The authors examine the wide-ranging and fundamental trade reforms undertaken in 16 Latin American and Caribbean countries in the 1980s. These reforms have dramatically altered the nature of the trade regimes in these countries and are particularly significant because they were undertaken during...

The author examines the main distinction between trade liberalization under the General Agreement on Tariffs andTrade (GATT) and under regional trading agreements. Under the GATT, trade liberalization is based on the most-favored-nation principle. Under regional trade agreements, it is based on...

The author examines the relationship between trade policies and macroeconomic adjustment in six Latin American countries: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica and Mexico. For the period 1965-94, the six countries experienced 26 trade policy episodes: 11 tightening, and 15 loosening of...

Latin American countries have not had much experience with competition policy. Restricted trade policies, together with no competition policy, have often resulted in domestic monopolies. Trade liberalization in the 1980s and 1990s has strengthened import competition, but trade policies alone...

Regional integration initiatives have surged in Latin America while many countries have undertaken unilateral trade liberalization, and external market access prospects have improved with the successful conclusion of the Uruguay Round. The author examines the choices faced by one such country:...

As a result of trade reforms in the 1980s and 1990s Latin American and Caribbean countries became more open than at any time since World War II. However, these countries have recently begun to use antidumping measures as the new protection weapon of choice, as other barriers to trade have been...

Fernandes explores Colombian trade policy from 1977-91, a period of substantial variation in protection across industries, to examine whether increased exposure to foreign competition generates plant-level productivity gains. Using a large panel of manufacturing plants, she finds a strong...

The welfare effects of preferential trading agreements, are most directly linked to changes in trade prices - that is, the terms of trade. The authors use a simple strategic pricing game in segmented markets, to measure the effects of MERCOSUR on the pricing of"non-member"exports to the regional...

The methodological problems associated with standard partial equilibrium models may impart a significant bias in their projections of the trade effects of tariff cuts. First, these models fail to account for the price-raising effects of nontariff barriers (NTBs) that shift the supply curve for...

The Uruguay Round agreements on agriculture were intended to move member countries toward a fair and market-oriented agricultural trading system. By progressively reducing domestic government support and export subsidies, converting nontariff barriers to tariffs, and reducing barriers to market...