IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/zbw/ipewps/341098.html

Redefining global trade patterns: BRICS, G7, and technological trade in Latin America

Author

Listed:
  • Silva Neira, Ignacio
  • Pédussel Wu, Jennifer

Abstract

In 2024, new members joined the original BRICS countries, reinforcing their aspirations as a relevant global actor. This study examines Latin American countries' export structures orientation towards BRICS versus G7 markets. Using a unique dataset and a structural gravity model, we estimate the determinants of export intensity with a focus on the technological content of traded goods and assess whether integration with these two blocs offers distinct pathways for upgrading into higher-value segments of trade. Our findings reveal persistent structural constraints: while both blocs demand resource-intensive exports from Latin America, opportunities to expand midand high-tech exports remain limited. Results suggest that R&D activities and domestic technological capacities do not translate into greater high-tech export performance, highlighting structural difficulties of Latin American economies moving up the value chain and that global trade remains shaped more by the nature of demand in destination markets than by technology adoption at home.

Suggested Citation

  • Silva Neira, Ignacio & Pédussel Wu, Jennifer, 2026. "Redefining global trade patterns: BRICS, G7, and technological trade in Latin America," IPE Working Papers 269/2026, Berlin School of Economics and Law, Institute for International Political Economy (IPE).
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:ipewps:341098
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/341098/1/1970764392.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Shinyekwa, Isaac M.B. & Lakuma, Paul Corti & Munu, Martin Luther, . "Leveraging Innovation to Increase Intra-COMESA Trade," African Journal of Economic Review, African Journal of Economic Review, vol. 10(01).
    2. Marc J. Melitz & Stephen J. Redding, 2021. "Trade and innovation," CEP Discussion Papers dp1777, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    3. James E. Anderson & Eric van Wincoop, 2003. "Gravity with Gravitas: A Solution to the Border Puzzle," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 93(1), pages 170-192, March.
    4. Pédussel Wu, Jennifer & Banach, Clark N. & Goulas, Sofoklis & Silva Neira, Ignacio, 2024. "Building BLOCS and stepping stones: Combined data for international economic and policy analysis," IPE Working Papers 239/2024, Berlin School of Economics and Law, Institute for International Political Economy (IPE).
    5. Krugman, Paul, 1980. "Scale Economies, Product Differentiation, and the Pattern of Trade," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 70(5), pages 950-959, December.
    6. Fagerberg, Jan, 1988. "International Competitiveness," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 98(391), pages 355-374, June.
    7. Ricardo Hausmann & Jason Hwang & Dani Rodrik, 2007. "What you export matters," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 12(1), pages 1-25, March.
    8. Lall, Sanjaya & Weiss, John & Zhang, Jinkang, 2006. "The "sophistication" of exports: A new trade measure," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 34(2), pages 222-237, February.
    9. Ufuk Akcigit & Marc Melitz, 2021. "International Trade and Innovation," NBER Working Papers 29611, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    10. Cimoli, Mario & Dosi, Giovanni & Stiglitz, Joseph E. (ed.), 2009. "Industrial Policy and Development: The Political Economy of Capabilities Accumulation," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199235278.
    11. Krugman, Paul R., 1979. "Increasing returns, monopolistic competition, and international trade," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 9(4), pages 469-479, November.
    12. Giovanni Dosi & Keith Pavitt & Luc Soete, 1990. "The Economics of Technical Change and International Trade," LEM Book Series, Laboratory of Economics and Management (LEM), Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy, number dosietal-1990.
    13. Katharine Wakelin, 1998. "The role of innovation in bilateral OECD trade performance," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 30(10), pages 1335-1346.
    14. Krugman, Paul, 1991. "Increasing Returns and Economic Geography," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 99(3), pages 483-499, June.
    15. Martin Guzman & Joseph E Stiglitz, 2024. "Post-neoliberal globalization: international trade rules for global prosperity," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 40(2), pages 282-306.
    16. Dosi, Giovanni & Grazzi, Marco & Moschella, Daniele, 2015. "Technology and costs in international competitiveness: From countries and sectors to firms," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(10), pages 1795-1814.
    17. Chen, Natalie & Novy, Dennis, 2011. "Gravity, trade integration, and heterogeneity across industries," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 85(2), pages 206-221.
    18. Marc J. Melitz, 2003. "The Impact of Trade on Intra-Industry Reallocations and Aggregate Industry Productivity," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 71(6), pages 1695-1725, November.
    19. Fagerberg, Jan, 1988. "International Competitiveness," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 98(391), pages 355-374, June.
    20. Réka Juhász & Nathan Lane & Dani Rodrik, 2024. "The New Economics of Industrial Policy," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 16(1), pages 213-242, August.
    21. Hausmann, Ricardo & Rodrik, Dani, 2003. "Economic development as self-discovery," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(2), pages 603-633, December.
    22. Andreoni, Antonio & Chang, Ha-Joon, 2019. "The political economy of industrial policy: Structural interdependencies, policy alignment and conflict management," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 136-150.
    23. Han, Ying & Sun, Liwen, 2024. "Frontier technology readiness and mineral resources utilization effect on load capacity factor: Mediating function of fintech indicators," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    24. Atkinson, Anthony B & Stiglitz, Joseph E, 1969. "A New View of Technological Change," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 79(315), pages 573-578, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Dosi, Giovanni & Grazzi, Marco & Moschella, Daniele, 2015. "Technology and costs in international competitiveness: From countries and sectors to firms," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(10), pages 1795-1814.
    2. Magdalena Olczyk, 2016. "A systematic retrieval of international competitiveness literature: a bibliometric study," Eurasian Economic Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 6(3), pages 429-457, December.
    3. Marco Grazzi & Nanditha Mathew & Daniele Moschella, 2021. "Making one’s own way: jumping ahead in the capability space and exporting among Indian firms," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 31(3), pages 931-957, July.
    4. Dario Guarascio & Mario Pianta & Francesco Bogliacino, 2017. "Export, R&D and New Products: A Model and a Test on European Industries," Economic Complexity and Evolution, in: Andreas Pyka & Uwe Cantner (ed.), Foundations of Economic Change, pages 393-432, Springer.
    5. Lazzarini, Sérgio G., 2012. "Strategizing by the Government: Industrial Policy and Sustainable Competitive Advantage," Insper Working Papers wpe_289, Insper Working Paper, Insper Instituto de Ensino e Pesquisa.
    6. de Rassenfosse, Gaétan & Grazzi, Marco & Moschella, Daniele & Pellegrino, Gabriele, 2022. "International patent protection and trade: Transaction-level evidence," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 147(C).
    7. Francesco Lamperti & Franco Malerba & Roberto Mavilia & Giorgio Tripodi, 2019. "Does the Position in the Inter-sectoral Knowledge Space affect the International Competitiveness of Industries?," LEM Papers Series 2019/23, Laboratory of Economics and Management (LEM), Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy.
    8. Sergio G. Lazzarini, 2012. "Strategizing by the Government: Industrial Policy and Sustainable Competitive Advantage," Business and Economics Working Papers 148, Unidade de Negocios e Economia, Insper.
    9. Wim Naudé & Martin Cameron, 2021. "Export-Led Growth after COVID-19: The Case of Portugal," Notas Económicas, Faculty of Economics, University of Coimbra, issue 52, pages 7-53, July.
    10. Andre Nassif & Carmem Aparecida Feijo & Eliane Araújo, 2016. "Structural change, catching up and falling behind in the BRICS: A comparative analysis based on trade pattern and Thirlwall’s Law," PSL Quarterly Review, Economia civile, vol. 69(279), pages 373-421.
    11. Dario Guarascio & Mario Pianta & Matteo Lucchese & Francesco Bogliacino, 2015. "Business cycles, technology and exports," Economia Politica: Journal of Analytical and Institutional Economics, Springer;Fondazione Edison, vol. 32(2), pages 167-200, August.
    12. Armando Garcia Pires, 2012. "International trade and competitiveness," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 50(3), pages 727-763, August.
    13. Xiong, Tingting, 2023. "The effect of technological intensity on international trade," International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 176(C).
    14. Robert A. Blecker, 2022. "New advances and controversies in the framework of balance‐of‐payments‐constrained growth," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(2), pages 429-467, April.
    15. Chen Liu, 2017. "International Competitiveness and the Fourth Industrial Revolution," Entrepreneurial Business and Economics Review, Centre for Strategic and International Entrepreneurship at the Cracow University of Economics., vol. 5(4), pages 111-133.
    16. Lectard, Pauline & Rougier, Eric, 2018. "Can Developing Countries Gain from Defying Comparative Advantage? Distance to Comparative Advantage, Export Diversification and Sophistication, and the Dynamics of Specialization," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 90-110.
    17. Mulatu, Abay, 2016. "On the concept of 'competitiveness' and its usefulness for policy," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 50-62.
    18. Gianluca Cafiso, 2015. "Sectoral trade freeness and agglomeration in the EU: an empirical test approach," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 48(2), pages 779-805, March.
    19. Claudius Gräbner & Philipp Heimberger & Jakob Kapeller & Bernhard Schütz, 2017. "Is Europe Disintegrating? Macroeconomic Divergence, Structural Polarisation, Trade and Fragility," wiiw Working Papers 136, The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies, wiiw.
    20. Hillberry, Russell & Hummels, David, 2013. "Trade Elasticity Parameters for a Computable General Equilibrium Model," Handbook of Computable General Equilibrium Modeling, in: Peter B. Dixon & Dale Jorgenson (ed.), Handbook of Computable General Equilibrium Modeling, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 0, pages 1213-1269, Elsevier.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • F14 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Empirical Studies of Trade
    • F53 - International Economics - - International Relations, National Security, and International Political Economy - - - International Agreements and Observance; International Organizations
    • F61 - International Economics - - Economic Impacts of Globalization - - - Microeconomic Impacts
    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes
    • O38 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Government Policy

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:zbw:ipewps:341098. 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.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with 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: ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/iphwrde.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.