wow-inequalities/02-data/intermediate/wos_sample/c9d820f128e9c8c541efc377c79be23d-laens-silvia-and-pe/info.yaml

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2023-09-28 14:46:10 +00:00
abstract: 'Uruguay began liberalizing its economy in the 1970s. The process
continued through the 1990s when the country joined Mercosur. The
reforms were mainly oriented at liberalizing trade and financial flows,
much less was done in terms of privatization and public sector reform.
Uruguay established itself as a regional financial and offshore banking
centre. In the early 1990s, inflation was stabilized on the basis of
high capital inflows and a stabilization policy that used the exchange
rate as a nominal anchor. The ensuing real exchange rate appreciation
harmed export growth with the rest of the world and, along with the
surge in capital inflows, pushed up import demand. Real appreciation of
the exchange rate against Uruguay''s trading partners in Mercosur was
virtually nil and exports benefited from the new set of trade
preferences within the group. This made macroeconomic performance in
Uruguay strongly dependent on the business cycle in Argentina and
Brazil. When these two countries shifted away from a fix on the nominal
exchange rate, starting with the floating of the Brazilian real,
Uruguay''s exports were severely hit pushing the economy into recession.
The recession was deepened with Argentina''s crisis at the turn of the
century. Uruguay''s economic recovery from the sharp decline in the first
half of the 1980s thus lasted until 1998. Employment increased, despite
job losses in agriculture and manufacturing following productivity
growth associated with the opening process. Employment growth was
particularly strong in services. Job shedding in manufacturing was also
associated with a fall-out of many firms in import-competing sectors.
Real labour incomes also increased during this period of growth. Skilled
workers were the main beneficiaries as structural adjustment made
production more skill intensive. Labour income inequality increased, but
overall employment and real wage increases allowed for a visible
reduction in poverty. These trends reversed after 1998. Simulations with
the computable general equilibrium for Uruguay confirm the positive
effects of trade liberalization in the context of an appreciated
exchange rate on growth and poverty reduction. The simulations also
suggest that further negotiated trade liberalization in the context of
the Free Trade Area of the Americas or the World Trade Organization
(WTO) would reinforce these effects. With further unilateral trade
liberalization export growth would require maintaining the exchange rate
competitive, while employment growth would be served with allowing for
some appreciation of the currency. In the case of negotiated,
multilateral trade liberalization the nature of the exchange rate regime
does not appear to matter for Uruguay in order to reap the gains from
trade. World market prices would move in favour of Uruguay''s exports,
particularly under a WTO scenario that would benefit its agricultural
exports. Unskilled workers would be the principal beneficiaries of such
a scenario and poverty and inequality would be reduced. It seems to
confirm Uruguay''s paradoxical relationship with trade integration.
Mercosur brought both trade benefits and greater vulnerability to the
volatility of the economies of its large neighbours, Argentina and
Brazil, while WTO equally would bring trade gains but enhance the
country''s vulnerability to the volatility in primary commodity markets.'
affiliation: 'Laens, S (Corresponding Author), CINVE, Montevideo, Uruguay.
Laens, Silvia; Perera, Marcelo, CINVE, Montevideo, Uruguay.'
author: Laens, Silvia and Perera, Marcelo
author_list:
- family: Laens
given: Silvia
- family: Perera
given: Marcelo
booktitle: 'WHO GAINS FROM FREE TRADE: EXPORT-LED GROWTH, INEQUALITY AND POVERTY IN
LATIN AMERICA'
da: '2023-09-28'
editor: Vos, R and Ganuza, E and Morley, S and Robinson, S
files: []
isbn: 978-0-203-96583-2
language: English
number-of-cited-references: '21'
pages: 361-392
papis_id: 9b450d588204d90f1a09e2950b34ad5b
ref: Laens2006uruguayexport
series: Routledge Studies in Development Economics
times-cited: '0'
title: Uruguay - export growth, poverty and income distribution
2023-10-01 08:15:07 +00:00
type: article
2023-09-28 14:46:10 +00:00
unique-id: WOS:000278891300013
usage-count-last-180-days: '2'
usage-count-since-2013: '4'
volume: '50'
web-of-science-categories: Economics
year: '2006'