Most microeconometric studies available for LAC have focused on measuring the direct impact of trade on plant productivity leaving aside other effects that arise through the market selection process. Additionally, most studies have focused on tariff barriers as the only obstacle to international...

An increasing body of evidence indicates that an important share of aggregate productivity growth, in both developed and developing countries, arises from the reallocation of resources across plants of different productivity levels. New trade models with heterogeneous firms (Bernard et al., 2003;...

A growing number of studies that look at the relationship between innovation and exports find that more innovation tends to allow firms to export more. But very little is known about the heterogeneous impacts of innovation on exports. Since innovation is not a costless activity, it is important...

What can be said of Latin America and the Caribbean's experiment with regional integration? Did it live up to the expectations? What does this experience say about the regional integration agenda moving forward? Do the tectonic changes undergone by the world economy in the last quarter of a...

Driven by declining import tariffs, poor infrastructure and increasing specialization in transport-intensive goods, transport costs are arguably today’s most formidable obstacles to trade in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). However, little knowledge is available on their trade impacts in...

In the last decade, the economic performance of Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) were radically transformed by the emergence of China--a fast growing, immensely populous and resource-scarce economy--which has brought both opportunities and challenges for all countries in the region. While...

Brazil’s trade and industrial policies in the last decade has taken an increasingly sharp turn towards boosting and protecting the local manufacturing industry, particular after the 2008 financial crisis. This paper reviews these policies and their initial results and argues that, while they...

We investigate whether greater microeconomic flexibility facilitates the process of creative destruction in the context of new trade models with heterogeneous firms (Bernard et al., 2003 and Melitz, 2003). In these models, freer trade increases aggregate productivity because high-efficiency...

This paper explores the dynamics of convergence in Latin American countries and asks whether there are tendencies for converging to different clubs. The analysis shows clear differences between two groups: a large group of low-to-middle income countries and a small group of rich ountries. The...

The literature examining the effects of domestic transport costs on trade flows is scarce. The few studies available rely mostly on distance-based measures as proxies of transport costs which impede analyzing the trade impacts of transport-infrastructure improvements, a critical aspect in...