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What Global Integration Can Do for Latin America and the Caribbean
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Trading Promises for Results
What Global Integration Can Do for Latin America and the Caribbean

Edited by

  • Mauricio Mesquita Moreira
  • Ernesto Stein

Related Research

Trade, Productivity, Innovation, and Employment: Lessons from the Impact of Chinese Competition on Manufacturing in Brazil, Aug 2020

Foreign Competition and Innovation in Latin America, Dec 2019

Income Inequality in Mexico and Import Exposure: Estimating the Impacts from the Expenditure Channel, Dec 2019

Innovation in the Global Economy: Opening-Up Latin American Innovation Systems, Dec 2019

The China Shock Impact on Brazil’s Manufacturing Labor Market, Dec 2019

The Heterogeneous Impacts of Import Competition on Mexican Manufacturing Plants, Dec 2019

China Import Competition and El Salvador Manufacturing Firm Performance, Nov 2019

Local Labor Market Effects of NAFTA in Mexico: Evidence from Mexican Commuting Zones, Nov 2019

The Effect of the Chinese Import Competition on El Salvador Labor Market, Nov 2019

Trade and Real Wages of the Rich and Poor: Evidence from Brazil and Mexico, Nov 2019

Training and Labor Adjustment to Trade, Oct 2019

Trade Attitudes in Latin America: Evidence from a Multi-Country Survey Experiment, Apr 2019

Highlights
  • Excessive expectations on the promises of free trade led to disappointment, skepticism and reform fatigue, and in some cases, to policy reversals.
  • Liberalization brought many benefits, including faster growth. Our study finds that a tariff cut accelerates per capita GDP growth. And most Latin Americans favor deeper integration.
  • Some sectors and workers lose with free trade, however, and have incentives to block trade reform. Implementing good trade policies requires a deep understanding of the political economy of trade policy and an adequate institutional architecture for trade policy management.
  • Succesful trade policies also require a complementary agenda to facilitate factor reallocation and protect those who are made worse off, in order to make the most of the opportunities offered by global integration, while mitigating associated risks.
Ensuring that the Gains from Trade are Inclusive and Sustainable
Ensuring that the Gains from Trade are Inclusive and Sustainable

Ideas Matter - Eric Parrado Herrera | Ernesto Stein

After 30 years of trade liberalization, now what?
After 30 years of trade liberalization, now what?

Beyond Borders | Mauricio Mesquita Moreira

The Psychology of Support for Trade
The Psychology of Support for Trade

Ideas Matter - Ernesto Stein | Razvan Vlaicu

 

Latin Americans: On Board with Trade
Latin Americans: On Board with Trade

Beyond Borders - Mauricio Mesquita Moreira | Marisol Rodriguez Chatruc

Events
Nov 25 2019
Launch of the 2019 Development in the Americas Report
1330 New York Ave, Washington, DC

See event details

Trading Promises for Results: What Global Integration Can Do for Latin America and the Caribbean

Thirty years after the region embarked on large-scale liberalization, trade policy could have been expected to become all but irrelevant. Instead, a mismatch between expectations and what could realistically be delivered set the stage for much of the disappointment, skepticism, and fatigue regarding trade policy in the region, particularly in the early 2000s. By setting the bar unrealistically high, governments and analysts made trade policies an easy target for special interests that were hurt by liberalization and for those ideologically opposed to free trade. The most immediate victims were the more tangible growth and welfare gains, whose relevance was lost amid the noise of grandiose visions. Liberalization made most countries better off, on the back of substantive productivity gains. The growth results are also impressive. On the other hand, the employment and inequality outcomes fell short of expectations. Acknowledging these lessons on the limits of trade and investment policies and the need for complementary action is important, but putting together an effective policy agenda for the future involves other challenges—some old, some new—brought on by geopolitical and technological changes. Trade is a hot issue in today’s world, and this book provides informed suggestions on how Latin America and the Caribbean can successfully confront this heat.

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Date:
381 pages
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DOI
  • http://dx.doi.org/10.18235/0001886
News

CNN: La integración global y el crecimiento en Latinoamérica

2019-12-29
https://www.cnn.com/videos/spanish/2019/12/28/integracion-global-crecimiento-ec…

La República: ¿Debemos repensar el libre comercio?

2019-12-23
https://www.larepublica.co/analisis/fabrizio-opertti-2947049/debemos-repensar-e…

America Economía: BID recomienda a gobiernos de A. Latina realizar mayores esfuerzos para afianzar la apertura comercial

2019-11-25
https://www.americaeconomia.com/economia-mercados/comercio/bid-recomienda-gobie…

El observador: Gobiernos deben realizar mayores esfuerzos para afianzar apertura comercial, según BID

2019-11-25
https://www.elobservador.com.uy/nota/gobiernos-deben-realizar-mayores-esfuerzos…

Diario Digital RD: Liberalización comercial ha impulsado las economías de América Latina y el Caribe, según informe BID

2019-11-25
https://diariodigital.com.do/2019/11/25/liberalizacion-comercial-ha-impulsado-l…

Globo: Guedes defende criar estrutura para manter sustentabilidade fiscal

2019-11-25
https://valor.globo.com/brasil/noticia/2019/11/25/guedes-defende-criar-estrutur…

Gestión Digital: BID: 80 % de los ecuatorianos están a favor del comercio internacional

2019-11-26
https://revistagestion.ec/index.php/noticias/bid-80-de-los-ecuatorianos-estan-f…

NexNews: Estudio del BID muestra que 76% de los chilenos está a favor del comercio internacional

2019-11-25
http://portal.nexnews.cl/showN?valor=d17gv

Aristegui Noticias: Economías latinoamericanas se benefician con apertura comercial: BID

2019-11-27
https://aristeguinoticias.com/2711/mexico/economias-latinoamericanas-se-benefic…

El Mundo: Informe del BID: apoyo al comercio en Latinoamérica es frágil e impacta negativamente en optimismo ciudadano

2019-11-26
https://elmundo.sv/informe-del-bid-apoyo-al-comercio-en-latinoamerica-es-fragil…

La Tribuna: ¿Debemos repensar el libre comercio?

2019-12-08
https://www.latribuna.hn/2019/12/08/debemos-repensar-el-libre-comercio/

Martes Financiero: ¿Debemos repensar el libre comercio?

2019-12-16
https://www.martesfinanciero.com/voz-calificada/debemos-repensar-el-libre-comer…

Cronista: El BID recomienda abrir el comercio y usar ventajas del agro y servicios

2019-11-24
https://www.cronista.com/amp/economiapolitica/El-BID-recomienda-abrir-el-comerc…

La Nación: Paraguay puja entre los que más apoyan el comercio internacional

2019-11-25
https://www.lanacion.com.py/negocios_edicion_impresa/2019/11/25/paraguay-puja-e…

La Nación: El BID pide que se mantengan las políticas de apertura al comercio en América Latina

2019-11-25
https://www.lanacion.com.ar/economia/el-bid-pide-que-se-mantengan-las-politicas…
Previous editions
Better Spending for Better Lives

Better Spending for Better Lives

How Latin America and the Caribbean Can Do More with Less

How can the puzzle of larger demands and fiscal strengthening be solved? This edition of the Development in the Americas (DIA) report focuses precisely on this question. The book suggests that the answer is about fiscal efficiency and smart spending rather than the standard solution of across-the-board spending cuts to achieve fiscal sustainability— sometimes at great cost for society. It is about doing more with less.

better

2017

Learning Better: Public policy skills development

Despite governments’ best efforts, many people in Latin America and the Caribbean don’t have the skills they need to thrive. This book looks at what policies work, and don’t work, so that governments can help people learn better and realize their potential throughout their lifetimes.

Ahorrar para desarrollarse

2016

Saving for development: How Latin America and the Caribbean Can Save More and Better

Why should people—and economies—save? The typical answer usually focuses on the need to protect against future shocks, to smooth consumption during hard times, in short, to save for the proverbial rainy day. This book approaches the question from a slightly different angle.

Early years

2015

The Early Years: Child Well-being and the Role of Public Policy

Child well-being matters for both ethical and economic reasons as children who flourish in the early years are more likely to become healthy, productive citizens later in life.

rethinking

2014

Rethinking Productive Development: Sound Policies and Institutions for Economic Transformation

Anemic economic growth in Latin America and the Caribbean is in need of a post-Washington-Consensus policy shot in the arm. Unfortunately, the ghost of industrial policy casts a shadow over all efforts because it has often done more harm than good.

more than revenue

2013

More than Revenue: Taxation as a Development Tool

More than Revenue aims to provide an up-to-date overview of the current state of taxation in the Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) region, its main reform needs, and possible reform strategies that take into account the likely economic, institutional, and political constraints on the reform process.

development

2012

Room for Development: Housing Markets in Latin America and the Caribbean

This edition of the IDB's flagship publication, Development in the Americas, takes an in-depth look at the opportunities countries have to improve urban housing markets and pave the way for solutions that involve the private sector.

connections

2011

Development Connections:Unveiling the Impact of New Information Technologies

Policymakers and academics agree that computers, the Internet, mobile telephones and other information and communication technologies can be beneficial for economic and social development. But how strong is the impact?

productivity

2010

The Age of Productivity: Transforming Economiesfrom the Bottom Up

The book provides tools to ponder productivity growth beyond conventional aggregate analysis, focusing on the extreme heterogeneity of sectors and firms while emphasizing the importance of policies that allow high productivity firms to thrive and expand.

Calidad de vida

2009

Beyond Facts: Understanding Quality of Life

Using an enhanced version of the recently created Gallup World Poll, the Inter-American Development Bank surveyed people from throughout the region and found that perceptions of quality of life are often very different from the reality.

Meet the editors:
Mauricio Mesquita Moreira

Mauricio Mesquita Moreira

Mauricio Mesquita Moreira is Chief Economist and Research Coordinator of the Integration and Trade Sector of the IDB. A native of Brazil, Mauricio holds a Ph.D. in Economics from University College London.

Ernesto Stein

Ernesto Stein

Ernesto Stein is Principal Technical Leader at the IDB Research Department. A native of Argentina, Ernesto holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of California at Berkeley.