A South American Perspective: Regional versus Global Trade Patterns

This study presents evidence of the increasing regionalization of the international trade of ten South American countries from 1980 to 2001. We found that the regionalization of trade in South America is best described as an increasing trade among Spanish-speaking countries and increasing trade within the two regional agreements: Andean Community and Mercosur. We also find evidence of border erosion in the continent, especially among the Mercosur members. These results are evident in a simple statistical analysis and are also economically significant when tested in a consistent gravity equation that controls for a set of macroeconomic and geographic variables.