This Technical Note provides an assessment of Belize's trade sector and offers some policy options. Major constraints are related to a limited export basket and concentrated destination markets, high tariff levels with high dispersion, conservative trade agenda, weak institutional capacity,...

In this paper, we use a panel approach to study population growth in major cities around the world. We find that major cities grow faster in relatively backward economies and in more volatile, faster-growing economies. We also find that the effects of trade policy on the growth of major cities...

This paper examines the impact of the recent wave of trade liberalization and economic reform on employment. Four alternative measures of openness and four measures of the real exchange rate are used to measure the impact of trade reforms on manufacturing and economy-wide employment. Across a...

During the past decade, structural polices in the region have been aimed increasingly at improving economic efficiency and reducing government interference in economic decisions. The effects of this shift have not yet been accurately evaluated due to the lack of systematic measurements of the...

El objetivo de este documento es evaluar las políticas industriales que son importantes para América Latina en la actualidad. La primera sección introduce el tema, mientras que la segunda sección enumera definiciones pasadas de políticas industriales y su origen. La tercera sección se...

This document touches on issues ranging from the EU rationale for FTA, the EU preference for region to region deals, the state of play for the region to region FTA negotiations, the new generation of FTAs, and the FTAs main objectives and provisions.

This note contains a brief overview of the EU's main regional policy mechanisms illustrating the wide scope of measures used and the objectives being targeted to support a balanced intra-EU development.

This paper is an attempt to clarify some of the key issues on trade and environment in the forestry sector. The two main emerging issues in the international trade of forest products within Latin America and the Caribbean to be studied are: 1) implications of the removal of trade barriers for...

Economists are trained to think about trade policy reform in terms of changes in the levels of tariffs and quantitative restrictions and the shifts in relative prices brought about by these alterations.

This presentation argues that trade policy in the region has been too focused on removing tariffs, to the detriment of trade facilitation, particularly in transportation. It explores the impact of transport costs on trade in Latin America and the Caribbean, and argues that transport costs have...