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Integration & Trade Journal: Volume 15 : No. 33 : July-December, 2011
The Integration & Trade Journal includes articles on the different aspects of integration in Latin America and the Caribbean, on hemispheric integration and, furthermore, on similar processes in other parts of the world. The Journal issued a call for the submission of papers that reviewed regional integration processes in Latin America and the Caribbean. This issue includes a collection of the many papers submitted. The titles include: Why it is Worth Rethinking Latin American Integration?; Financial Cooperation within the Context of South American Integration: Current Balance and Future Challenges; The Relevance of LAIA; The Andean Integration Process: Origins, Transformations and Structures; 20 Years on: The Achievements and Pending Challenges of MERCOSUR; MERCOSUR and the Challenges of its Joint Trade Policy: Achievements and Shortcomings of a Process of Incomplete Communitarization; Increasing the Trade Related Capacity of CARICOM Firms in a Post-Crisis Global Economy: The Role of Standards and Regulations; Caribbean Integration: A Rules of Origin Perspective. There's also a special section on Latin American Trading Blocs: Between Reality and Utopia, and a series of interviews to Patrick Low, Anabel González, Ganeshan Wignaraja, and Alejandro Krell.
Countries
Publication Date
December 01, 2011
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INTAL Connection: No 247: April, 2017
INTAL Connection informs on developments on integration and trade in Latin America and the Caribbean. This issue focuses on the symposium and presentation of the publication of “MERCOSUR Futures: New directions in regional integration”, that includes precise diagnostics of the current situation within the bloc and puts forward creative ideas for moving along a path of sustainable development with options for strengthening integration in the current context.
Countries
Publication Date
March 15, 2017
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INTAL Connection: No 251: Julio, 2017
INTAL Connection informs on developments on integration and trade in Latin America and the Caribbean. This issue focuses on the seminar “MERCOSUR–Pacific Alliance: A Positive Agenda for Integration”, held as part of the Summit of the MERCOSUR and Associated States in Mendoza, Argentina. During the seminar, authorities, representatives from the private sector, and integration experts discussed issues including regional value chains, trade facilitation, and customs cooperation.
Countries
Publication Date
July 23, 2017
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INTAL Monthly Newsletter: No. 188: April, 2012
This document is about Integration Blocs, Active trade policies in MERCOSUR countries in response to international slowdown, 6th Summit of the Americas, 4th Summit of BRICS leaders and IDB-INTAL activities.
Countries
Publication Date
April 01, 2012
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Tax Harmonization and Economic Integration: MERCOSUR
The issue of tax harmonization may come to the fore as part of newer proposals to deepen the economic integration. Under this more favorable assumption, this paper aims at appraising alternative scenarios for tax harmonization in the MERCOSUR and proposing a specific route to be followed. With this goal in mind, the author begins by pointing out the most important differences in the tax systems of the member countries and examining the main challenges they face to harmonize taxation in the region. Also discussed is the experience of the European Union with respect to tax harmonization, and also an appraisal of the implications of tax asymmetries. Lastly, the paper concludes with recommendations for achieving tax harmonization in the region.
Countries
Publication Date
January 01, 2005
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Taxation in the MERCOSUR and Coordination Possibilities
This paper analyzes the evolution and structure of taxation in the Mercosur countries. Specifically, it covers taxes on goods and services, including general excise taxes and excises taxes, and income taxes, both corporate and personal. It also discusses the role of the tax administration and the appellate process, and concludes with suggestions for tax policy coordination among Mercosur countries.
Countries
Publication Date
January 31, 2003
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The New Regionalism in the Americas: The Case of MERCOSUR
This paper takes seriously the recent claim made by Ethier [1998] that the "New Regionalism" reflects the success of the multilateral trading system, not its failure. In fact, the New Regionalism represents a qualitative departure of the old regionalism in several respects, in particular, its development has taken place in a very different international economic environment. Moreover, the traditional Vinerian paradigm is no longer the primary analytical framework for its evaluation. We use this novel approach to analyze the case of one of the most important experiences in regional integration, the formation of the "Mercado Común del Sur" (MERCOSUR). The paper carefully documents the main stylized facts of the development of MERCOSUR arguing that this makes this type of agreement a prime example of the New Regionalism. Then, using a simple Krugman trade model with tariff distortions we show the positive welfare effects on member and non-member countries of these types of agreements. Our conclusions are consistent with Ethier's paper, that is, regionalism can play a key role in expanding and preserving the liberal trade order.
Countries
Publication Date
April 01, 2000
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Deepening integration in MERCOSUR: Dealing with Disparities
Regional integration among asymmetric countries is a hot and burning policy topic worldwide. Deepening Integration in MERCOSUR analyzes the most important issues of economic integration and policy coordination that countries face as they advance towards deeper integration and are urged to address development disparities among partner countries.
Countries
Publication Date
January 01, 2008
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MERCOSUR: Asymmetries and Strengthening of the Customs Union: Options for the Common External Tariff
The enforcement of the MERCOSUR as an imperfect customs union is determined by the existence of a Common External Tariff (CET) which has not been fully applied up to this moment. The smallest countries in the MERCOSUR are more open, more specialized and a larger share of their total trade is intrabloc. Their integration to the MERCOSUR deeply affected their external relations and their output composition. On the contrary, for the largest countries, especially Brazil, their integration to the MERCOSUR has had much less impact on production and trade. The objective of this paper is to assess the effects on each of the MERCOSUR countries of different options for the CET. More precisely, the welfare effects and the impact on economic activities of several options are assessed for each of the MERCOSUR countries, using a computable general equilibrium (CGE) model.
Countries
Publication Date
January 01, 2005
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MERCOSUR: Dilemas and Alternatives for the Trade Agenda
This paper formed part of a Conference "Mercosur: In Search of a New Agenda" held in the Getulio Vargas Foundation in Rio de Janeiro in June 2003. The purpose of the Conference was to was to examine future directions for Mercosur in light of emerging political dynamics pointing to renewed interest in deepening the initiative after a turbulent 1999-2002. The papers and the conference were supported by the Integration and Regional Programs Department of the Inter-American Development Bank through its Special Initiative on Trade and Integration. The Department is grateful for the collaboration of the Foundation and in particular to Professor Renato Flores. The recent deterioration of MERCOSUR internal and external credibility stems from decisions taken by its member countries to face domestic and international conflicting issues arising in the last years. Excess of flexibility to lessen differences, a lack of enthusiasm about the bloc¿s deepening agenda, and of a common vision on the role of the integration project in development strategies for the four member countries, have caused distortion to the original project. The root of these divergences can be traced in macroeconomic policies of larger member countries and in the lack of instruments to cope with different economy sizes and to integrate the asymmetric productive structures of the four countries. The purpose of this work is to evaluate issues within the trade agenda of MERCOSUR, assessing its progress and difficulties, identifying the roots of the problems in the integration process and studying main current dilemmas. On the basis of the diagnoses some proposals are presented to be included in the bloc¿s integration agenda for the next years.
Countries
Publication Date
July 01, 2004
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MERCOSUR-European Free Trade Association Agreement
After two years and ten rounds of discussions, MERCOSUR and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), a trade bloc formed by Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland, concluded in substance the negotiations on a Free Trade Agreement. This deal complements a trade pact MERCOSUR recently signed with the European Union (EU), enhancing preferential relations with the European continent and promoting strategic integration between the two regions.
Countries
Publication Date
September 17, 2019
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MERCOSUR: In search of a New Agenda
MERCOSUR made substantial achievements in a short period. There was a great deal of liberalization; intra-regional trade increased significantly; a certain sense of regional belonging was inculcated among national publics; and the regional project served as a pretext for national adjustments. Inconsistencies nonetheless persisted between the project¿s goals, on the one hand, and its institutions and mechanisms on the other; there have been persistent gaps between rhetorical aims and concrete practices; and by the turn of the present decade various subregional crises seemed to call MERCOSUR¿s relevance into question. Against that background the Inter-American Bank and the Getulio Vargas Foundation organized a seminar in Rio de Janeiro on June 5 and 6, 2003. The meeting brought together a small group of trade and integration specialists to examine the bloc¿s achievements and problems thus far, and to debate possible elements of a new subregional agenda. Full versions of the papers presented at the seminar are available separately in this Working Paper Series. Throughout the various sessions of the event, moreover, a number of issues recurred in different contexts and were debated from different angles. For those reasons, in general terms this report on the seminar attempts neither a comprehensive summary of each paper nor a session-by-session synthesis of the proceedings. Rather, it takes a thematic approach in an effort to demonstrate which issues emerged as particularly significant in the flow of debate, which arguments were accorded the greatest validity, in which area divergences were apparent, and where the grounds for consensus lay. In outlining the debate in this way, every effort has been made to avoid taking individual viewpoints out of context, while including those opinions in the overall thematic structure.
Countries
Publication Date
March 01, 2004
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MERCOSUR's Insertion into a Globalized World
This paper formed part of a Conference "Mercosur: In Search of a New Agenda"; held in the Getulio Vargas Foundation in Rio de Janeiro in June 2003. The purpose of the Conference was to was to examine future directions for Mercosur in light of emerging political dynamics pointing to renewed interest in deepening the initiative after a turbulent 1999-2002. The papers and the conference were supported by the Integration and Regional Programs Department of the Inter-American Development Bank through its Special Initiative on Trade and Integration. The Department is grateful for the collaboration of the Foundation and in particular to Professor Renato Flores. Mr. García Pelufo¿s thesis states that Mercosur will recover under stable conditions simply because its originating reasons and motivations are still current. In view of similar regional and global conditions it is to be expected that the Southern Cone countries will generate the same responses from the previous decade vis à vis similar facts. However, the trauma of recession will leave its consequences. It will probably stimulate the reformulation of an integration model that will contemplate the need to coordinate Mercosur international insertion on a compatible basis, and will take into account the size asymmetry among Mercosur members and the fact that the larger country lacks a currency solid enough to become the reference for the bloc.
Countries
Publication Date
July 01, 2004
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MERCOSUR: Instituciones de gobierno regional, asimetrías e integración profunda
Según se desprende de los objetivos establecidos en el Tratado de Asunción (1991) el Mercado Común del Sur (MERCOSUR) fue concebido como un proceso de integración profunda. Después de una etapa inicial de liberalización del comercio intra-regional de bienes, los Estados Parte adoptarían una política comercial común y establecerían un territorio aduanero unificado. Este artículo analiza los mecanismos de gobierno regional del MERCOSUR desde el punto de vista de su capacidad para promover un proceso de integración profunda. En la segunda sección se examinan los principales elementos que componen la estructura legal e institucional del MERCOSUR, tomando a dichas instituciones como "variables independientes". En la tercera sección se presenta una visión ecléctica sobre algunos factores que ayudan a explicar la adopción de las estructuras de gobierno regional del MERCOSUR, concibiéndolas en este caso como "variables dependientes". Las secciones cuarta y quinta, por su parte, analizan de qué manera las instituciones del MERCOSUR han lidiado con los temas relativos al tratamiento de las asimetrías estructurales y de política, respectivamente. Finalmente, cierra el artículo una última sección de conclusiones en la que se formulan algunas recomendaciones en materia de gobierno regional, partiendo del supuesto de que los Estados Partes del MERCOSUR continúan compartiendo el objetivo de que éste adopte la forma de un proceso de integración profunda.
Countries
Publication Date
January 01, 2005
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MERCOSUR's Institutionalization Agenda: The Challenges of a Project in Crisis
This paper formed part of a Conference "Mercosur: In Search of a New Agenda" held in the Getulio Vargas Foundation in Rio de Janeiro in June 2003. The purpose of the Conference was to was to examine future directions for Mercosur in light of emerging political dynamics pointing to renewed interest in deepening the initiative after a turbulent 1999-2002. The papers and the conference were supported by the Integration and Regional Programs Department of the Inter-American Development Bank through its Special Initiative on Trade and Integration. The Department is grateful for the collaboration of the Foundation and in particular to Professor Renato Flores. This paper is based on the conclusion that MERCOSUR suffers from an "institutional deficit". This deficit is associated to lack of credibility on the project, inefficient rules production system, fragile mechanisms that "oblige" country members to the compliance with agreed rules, and to the impacts, of this group of characteristics, over the "degree of effectiveness" of assumed commitments at the subregional level, and the "level of relevancy" of such commitments for the performance of public and private actors from the member countries. Under this view, to institutionalize does not imply the creation of institutions per se, but rather the strengthening of credibility of a rule production and implementation system at the subregional level: this should be the main objective on the institutionalization agenda of the integration process. A MERCOSUR institutionalization agenda is not only part of a minimalist strategy for the perfecting of the process but also constitutes an "informed" vision of the deep integration process. Above any hypothesis this institutionalization agenda must contemplate three priority areas: (i) rule production system: legislation characteristics, a profile of the decision taking structure and the exchange mechanism between domestic policy formulation and the decision-making processes at the subregional level; (ii) secondly, implementation mechanisms of subregional regulations, that is, "obligation" rules of the member states in relation to the fulfillment of assumed commitments within MERCOSUR and (iii) "the focus" of the rules, i.e. their content.
Countries
Publication Date
December 01, 2003
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MERCOSUR Report No. 1 (1996)
MERCOSUR has become less operational, despite government claims that it will continue to play a leading role in the international insertion strategies of its member countries for some years. The current crisis is clearly far from over. It is important to note that the enormous difficulties that MERCOSUR faces stem not only from changes to the conditions of competition triggered by the devaluation of the Brazilian currency and the fragility of the Argentine economy. A number of more important issues and impasses undoubtedly have come into play to threaten the future of the integration process.
Countries
Publication Date
January 01, 1997
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MERCOSUR Report No. 10 (2004-2005)
The period between the second half of 2004 and the first half of 2005 can be characterized as a timeof convergence in regional macroeconomic trends. The countries of the Southern Common Market(MERCOSUR) saw not only significant economic and trade dynamism in this phase, but also commonpatterns of fiscal and monetary solvency, similar exchange rates with higher parities than those recordedin the previous decade, positive current account balances, and other factors.
Countries
Publication Date
January 02, 2006
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MERCOSUR Report No. 11 (2005-2006)
In the context of a growing world economy, a steady demand for raw materials and a wealth of liquidity, the Southern Common Market (MERCOSUR: Mercado Común del Sur) continues to expand. The macroeconomic indicators reveal a more solid bloc than last year, and growth is combined with lower vulnerability in the external sector, fiscal discipline and inflation at a historic low. Economic expansion in 2006 is estimated to be around 4.9%, similar to 2005 but below the group of emerging countries.
Countries
Publication Date
February 01, 2007
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MERCOSUR Report No. 12 (2006-2007)
In an international context that has started showing signs of increased instability, the pace of global economic growth seems not to have been significantly affected, at least at the time of writing the present report. Growth forecasts for the global economy for this year are only slightly below those for 2006 (5.2% as against 5.4%). World trade continued to expand faster than GDP growth, while foreign direct investment (FDI) flows made up the ground they lost in 2001-2003, approaching the record values of 2000. Although, toward mid-2007, there was serious disruption in the international financial market, the swift, emphatic reactions of the central banks of the United States and Europe are highly likely to contain the more negative effects of this on the dynamics of the world economy. There was also continuous growth in much of the developing world, particularly China.
Countries
Publication Date
February 01, 2008
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MERCOSUR Report No. 13 (2007-2008)
In spite of the international context affected by the financial and credit crisis triggered in the US mortgage market, integration of the Southern Common Market (MERCOSUR) has continued to move forward, mainly in the internal agenda, where member countries reached certain agreements. In the period covered in this report (June 2007 to June 2008), trade volumes grew in an expanding context for the bloc¿s economies. On the external front, the negotiating dynamic has seen less tangible results. The worsening of the international financial crisis in the last quarter of 2008 creates an adverse context for the bloc¿s economies in the coming year. This scenario contemplates a downturn in world growth and a contraction of the main consumer markets, such as the United States, the European Union, and Japan. Below are the main conclusions of this 2007-2008 MERCOSUR Report.
Countries
Publication Date
May 01, 2009
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MERCOSUR Report No. 14 (2008-2009)
The period covered by MERCOSUR Report 14 (July 2008-June 2009) was marked by the international crisis. The inflationary phase of the crisis (August 2007-June 2008) fuelled certain expansionary trends in MERCOSUR countries. Once this phase had run its course, MERCOSUR¿s performance began to feel the negative effects of the world economy. As of the fourth quarter of 2008, the collapse of activity levels and global trade, falling commodity prices, and financing difficulties were reflected in recessionary trends within the bloc. However, as of March 2009, there were clear signs of stabilization in the world economy, if not of outright recovery. This marks a shift in the international scenario compared to the previous period.
Countries
Publication Date
March 01, 2010
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