Inter-American Development Bank
facebook
twitter
youtube
linkedin
instagram
Abierto al públicoBeyond BordersCaribbean Development TrendsCiudades SosteniblesEnergía para el FuturoEnfoque EducaciónFactor TrabajoGente SaludableGestión fiscalGobernarteIdeas MatterIdeas que CuentanIdeaçãoImpactoIndustrias CreativasLa Maleta AbiertaMoviliblogMás Allá de las FronterasNegocios SosteniblesPrimeros PasosPuntos sobre la iSeguridad CiudadanaSostenibilidadVolvamos a la fuente¿Y si hablamos de igualdad?Home
Citizen Security and Justice Creative Industries Development Effectiveness Early Childhood Development Education Energy Envirnment. Climate Change and Safeguards Fiscal policy and management Gender and Diversity Health Labor and pensions Open Knowledge Public management Science, Technology and Innovation  Trade and Regional Integration Urban Development and Housing Water and Sanitation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Beyond Borders

  • HOME
  • CATEGORIES
    • Asia – LAC
    • Innovation and Technology
    • Investment Attraction
    • Public-Private Alliances
    • Regional Cooperation
    • Regional Integration
    • Trade & Investment Agreements
    • Trade Facilitation
    • Trade Promotion
  • Authors
  • Spanish

How Has the Pandemic Impacted Latin Americans’ Views on Regional Integration?

March 7, 2022 by Ana Inés Basco Leave a Comment


Has regional integration been affected in any way by the setbacks caused by the COVID-19 pandemic? This is one of the questions that inspired “The Voice of Latin America. Opinions on Regional Integration and Trade in Latin America” (Spanish), a new study according to which 71% of Latin Americans support regional integration, a figure on par with the results for 2018.

The study was published by the Institute for the Integration of Latin America and the Caribbean (INTAL) of the Integration and Trade Sector of the Inter-American Development Bank, in partnership with Latinobarómetro. It was based on mapping the opinions of 20,200 citizens from 18 countries in the region.

Latin Americans favor all forms of integration: support of regional integration is a mere one percentage point higher than support for integration with countries outside Latin America (70%). These findings suggest that Latin Americans want to move past the current crisis by tackling it together and working with other countries within and outside the region.

Looking back over the last 25 years, support for integration in Latin America and the Caribbean has followed the region’s economic ups and downs. In other words, its behavior has been procyclical. In the mid-1990s, as trade blocs consolidated and globalization began to gain momentum, support for regional integration rose from 63% to 78%. This was when the social acceptance of integration peaked in a world that suddenly saw borders as a limitation to growth and economic blocs as key to getting ahead.

On the other hand, economic stagnation and crisis have always been associated with a deterioration in the social consensus around integration. For example, the slowdown that began in 2014 followed a 5-point drop in support for integration in subsequent years. But since 2018, support for integration has remained at 71%. It is striking that despite the pandemic, support for integration has remained stable, rather than slumping as it did during previous crises. Then, it may be the case that Latin Americans see international trade and regional integration as channels for recovery from the current economic crisis.

The sectors that favor regional integration the most

Which sectors of the population express the greatest support for integration? The pro-integration sentiment is strongest (75%) among young people (16- to 25-year-olds). Likewise, the gender gap remains: support for integration is greater among men (76%) than among women (67%).

Another significant finding is that almost half of Latin Americans think the last five years have brought progress toward integration. In contrast, only 38% thought that regional integration had declined.

Central America is the subregion with the highest proportion of citizens who believe that trade agreements with other regional countries positively impact their country, at 61%.

Most Latin Americans support free trade and trade agreements

The study also concludes that nearly seven out of 10 Latin Americans favor free trade and about six out of 10 look positively at the region’s trade agreements (56%). Between 60% and 85% of Latin Americans still favor domestic products, as long as these are not more expensive than imported ones. In 14 countries in the region, more than half of the population looks favorably on the quality of the local industry. These data suggest that support for free imports is associated with lower prices due to increased competition, rather than with a preference for foreign goods or services.

Although Latin Americans lean more toward local goods, 54% look positively on foreign direct investment, and only 15% see it detrimental to their country. However, a large share of those surveyed feels they do not know enough about the issue to give an opinion. Regional agendas need to include information campaigns to raise awareness around the potential benefits of receiving foreign direct investment.

Only one out of four people shop online

The IDB INTAL report also surveyed the digitization levels in Latin American countries. While 86% of citizens have cellphones, only 47% have access to smartphones. Although Latin America is highly digitized —92% of Latin Americans use social media, and 64% use mobile apps for messaging, booking taxis, and deliveries— only 23% buy and sell products online.

In other words, even though the pandemic has increased the use of digital technologies, 77% of Latin Americans have not yet decided to engage in e-commerce. Is this because they lack the knowledge, trust, or the basic digital skills to take advantage of it?

In a globalized, integrated world where people use their cellphones for everything, Latin America and the Caribbean have a long way to go in e-commerce and digitization. But it also has enormous potential if it takes advantage of its citizens’ support for integration, free trade, and regional trade agreements. Countries in the region need to reduce the barriers that prevent their citizens from using digital technologies for trade. Support for this is available through the loans and technical assistance provided by the IDB Group, which has included regional integration and the digital economy in its Vision 2025 as two of its five priorities for sustainable development in the region.

To find out more, download “The Voice of Latin Americans. Perceptions of Regional Integration and Trade in Latin America.”


Filed Under: Regional Integration

Ana Inés Basco

Ana Basco is the Director of the Institute for the Integration of Latin America and the Caribbean (INTAL) of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), an institution in which she has worked for 16 years leading different projects related to integration, gender equality and new technologies. With more than 20 years of professional experience, she has coordinated the publication of a large number of IDB studies on trade, industry 4.0, and gender gaps. She has led projects on integration and trade; and has formed strategic alliances with multiple institutions of great international prestige in Latin America, the United States and Europe. At INTAL, she was previously appointed as a specialist in Regional Integration and a consultant in the IDB's Institutional Capacity of the State division. Before joining the IDB, she worked as a consultant for both the Argentine Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Transportation as well as in civil society organizations. Ana Basco is an Economist and a Political Science graduate from the University of Buenos Aires (UBA). She has a master's degree in Regional Economic Integration from the International University of Andalucía and a postgraduate degree in International Business Management from Georgetown University.

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Follow Us

Subscribe

Search

Integration Trade

On this blog, the IDB Integration and Trade Sector shares reflections on the role of trade, investment, cooperation, and regional integration for development in Latin America and the Caribbean. Subscribe and join the conversation.

Related posts

  • TECHNO-INTEGRATION IN LATIN AMERICA
  • Latin Americans: On Board with Trade
  • What does integration mean for Latin Americans?
  • The Integration Waze: the partnership between INTAL and Latinobarómetro and the region’s demand for integration
  • Making it Whole: Integration in Latin America and the Caribbean

Categories

Footer

Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo
facebook
twitter
youtube
youtube
youtube

Blog posts written by Bank employees:

Copyright © Inter-American Development Bank ("IDB"). This work is licensed under a Creative Commons IGO 3.0 Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives. (CC-IGO 3.0 BY-NC-ND) license and may be reproduced with attribution to the IDB and for any non-commercial purpose. No derivative work is allowed. Any dispute related to the use of the works of the IDB that cannot be settled amicably shall be submitted to arbitration pursuant to the UNCITRAL rules. The use of the IDB's name for any purpose other than for attribution, and the use of IDB's logo shall be subject to a separate written license agreement between the IDB and the user and is not authorized as part of this CC- IGO license. Note that link provided above includes additional terms and conditions of the license.


For blogs written by external parties:

For questions concerning copyright for authors that are not IADB employees please complete the contact form for this blog.

The opinions expressed in this blog are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the IDB, its Board of Directors, or the countries they represent.

Attribution: in addition to giving attribution to the respective author and copyright owner, as appropriate, we would appreciate if you could include a link that remits back the IDB Blogs website.



Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2023 · Magazine Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo

Aviso Legal

Las opiniones expresadas en estos blogs son las de los autores y no necesariamente reflejan las opiniones del Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo, sus directivas, la Asamblea de Gobernadores o sus países miembros.

facebook
twitter
youtube
This site uses cookies to optimize functionality and give you the best possible experience. If you continue to navigate this website beyond this page, cookies will be placed on your browser.
To learn more about cookies, click here
X
Manage consent

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled

Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.

Non-necessary

Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.

SAVE & ACCEPT