Political risk insurance is an insurance product sold to firms as a means to protect them against some political risks associated with investing abroad. This paper argues that political risk insurance may in fact be a source of political risk. Looking at cases in the Asia-Pacific region, we...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to propose policy suggestions for the financing of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the Asia-Pacific region. Recent literature suggests that lack of capital is the most severe constraint for SME survival and growth. Enabling policymakers to assist...

In 2008 the Ecuadorian government received a report on the legitimacy of the country's sovereign debt from an international audit commission appointed by Ecuador's current president, Rafael Correa. This concluded that much of the debt was tainted by illegality and illegitimacy and consequently...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine whether multinational corporations moving into China have a negative impact on the extent of foreign firms moving into other developing countries in East Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe. Design/methodology/approach – The paper controls...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to deploy an export dependency index to identify the sectors and countries in Latin America which are most exposed to fluctuations in Chinese demand. Bilateral trade between China and Latin America has grown very quickly in the past decade. As a consequence,...

Purpose This paper aims to examine the accuracy of the trade statistics between the People’s Republic of China and 20 Latin American countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico,...

Purpose – This paper aims to focus on the perceived role of clusters in inter‐firm cooperation and social networks. Design/methodology/approach – The study was carried out in a region of Latin America where limited research has been conducted in terms of inter‐firm relationships....

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyse the relationship between infrastructure and total factor productivity (TFP) in the four major Latin American economies: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Mexico. Design/methodology/approach – The authors hypothesise that an increase in...

During the 1950‐1979 period, the governments of Central America often pursued “cheap‐food” policies. A general‐equilibrium model is employed to show how these policies contributed to the resource‐allocation patterns observed in the region during this period. The model also shows how...