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Casual evidence suggests that multinational companies increasingly look for places with adequate transport and logistic infrastructure to locate affiliates that participate in cross-border production sharing. Yet, there are no systematic empirical analyses examining how logistic infrastructure interacts with the location decisions made by multinationals. Most studies on the determinants of FDI address the issue of transportation-logistics by examining the impact of distance on the relevant outcome, but distance does not capture by itself the quality of the logistic systems in place. We overcome this shortcoming in the literature by embedding indicators of infrastructure into an empirical framework that examines whether countries with adequate logistic systems attract more vertical FDI and particularly in industries that are more dependent on logistic services. We find that logistic infrastructure positively impacts vertical FDI in addition to the impact typically found on distance. A change from the first quartile to the third quartile of the distribution of logistic infrastructure is associated with an average increase in the number of vertically-integrated subsidiaries equivalent to 29%.

In this paper we use manufacturing data on Colombian exports and bank financing to estimate the credit elasticity of exports. The data allows us to construct a supply side instrumental variable for the credit of manufacturers that we use to address a possible reverse causality problem. We find that access to credit produces a significant increase in the revenue of exporters, explained by the positive effect of credit on the trade margins. Likewise, we find that across manufacturers, the impact of credit on the margins varies by firm size. Medium-sized manufacturers use credit to increase their market reach, market penetration and product mix. The largest manufacturers use credit to increase their market reach, while the smallest manufacturers use it to expand their product mix.

The launch of negotiations over the Pacific Alliance (PA) in 2011 gave new life to regional integration in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). With more pragmatic, market-oriented expectations and a more functional architecture than prior agreements, the PA offers a clear way out of the predicaments currently being faced by other integration initiatives in the region. It has broken new ground by embracing issues that have traditionally been neglected by trade negotiations, even when the data suggested that these issues should be contemplated. This has been the case, for instance, with transport costs, which have long overtaken tariffs to become the most important obstacle to trade in the region. PA leaders have been quick to move beyond declarations of intent and have set up a fund to address the PA's most pressing infrastructure needs.

This document contains the appendices to the study "Infrastructure and Export Performance in the Pacific Alliance". It includes: a) Theoretical Setup, b) Estimation Strategy, c) Transport Costs, d) Estimation Results, e) Selected Projects, f) Simulations, and g) Regional Groupings.

Exporters differ considerably in terms of export-market participation over time and employment size. But this marked diversity among exporters is not reflected in their workforce composition regarding commonly observed worker skills or occupations. Using Brazilian linked employer-employee data, we turn to a typically unknown worker characteristic: a worker's prior experience at other exporters. We show that expected export status, predicted with current destination-country trade instruments, leads firms to prepare their workforce by hiring workers from other exporters. Hiring away exporter workers is associated with both a wider subsequent reach of destinations and a deeper market penetration at the poaching firm, but only with reduced market penetration at the firm losing the worker. This evidence is consistent with the hypothesis that expected export-market access exerts a labor demand shock, for which exporters actively prepare with selective hiring, and with the idea that a few key workers affect a firm's competitive advantage.

Exporters differ considerably in terms of export-market participation over time and employment size. But this marked diversity among exporters is not reflected in their workforce composition regarding commonly observed worker skills or occupations. Using Brazilian linked employer-employee data, we turn to a typically unknown worker characteristic: a worker's prior experience at other exporters. We show that expected export status, predicted with current destination-country trade instruments, leads firms to prepare their workforce by hiring workers from other exporters. Hiring away exporter workers is associated with both a wider subsequent reach of destinations and a deeper market penetration at the poaching firm, but only with reduced market penetration at the firm losing the worker. This evidence is consistent with the hypothesis that expected export-market access exerts a labor demand shock, for which exporters actively prepare with selective hiring, and with the idea that a few key workers affect a firm's competitive advantage.

Hasta que punto son sensibles las exportaciones latinoamericanas al impacto de la competencia china en los Estados Unidos, su principal mercado? Este capitulo calcula las elasticidades en la sustitucion de importaciones estadounidenses y las utiliza para estimar los cambios en la cuota de mercado de America Latina y China en los Estados Unidos teniendo en cuenta tres escenarios: una apreciacion sustancial de la divisa china, la plena liberalizacion comercial a nivel regional en America y la total eliminacion de los cupos de importacion para los productos textiles que entran en los Estados Unidos. Los dos primeros escenarios de cambio politico internacional beneficiarian a las exportaciones latinoamericanas hacia el mercado estadounidense, a diferencia del tercero. Sin embargo, los tres efectos no son tan trascendentales como cabria imaginar en un inicio. Los eventos externos no son suficientes para compensar el balance comercial relativamente pobre de America Latina en relacion con China. Los autores sugieren que se preste atencion a politicas que podrian impulsar la productividad en la region.

This paper estimates the elasticity of substitution of U.S. imports using detailed trade data over the 1990-2003 period. The authors use a two-stage least squares framework in order to identify the elasticity parameter of interest. The authors use the elasticity estimates to assess the extent to which Latin American and Chinese goods compete in the U.S. market by providing forecasts of how alternative policy scenarios may affect exports to the United States. The analysis considers the following scenarios: (i) currency revaluation in China; (ii) elimination of U.S. tariffs on Latin American exports under a hemispheric free trade agreement; and (iii) the elimination of quotas on apparel and textile exports under the Multi-Fiber Agreement. The findings show that a 20-percent appreciation of the renminbi reduces Chinese exports to the United States by a fifth, although since other regions increase sales to that market (0.5 percent for Latin America), U.S. imports decline by only 1.7 percent. Hemispheric free trade would increase Latin America's exports to the United States by around 3 percent. The removal of the quotas would lead to a sharp increase in Chinese sales to the United States (40 percent), but Latin America would see its share of the U.S. market decline by around 2 percent (2.5 percentage points). China's gains would come mainly at the expense of other regions of the world.

This paper estimates the elasticity of substitution of U.S. imports using detailed trade data over the 1990-2003 period. The authors use a two-stage least squares framework in order to identify the elasticity parameter of interest. The authors use the elasticity estimates to assess the extent to which Latin American and Chinese goods compete in the U.S. market by providing forecasts of how alternative policy scenarios may affect exports to the United States. The analysis considers the following scenarios: (i) currency revaluation in China; (ii) elimination of U.S. tariffs on Latin American exports under a hemispheric free trade agreement; and (iii) the elimination of quotas on apparel and textile exports under the Multi-Fiber Agreement. The findings show that a 20-percent appreciation of the renminbi reduces Chinese exports to the United States by a fifth, although since other regions increase sales to that market (0.5 percent for Latin America), U.S. imports decline by only 1.7 percent. Hemispheric free trade would increase Latin America's exports to the United States by around 3 percent. The removal of the quotas would lead to a sharp increase in Chinese sales to the United States (40 percent), but Latin America would see its share of the U.S. market decline by around 2 percent (2.5 percentage points). China's gains would come mainly at the expense of other regions of the world.

How sensitive are Latin American exports to the impact of Chinese competition in the United States, their main market? This chapter calculates US import-substitution elasticities and uses them to estimate changes in Latin American and Chinese market shares under three scenarios: a substantial appreciation of the Chinese currency, regional free trade in the Americas and full elimination of US import quotas on textiles and apparel. The first two of these international policy shifts would benefit Latin American exports in US markets, and the third would not, but all three effects are not as large as one might imagine. External events cannot suffice to redress Latin America’s relatively poor trade performance vis-a-vis China. The authors suggest attention throughout the region to policies that could boost its productivity performance.

This chapter presents the results of research on the impact of Escuela Nueva methodologies on the peaceful social interaction of children. Three main research questions are addressed. First, does the Escuela Nueva schooling methodology have an impact on the peaceful social interaction of children? Second, do the perceptions and behaviour of families and the community change as a result of the influence of schooling methodologies? Third, what f long-term impact does Escuela Nueva have on selected aspects of democratic and peaceful social interaction behaviours? The chapter will address these questions in three stages. First, it briefly describes Escuela Nueva N methodologies and reviews previous evaluations of cognitive and behavioural achievements. Second, it describes methods, data bases and statistical procedures used to address the research questions. Third, it presents the results of the analyses in relation to the three main questions. As part of the analysis of the first question, the impact of external levels of violence on the peaceful social interaction of children was evaluated. The relevance of this research for a country like Colombia, where it was applied, stems from the fact that it has one of the highest rates of homicide in the world. The analysis of the second question goes beyond the debate about the relative importance of family and school in the formation of the social behaviour of children, into showing that these are not independent causal entities. For that,it develops in some detail various relationships between schooling models and family behaviour. The third question is a first approximation to a comparative evaluation of the long-term effects of primary school methodologies on young adults.

This paper estimates household consumption levels reached after analyzing the effect of eight VAT structures. The exercise used the Colombian Income and Consumption Survey of 1994. After analyzing the effects of the eight VAT structures over consumption, we find that the 2000 VAT structure is neutral. Food consumption trend is always regressive regardless of the tax rate, but this effect can be neutralized by the progressive consumption trend of other goods.

Gas-liquid chromatography was performed on 233 positive blood cultures and findings were compared with culture results. Obligate anaerobic bacteria were recovered from 78 out of 79 blood cultures containing butyric or iso-valeric acids, or both; from 28 out of 69 blood cultures containing succinic acid; and from only one out of 41 blood cultures containing succinic but not butyric or iso-valeric acid. Good correlations (88%) were found for the recovery of anaerobic bacteria and the detection of butyric and/or iso-valeric acids. Detecting volatile fatty acids by gas-liquid chromatography performed on blood cultures at the first signs of growth can therefore provide an early and reliable indication of the presence of anaerobic bacteria.

Trade, investment, and financial relationships between developing regions are deepening. There is no better example than the relationship between Asia and the Pacific on one hand, and Latin America and the Caribbean on the other. To capitalize on the vast potential for interregional cooperation, we have undertaken a special joint study examining how to bolster the relationship between Asia and Latin America, and enhance the catalytic role of our respective regional development banks. Shaping the Future of the Asia-Latin America and the Caribbean Relationship analyzes the economic ties between our two rapidly growing regions, how to remove existing trade and investment barriers, and how to support greater South-South cooperation.Abstract: El comercio, la inversión y los vínculos financieros entre las regiones en desarrollo se están profundizando. El mejor ejemplo de esto es la relación actual entre Asia y el Pacífico y América Latina y el Caribe (ALC). A fin de aprovechar las enormes posibilidades para la cooperación interregional, decidimos llevar a cabo un estudio conjunto destinado a examinar posibles estrategias para reforzar esta relación, y afianzar la función catalizadora que desempeñan sus respectivos bancos regionales de desarrollo. En este documento se analizan los vínculos económicos existentes entre estas dos regiones de rápido crecimiento, así como también la forma de eliminar las barreras al comercio y a la inversión, y sustentar la cooperación Sur-Sur.

El surgimiento de las cadenas globales de valor está permitiendo que las naciones que se vinculan a ellas se industrialicen a un ritmo mucho más acelerado que el que necesitarían desarrollando cadenas domésticas completas. Además de crear oportunidades para diversificar la producción y el comercio, la participación en estas cadenas globales permite que los países capturen algunas de las ganancias asociadas al bien manufacturado en la cadena sin tener que poseer habilidades en todas sus etapas de producción. A pesar de estos potenciales beneficios, muy poco países en América Latina y el Caribe están aprovechando estas nuevas tendencias en la organización internacional de la producción. Este reporte presenta inicialmente un panorama muy completo del nivel de participación de los países de la región en las cadenas globales de valor vis à vis otras regiones del mundo. Posteriormente se examinan los principales factores que subyacen a las tasas de participación observadas, para concluir con una serie de propuestas de política.

Trade, investment, and financial relationships between developing regions are deepening. There is no better example than the relationship between Asia and the Pacific on one hand, and Latin America and the Caribbean on the other. To capitalize on the vast potential for interregional cooperation, we have undertaken a special joint study examining how to bolster the relationship between Asia and Latin America, and enhance the catalytic role of our respective regional development banks. Shaping the Future of the Asia-Latin America and the Caribbean Relationship analyzes the economic ties between our two rapidly growing regions, how to remove existing trade and investment barriers, and how to support greater South-South cooperation.