to result in an important liberalization of intra-regional trade, Latin American countries will have to negotiate with greater firmness than in the past.