Introduction: ways of living, ways of knowing -- From scramblers for fruit to banana empire, 1870-1930 -- Tropical vexations -- Corporate welfarism meets the tropics -- Wandering foci of infection -- Becoming banana cowboys -- Serving science on the side -- Conclusion

This paper uses an augmented gravity trade model to examine the impact of Chinese exports to the United States on Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) exports to the same market over the last two decades. The analysis relies on a sample of 33 LAC countries and trade data disaggregated to the...