This paper explores the influence of trader (or cambio) market power in determining the foreign exchange market bid-ask spread. In particular, it presents a theoretical model that incorporates the notion of oligopolistic power into the foreign exchange market. The econometric analysis...

This is the English version of the annotaded presentation given at XI Encuentro Latinoamericano de Usuarios SWIFT (SWIFT users conference), ELUS 2006, “Creciendo en Competitividad”, Santiago de Chile, 3-5 July 2006. Given the importance of financial intermediation for the economy and the...

Central banks can play an important role in facilitating and promoting regional economic and monetary integration. Examples are the European monetary union and a more recent initiative by a group of Asian central banks to boost liquidity in local bond markets in Asia through the “Asian Bond...

This paper focuses on some of the macroeconomic risks that lie ahead for Latin America. The discussion is informed by my work on crises and capital flows and their macroeconomic consequences. The trends and initial conditions that allowed the region to weather the global economic storm of...

Mexico, as other Latin American countries, undertook far-reaching economic reforms in the 1980s and 1990s in a wide array of areas: trade and industrial policy, foreign investment and capital account, privatization of public enterprises and deregulation of economic activities, among others. As a...

This paper develops a brief history of coffee in Colombia identifying the processes of change in the geography and populations. From the eighteenth to the twentieth century, coffee cultivation represented the basis of household income. Changes in rural and urban culture of the nineteenth century...

Since the 1950’s Latin America and the Caribbean have lost relative income share on a consistent basis in relation to the World and the developed countries on average. This paper presents a regional comparative statistical and econometric analysis for 1950-2007 for seven regions in the world,...

We study the existence of structural break in TFP and in several indicators of openness for a sample of 20 Latin American and Caribbean economies for the period 1960-2005. For this purpose, it has been used the test of Zivot and Andrews (1992) on series of TFP computed from a development...

This paper examines the determinants of economic growth in Guatemala, with a particular focus on the schooling level. Results based on an error-correction methodology show a better educated labour force has a positive and significant impact on economic growth. Consistent with micro evidence for...

Cuba’s post-revolutionary economic history was penalized by the twin sets of distortions stemming from its former, artificial trade relations with the CMEA and from the very nature of the state socialist model, let alone the severe costs imposed by the US embargo. Conversely, Cuba’s...