When you buy a new TV, you don't expect to get an electric shock while plugging the cord into the outlet or burn your hand while handling the remote control. The truth is that no one expects to suffer a misfortune when they get ready to watch their favorite show or streaming series. That is why most countries in the world impose regulations on the marketing of many goods - not … [Read more...] about Technical measures: the not so visible barriers to trade
Juan Blyde
Juan S. Blyde is a lead economist in the Trade and Integration Sector of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). Focused on Latin American countries, Juan’s areas of research have been trade and productivity, trade and labor reallocation, transport costs, and global value chains. Juan received his PhD in Economics from the University of Colorado at Boulder and a BS in Economics from Universidad Católica Andrés Bello (Venezuela). Prior to joining the IDB, he worked as an economist at the Congressional Economic and Financial Advisory Office of Venezuela and taught international trade at Universidad Católica Andrés Bello. Juan’s research has been published in various academic journals such as the Journal of International Economics, Review of International Economics, Empirical Economics, and The World Economy, among others.
How are Global Shipping Disruptions Affecting Latin American Freight Rates?
In a recent blog post, we showed that shipping costs have substantially increased since the beginning of the pandemic and that such an increase was primarily associated with imports from Asia. In this new post, we explore whether and, if so, how such developments generated a domino effect on the transportation costs faced by Latin American and Caribbean countries … [Read more...] about How are Global Shipping Disruptions Affecting Latin American Freight Rates?
Promoting international telemedicine in Latin America
Francesc Saigí,[i] Imma Alberch,[ii] and Juan Blyde[iii] Over the past year, the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the adoption of new telemedicine services to improve people’s health. Likewise, social distancing measures, the lack of experts, and the large extensions of countries of Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) drove the adoption of international … [Read more...] about Promoting international telemedicine in Latin America
Why Are Shipping Costs Increasing? What US Import Data Tell Us
The cost of shipping goods has risen rapidly during the past 18 months. The average freight rate of US imports, based on cargo value, has gained a full percentage point relative to pre-pandemic levels (see Figure 1).[1] The average freight cost of a global 40-foot container has increased more than five times since the pandemic started, with routes such as Shanghai-to-Los … [Read more...] about Why Are Shipping Costs Increasing? What US Import Data Tell Us
Global Value Chains and the Environment in a post-COVID World
Many predictions have floated about the future of global value chains (GVC), or the separation of production in stages across borders, in a post-COVID19 world. They include some degree of reshoring by which global lead firms bring back to their home country the production of intermediate inputs initially offshored to other countries. Other predictions include a higher degree of … [Read more...] about Global Value Chains and the Environment in a post-COVID World