Regional Trade Blocks and International Trade: A Comparison Study of Asia and Latin America.

This paper analyzes the major trade blocks in Asia and Latin America and their effects on intra-regional trade flows using annual trade data for the period 1970-2006. The paper uses a gravity model augmented with several sets of dummy variables to estimate the effect of various trade blocks such as the Association for South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), the Central American Common Market (CACM), the Central American-Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR), the Andean Pact or Andean Community (AC), and the Southern Cone Common Market (MERCOSUR) on trade flows within and across membership groupings as well as the effect of trade blocks on members' trade with other Asia-Pacific and Western Hemispheric countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]