TRADE LIBERALIZATION AND STRUCTURAL CHANGES IN LATIN AMERICA

Wide disparities in growth potential and performance and hence, presumably an unequal sharing of benefits of trade liberalization, are among the most pressing issues facing the future course of economic integration in South America. The customary indices of changes in intra-zonal trade among members of a preferential trade area do not adequately capture these tensions. This paper develops a framework based on differential rates of growth for analyzing the relative changes in production structure and "per capita" income in each member country "vis-à-vis" the corresponding set of free-trading partners. The empirical investigation is carried out for member countries of the Latin American Free Trade Association (LAFTA) and of the Central American Common Market (CACM) for the period of their existence. Copyright 1972 BPL.