The Visible Hand of China in Latin America
Latin America is looking towards China and Asia -- and China and Asia are looking right back. This is a major shift: for the first time in its history, Latin America can benefit from not one but three major engines of world growth. Until the 1980s, the United States was the region’s major trade partner. In the 1990s, a second growth engine emerged with the European investment boom in Latin America. Now, at the dawn of the new century, the increasing global economic importance of Asia, and in particular China, potentially provides a third engine of growth.
This book describes the opportunities and challenges that Latin American economies will face as Chinese importance in the world economy -- and in Latin America's traditional markets -- continues to grow.
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Competing with the Dragon: Latin American and Chinese Exports to the US Market
OECD Development Centre
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-à-vis China. The authors suggest attention throughout the region to policies that could boost its productivity performance.
Also available in: Spanish
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