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This article analyzes the behavior of the Economic Fitness indicator as a measure of the international competitiveness of Latin American economies, as well as an indicator of their relationship with per capita income gaps and the Human Development Index (HDI). Positive correlations were found between per capita income gaps and the stagnation of the international competitiveness of Latin American economies, as well as between human development levels and the productive structure, suggesting a causal relationship between human development and competitiveness. This paper also finds that the Economic Fitness indicator fluctuates significantly when estimated using exports in domestic value-added, suggesting that the original estimate may over- or underestimate competitiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Against the backdrop of trade liberalization, economies in Latin America have endeavored to capitalize on their comparative advantages and join global production processes; despite the fact that industrial exports have grown, however, they have had only a modest impact in terms of boosting the product in Latin American economies. The objective of this paper is to determine the influence of industrial exports on the product in six Latin American countries, using the input-output model and the network theory. The hypothesis sets out to prove that out of an economy's total transactions, the spillover effects from the industrial sector exports in each country are more diversified the more the country trades with the United States, even if these effects are weak, due to the low structural articulation in each of them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]