TY - BOOK ID - 11262864 TI - Central America, Panama, and the Dominican Republic AU - Medina Cas, Stephanie AU - Swiston, A AU - Barrot, Luis-Diego AU - International Monetary Fund. PY - 2012 VL - WP/12/234 SN - 1475512023 1475510845 1475512015 1475512007 9781475512021 9781475510843 9781475512007 9781475510843 9781475512007 9781475512014 PB - [Washington, D.C.] International Monetary Fund DB - UniCat KW - Commerce KW - Business & Economics KW - International Commerce KW - International trade. KW - Economic development KW - Development, Economic KW - Economic growth KW - Growth, Economic KW - External trade KW - Foreign commerce KW - Foreign trade KW - Global commerce KW - Global trade KW - Trade, International KW - World trade KW - Economic policy KW - Economics KW - Statics and dynamics (Social sciences) KW - Development economics KW - Resource curse KW - International economic relations KW - Non-traded goods KW - Exports KW - Central America KW - Economic integration. KW - E-books KW - International trade KW - Exports and Imports KW - Taxation KW - Trade Policy KW - International Trade Organizations KW - Empirical Studies of Trade KW - Economic Integration KW - Economic Growth of Open Economies KW - Macroeconomic Analyses of Economic Development KW - Trade: General KW - Financial Aspects of Economic Integration KW - International economics KW - Public finance & taxation KW - Tariffs KW - Customs unions KW - Regional integration KW - Service exports KW - Taxes KW - Economic integration KW - Tariff KW - Protectionism KW - International economic integration KW - United States UR - https://www.unicat.be/uniCat?func=search&query=sysid:11262864 AB - This paper studies the potential for the export sector to play a more important role in promoting growth in Central America, Panama, and the Dominican Republic (CAPDR) through deeper intra-regional and global trade integration. CAPDR countries have enacted many free trade agreements and other regional integration initiatives in recent years, but this paper finds that their exports remain below the norm for countries of their size. Several indexes of outward orientation are constructed and suggest that the breadth of geographic trading relationships, depth of integration into global production chains, and degree of technological sophistication of exports in CAPDR are less conducive to higher exports and growth than in fast-growing, export-oriented economies. To boost exports and growth, CAPDR should implement policies to facilitate economic integration, particularly building a customs union, harmonizing trade rules, improving logistics and infrastructure, and enhancing regional cordination. ER -