Although Latin American and Caribbean countries have assigned a high priority to increasing exports, export performance in most cases remains deficient. This work investigates why this is so, identifying the policies that determine successes and failures in Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Mexico.

Why do some export activities succeed while others fail? Here, research teams analyze export endeavors in Latin American countries to learn how export pioneers are born and jump-start a process leading to economic transformation. Case studies range from blueberries in Argentina and flowers in Colombia to aircraft in Brazil and software in Uruguay.

Latin American countries have for a long time been importers of public policies and institutions from the Global North. The colonial legacy and resulting patterns of international relations during the 20th century favoured a course of adoption and hybridization of political institutions. In recent decades, a new conjuncture has emerged in which Latin American policies have started to diffuse South-South and even South-North. Led by Brazil with Participatory Budgeting and the Bolsa Familia program, other countries in the region soon followed. The Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system and bicycle policies in Curitiba and Bogotá have also reached wide international recognition and circulation. And yet, despite Latin America’s new role as a policy "exporter", little is known about its dynamics, causes, and effects. Why have Latin American policies been diffused inside and outside the region? Which actors are involved? What driving forces affect these processes? This innovative collection offers a new perspective on the policy diffusion phenomena. Drawing on different examples from Latin American experiences in urban local policies and national social policies, experts present a new framework to study this phenomenon centered on the mobilization of ideas, interests and discourses for policy diffusion. Latin America and Policy Diffusion will be of great interest to researchers, educators, advanced students and practitioners working in the fields of political science, public policy, international relations and Latin American Studies.

"Selection of original papers presented at the international conference 'Latin America's Prospects for Upgrading in Global Value Chains,' held on 14-15 March 2012, at Colegio de Mexico, Mexico City"--Title page vers

This title was first published in 2000: This text aims to be essential reading for anyone who wishes to understand the microeconomic foundations behind the Latin American export boom, the ways in which government policies affecting exports may retard or promote economic growth, and the future prospects of the proposed Free Trade Association of the Americas. The authors conduct an econometric analysis which uses measures of export diversification, structural change in exports, and exports similarity which provide a basis for region-wide comparisons. The cases of Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Venezuela are analyzed in particular detail. Cross-country analysis focuses on the potential role of export diversification in promoting economic growth, in the context of other important determinants of growth.