IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/idb/intalp/1458.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Regional integration : what in it for CARICOM ?

Author

Listed:
  • Mauricio Mesquita Moreira

    (Instituto para la Integración de América Latina y el Caribe, INTAL)

  • Eduardo Mendoza

    (Instituto para la Integración de América Latina y el Caribe, INTAL)

Abstract

La integración política y económica se ha constituido en un tema neurálgico de la agenda caribeña. Este trabajo analiza literatura sobre comercio, crecimiento y acuerdos regionales para discutir sobre la motivación que subyace en la región del Caribe por la integración, los resultados obtenidos hasta ahora y con qué cuentan a futuro. Se analiza con la ayuda de la estadística descriptiva, un modelo de crecimiento empírico y un modelo gravitacional que establecen que los beneficios tradicionales relacionados al comercio que se derivan de la integración regional han estado, y están, destinados a estar limitados debido a (1) el alto grado de apertura de los países; (2) el tamaño limitado del mercado "común" agrandado; y (3) la dotación factorial relativamente similar de los países. El documento también señala que las ganancias en el área de "no comerciables" - debido a las economías de escala y que no se pueden mitigar por medio del comercio y la apertura - pueden ser sustanciales = Economic and political integration have been a perennial and neuralgic issue in the Caribbean agenda. This paper draws on the literature on trade, growth and regional agreements to discuss the motivation behind the Caribbean drive for integration, the results obtained so far and what is in stock for the future. It argues, with the help of descriptive statistics, an empirical growth model and a gravity model, that the traditional, trade related gains from regional integration have been and are bound to be limited because of (1) the countries' high openness; (2) the limited size of the "common", enlarged market; and (3) the countries' relatively similar factor endowments. It also argues, though, that gains in the area of "non-tradables", due to economies of scale which cannot be mitigated by trade and openness, can be substantial = A integraçao política e econômica tornaram-se uma questao nevrálgica da agenda caribenha. Este trabalho analise a literatura sobre comercio, crescimento e acordos regionais para discutir as motivaçoes que determinam a integraçao caribenha, os resultados obtidos ate o momento e, como podem influenciar o futuro. E analisado, com a ajuda de estatísticas, um modelo de crescimento empírico e um modelo gravitacional que mostram que os resultados do comercio foram e estao destinados a serem limitados devido os seguintes motivos: (a) Alto grau de abertura comercial destes países; (b) Tamanho limitado do mercado comum aumentado pela integraçao ; (c) Dotaçao similar de recursos dos países membros. O trabalho conclui que os benefícios nao comerciais podem ser substanciais

Suggested Citation

  • Mauricio Mesquita Moreira & Eduardo Mendoza, 2007. "Regional integration : what in it for CARICOM ?," INTAL Working Papers 1458, Inter-American Development Bank, INTAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:idb:intalp:1458
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://idbdocs.iadb.org/WSDocs/getDocument.aspx?DOCNUM=35318871
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Holt, Charles A. & Porzio, Megan & Song, Michelle Yingze, 2017. "Price bubbles, gender, and expectations in experimental asset markets," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 72-94.
    2. Juan Carlos Cuestas & Carlyn Ramlogan-Dobson, 2013. "Convergence of Inflationary Shocks: Evidence from the Caribbean," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(9), pages 1229-1243, September.
    3. Juan Carlos Cuestas & Carlyn Dobson, 2011. "Inflation persistence: Implication for a monetary union in the Caribbean," Working Papers 2011017, The University of Sheffield, Department of Economics.
    4. Alain Maurin & Roland Craigwell, 2010. "Are Caribbean Countries Diverging or Converging? Evidence from Spatial Econometrics," Post-Print hal-04052136, HAL.
    5. Eric Pentecost & Paul Turner, 2010. "Demand and Supply Shocks in the Caribbean Economies: Implications for Monetary Union," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(10), pages 1325-1337, October.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    CARIBBEAN COMMUNITY; CARICOM; INTEGRACION REGIONAL; COMERCIO INTRARREGIONAL;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F1 - International Economics - - Trade
    • F15 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Economic Integration
    • F2 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:idb:intalp:1458. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Felipe Herrera Library (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/iadbbus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.