Are South-South RTAs growth enhancing?The case of Latin American agreements

This study represents the evaluation of the growth effects of three Latin American trade agreements for the countries involved. The use of a longitudinal data set allows for a new approach to the topic: under specific assumptions, the experience of a group of countries unaffected by the policy intervention will represent what the countries affected would have experienced, had they not negotiated the agreement. This can provide the basic piece of information needed for the evaluation of the policy change. Despite the increased degree of trade introversion for medium and high technology goods, results suggest that, ceteris paribus, no positive additional growth effects emerge on average from the participation into an agreement for the countries involved.