Despite comprising less than 1% of all firms worldwide, multinational firms, companies that operate across multiple countries, drive roughly half of all international trade, contribute one-third of global output and GDP, and provide a quarter of global employment. Their role is particularly crucial in regions like Latin America and the Caribbean, where they have … [Read more...] about How Barriers to Trade Shape Knowledge Transfer Across Borders
Vanessa Alviarez
Vanessa Alviarez is a Research Economist at the Inter-American Development Bank and an Assistant Professor in the Sauder School of Business at the University of British Columbia. She received her B.A. in Economics from the University Central of Venezuela (Summa Cum Laude), and her M.A. and Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Michigan. During her studies, she was a Dissertation Intern at the Division of International Finance, Federal Reserve Board of Governors. She also has worked as a consultant at the Office of Evaluation and Oversight at the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB), and the Research Department at CAF - Development Bank of Latin America. Her research focuses on international economics, looking at how multinational's location and sourcing decisions affect employment, trade patterns, and firm's performance.
What the Shifting Landscape in Global Value Chains Means for Latin America and the Caribbean
In recent years, the global landscape of trade and investment has undergone significant transformations. As economies worldwide grapple with crises and geopolitical tensions, companies and governments are rethinking their strategies regarding production and supply chains. For Latin America and the Caribbean, this could mark a potential turning point if it were to take advantage … [Read more...] about What the Shifting Landscape in Global Value Chains Means for Latin America and the Caribbean
Understanding Income Disparities: The Role of Firm-Embedded Productivity
Productivity has long been recognized as a key determinant of global income disparities between countries. Recent studies suggest that around half of the differences in income per capita can be attributed to productivity variations. However, the question arises: what factors contribute to aggregate productivity? One prevailing view suggests that aggregate productivity is … [Read more...] about Understanding Income Disparities: The Role of Firm-Embedded Productivity
Global Giants and Local Stars: How Changes in Brand Ownership Affect Competition
Much has been written — much of it in alarm — about the observed increase in market concentration at the economy-wide level over the past 30 years. The evidence for this is uncontroversial: From 1997 to 2014, concentration increased in 75% of industries in the United States. It isn’t a big leap from there to conclude that this trend is reducing competition and increasing … [Read more...] about Global Giants and Local Stars: How Changes in Brand Ownership Affect Competition
Multinationals and the Structural Transformations of Economies
Recent decades have seen large structural transformations, with many agricultural economies moving towards more productive manufacturing activities and manufacturing-based economies evolving to more productive service-based ones. At the same time, global integration has grown in importance due to an extraordinary increase in the cross-border movement of goods, services, and … [Read more...] about Multinationals and the Structural Transformations of Economies