Latin American Journal of Trade Policy

Women in Foreign Trade Policy: The case of Chile (1990-2022)

Dorotea López Giral, María José Henríquez Uzal — Fri, 01 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Despite the gradual incorporation of women in different spheres of Chilean public policy since 1990, there is not enough research on the different impacts of this. For this reason, this article aims to provide some preliminary conclusions on the number of women, barriers that they face and identified the main topics where they worked in trade negotiations, between 1990 and 2022. The research is oriented to analyze Chilean Free Trade Agreements and at the World Trade Organization, focusing on the Chilean negotiation teams. Some initial findings demonstrate that there has been an increase in the entry of women as negotiators, especially in topics such as trade in services; however few women were appointed as chief negotiators, reflecting a persistent gender gap in the workplace and in decision-making. The research is being carried out on the basis of specialized literature and interviews with qualified informants.

Latin America in the context of Chinese economic growth: the problem of the super elasticity of imports

Damián Paikin, Maximiliano Albornoz — Fri, 01 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000

The China's demand for primary products reopened a debate in Latin America on the valuation of this trade relationship. On the one hand, some analysts see it as a great opportunity to place Latin American products. On the other hand, others have remarked the deindustrialization of exports and the growing the commodities in the basket. In this context, the work intends to contribute a further element to the debate, based on a quantitative analysis through the estimation of the bilateral elasticities of trade between China and three countries of the region, Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay for the period 1997-2019.

This view allows us to understand to what extent this trade favors (or not) the growth of the countries based on an analysis of the impact of the partner's import basket in the face of an increase in national income.

The Treatment of Cultural Services in Central American Countries’ Preferential Trade Agreements

Gilbert Gagné, Cassandre Nycz — Fri, 01 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Cultural products (including goods and services) encompass visual, performing and literary arts, as well as newspapers, magazines, books, films, video and music recordings, radio and television, either in traditional or digital format. To the extent that they reflect the cultural identities of states, their treatment in international trade has been debated as to whether, or the extent to which, they should be exempted from trade obligations. The proliferation of preferential trade agreements and of digital platforms has rendered the debate ever more salient. The article summarizes the provisions on cultural services in Central American countries’ preferential trade agreements and discusses the scope of these provisions, in light of the cultural policy measures involved and states’ ability to pursue cultural policies. The countries considered are those belonging to the Central American Common Market, namely Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama. These countries share some characteristics which make them worth considering in regard to the trade and culture debate. They also vary widely with respect to the number and scope of their commitments and/or exceptions relating to culture within the preferential trade agreements to which they are parties. In turn, such significant variations are primarily attributable to the importance each Central American country attaches to the protection of its cultural sector.

Trade Reforms, Capital Investments and the Feminization of Colombian Manufacturing Industries: 1981-2000

Jairo G Isaza Castro, Barry Reilly — Fri, 01 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000

We exploit a natural experiment provided by the trade liberalization that occurred in Colombia at the beginning of the 1990s to see its possible effects on the gender composition of the workforce across manufacturing industries. To control for the effects of changes in capital technology, our econometric panel data strategy controls for three different types of capital stock per worker (namely, machinery, office equipment and transport equipment) and compares estimates drawn from a variety of instruments. We also control for changes in market competition within different manufacturing industries with the implementation of a concentration index variable in order to measure the degree of market power. Our findings point out that the Colombian manufacturing industries that became more exposed to trade flows increased their share of female employment in a more pronounced way with respect to those that remained less exposed. This effect, however, appears to be stronger in the case of highly skilled workers. As predicted by microeconomic theory, we observe lower female shares of jobs in manufacturing industries with higher levels of industry concentration. Our results are also consistent with the literature that predicts an increasing feminization of employment as a result of a the massification of emerging computer technologies since the end of the 1980s.