Productivity Gap and Regional Integration in Latin America 1980-2019
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.24215/24689912e051Keywords:
economic integration, intraregional trade, efficiency, productivity, assymetriesAbstract
The ideal of Latin American integration had its political origins before its intellectual one. However, while today it has been consolidated as an intellectually desirable project; political progress has only been significant in the construction of overlapping sub-regional groups. Structural asymmetries have been considered as one of the reasons of it. Their impact on integration has been studied extensively; therefore, this paper looks at the opposite effect, i.e. integration on structural asymmetries. After calculating efficiency using DEA and decomposing multifactor productivity using Malmqüist, the results were compared to the evolution of an interdependence indicator for sixteen Latin American economies over the period of 1980-2019. Although the results are inconclusive, the evidence supports the hypothesis of a positive relationship between regional integration and efficiency.
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