Better neighbors : toward a renewal of economic integration in Latin America

Cover -- Half Title -- Title -- Copyright -- Contents -- Foreword -- Acknowledgments -- Abbreviations -- Introduction and Summary of Results -- Even in the age of globalization, geography matters for trade, factor flows, and economic performance -- Regional trade in LAC and in the Americas: International comparison and determinants -- The conceptual arguments for a renewal of open regionalism -- Toward the renewal of OR in the Americas: Past efforts and current challenges -- It takes a competitive region to make a competitive economy -- Notes -- References -- 1. Economic Performance and Geography: Rising and Falling with Our Neighbors -- Introduction -- The geographic clustering of long-term growth spells -- The geography of volatility -- The geographic clustering of economic performance and its relevance for economic integration strategies -- Annex 1A. Classification of regions -- Annex 1B. Identification of structural breaks -- Annex 1C. Identification of economic cycles -- Annex 1D. Variance decomposition using a multilevel factor model -- Notes -- References -- 2. Regional Trade in the Americas: A Stepping-Stone toward Stable Growth? -- Introduction -- Regional trade integration in LAC: International comparison and determinants -- Revisiting the arguments in favor of regional integration -- In search of complementarities between the gains of regional and global integration -- Conclusions -- Annex 2A. Estimating trade flows through gravity equations -- Annex 2B. Benchmarking intraregional trade in regionally traded services -- Notes -- References -- 3. LAC's Trade Policy and Regional Integration -- Introduction -- LAC's tariff treatment of the rest of the world -- LAC's tariff preferences -- Implications: LAC's tariff preferences, intraregional trade, and the challenges ahead -- The role of regional trade preferences as industrial policy.