| Description |
1 online resource (xxx, 425 pages) : illustrations |
| Series |
Directions in development : Trade |
|
Directions in development (Washington, D.C.). Trade.
|
| Contents |
Getting the most out of Central America's free trade agreements / J. Humberto Lopez, Rashmi Shankar -- The DR-CAFTA and the extensive margin : a firm-level analysis / Ana Cristina Molina, Maurizio Bussolo, Leonardo Iacovone -- Exports, wages, and skills : implications for CAFTA / Irene Brambilla, Lucio Castro, Guido Porto -- Trade and economic growth : evidence on the role of complementarities for the DR-CAFTA countries / Cesar Calderon, Virginia Poggio -- Power integration in Central America : from hope to mirage? / Juan Miguel Cayo -- Supply chain analyses of exports and imports of agricultural products : case studies of Costa Rica, Honduras, and Nicaragua / Raquel Fernandez [and others] -- Logistics challenges in Central America / Jose A. Barbero -- Access to credit and productivity in Central America / Inessa Love, Teresa Molina Millan, Rashmi Shankar -- Are food markets in Central America integrated with international markets? : An analysis of food price transmission in Honduras and Nicaragua / Mario A. De Franco, Diego Arias -- Intellectual property rights and foreign direct investment : lessons for Central America / Walter G. Park -- Trade openness and labor gender gaps / Maurizio Bussolo . [and others] -- Trade liberalization and welfare distribution in Central America / Maurizio Bussolo [and others] -- DR-CAFTA and the environment / Muthukumara Mani, Barbara Cunha |
| Summary |
Peace came accompanied not only by the end to the human drama associated with the conflicts, but also by a significant economic dividend, a much needed development in a region where per capita gross domestic product (GDP) had stagnated between 1970 and 1990 and where two countries (El Salvador and Nicaragua) had been experiencing negative average growth rates for more than two decades. The social dimension of the dismal growth performance is well captured in the poverty rates. According to World Bank statistics, in the first half of the 1990s the average poverty rate in the region was close to 60 percent in countries such as Honduras and Nicaragua; almost three-quarters of the population lived on less than US$4 a day. Several lessons emerge from getting the most out of free trade agreements (FTAs) in Central America, but the author will like to stress three. First, Central America should not take the positive results of signed FTAs as a given. Second, trade promotion needs to be complemented by a strong focus on the poor. In some cases, this focus is because of the challenges brought by additional external competition, which may negatively affect some industries or sectors. Third, is the need for more competitive markets? Although many of us tend to think about the benefits of growth in terms of quantities (that is, more exports, more employment, and increased access to goods) many of the welfare effects of FTAs are transmitted through prices (such as lower prices for imported goods) |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references |
| Notes |
English |
| Subject |
Free trade -- Central America
|
|
Commercial policy
|
|
Free trade
|
|
International economic relations
|
| SUBJECT |
Central America -- Commercial policy
|
|
Central America -- Foreign economic relations
|
| Subject |
Central America
|
| Form |
Electronic book
|
| Author |
Lopez, J. Humberto
|
|
Shankar, Rashmi
|
|
World Bank.
|
| LC no. |
2011017660 |
| ISBN |
9780821387122 |
|
082138712X |
|
9780821387139 |
|
0821387138 |
|
