This study provides an ex-ante computable general equilibrium (CGE) assessment of the Tripartite Free Trade Agreement between the member states of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa, the East African Community and the Southern African Development Community. The CGE approach...

A comprehensive inventory of bilateral FTAs on a global scale, with sections on Africa and the Middle East, Asia and the Pacific, and Latin America and the Caribbean. It highlights the key points of each agreement, and details planned future developments. Background paper prepared for the...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine: how financial practices are diffused across countries and who are the carriers of diffusion; and to determine why the nature of adoption varies across countries and specific institutional fields and why certain practices are adopted in some...

Purpose – This paper seeks to assess Brazil's growth performance from a long-term perspective. Brazil's growth performance over the past 25 years has been lackluster, and various hypotheses have been advanced to explain Brazil's disappointing growth record. Design/methodology/approach – In...

Tapioca in grown in India for a number of years and its origin is traced back to either Brazil from where it was introduced by Portuguese during the 17th Century or brought from South America in 1840. [Working Paper No. 219]

This study examines the reactions of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) economies to external shocks. By using a structural vector autoregression approach, it measures the impact of three external shocks (monetary, commercial, and financial) in the real, monetary, and fiscal economic...

We investigate in this paper whether income growth has played any role on inequality in all nine young South American democracies during 1970-2007. The results, based on dynamic panel time-series analysis, suggest that income growth has played a progressive role in reducing inequality during the...

Exporting time-sensitive perishable and exotic products is one of few alternatives that producers in less-developed countries have to compete in international markets. While export performance is generally linked to these producers' ability to take advantage of their geographic location and...

The birth of Islam over fourteen centuries ago was a monumental event in human history with an everlasting effect on humanity. For centuries researchers contemplated on the growth and distribution of Muslims throughout the World. The purpose of this manuscript is to present a reliable estimate...

Brazil’s home region has two peculiarities: first, it is essentially fuzzy as its extension and membership have changed overtime; second, regardless of its limits, its inner core has been characterized by a long period of interstate peace. These factors have led to two outcomes: first, high...