This essay provides an overview of the role of infrastructure on economic geography in the light of both theoretical and empirical findings. Two main lessons stand out. First, infrastructural improvements affect the geographical distribution of economic activities. Second, even when localized,...

Preferential trade agreements could lead to a reallocation of resources across sectors and countries. Production patterns resulting from North-North regional integration initiatives have been documented in several studies. However, empirical evidence on South-South trade agreements is limited....

It is well known that, despite improvements in recent years, a number of LAC countries' exports still remain below their potential and what would be expected judging from their levels of development. The same holds for their degrees of export diversification (Blyde et al., 2014). In addition,...

This paper examines whether economic integration favors countries' convergence into a common cone of diversification. We analyze the manufacturing specialization patterns for a sample of 19 current and potential European Union countries over the period 1963-1998, and assess the impact of...

Economic integration leads to a reallocation of resources across sectors and space. Location patterns resulting from North-North and North-South regional trade initiatives have been documented in several studies. However, empirical evidence on South-South agreements is rather limited. In this...

Trade policy changes are likely to result in a reallocation of resources across sectors and space. Over the past two decades, Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay have implemented unilateral trade liberalization programs and formed a regional bloc, Mercosur. The effects of these reforms on...

Do trade integration and fiscal competition contribute to shape the economic landscape? The answer is yes. This paper uses a theoretical model and an econometric analysis of Brazilian regional manufacturing employment data over the period 1990-1998 to address this question. Brazil is a natural...

Our knowledge of the trade effects of domestic infrastructure is very limited. The reason is twofold. First, data needed to examine these effects are not readily available. Second, identifying such effects requires properly addressing potential endogeneity problems affecting the relationship...