Purpose: The main goal of this paper is to examine the evolution of Latin American productive integration in terms of the regional value added incorporated in intra-regional exports of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru. In addition, the study traces the trade and productive integration trajectories for each of these countries from 1995 to 2015. Design/methodology/approach: Based on the use of OECD’s global ICIO input-output tables, this paper applies the methodological framework by Wang et al. (2018) for the analysis of trade flows at the bilateral level, which allows breaking down the value of gross exports of each sector-country, depending on the origin of the value added contained in exports, as well as their use. Findings: The estimates show very low shares of value added from regional partners in the intra-regional exports of the countries studied. Conversely, th...

This article tracks the main ECLAC ideas over the economic integration in Latin American underlying the change of the ideological background of ECLAC towards an orthodox sense during the nineties. When comparing those ideas with the evolution of intraregional trade in recent years, empirical evidence shows that elements that have historically hindered the projected progress are still present but in more complex forms related to the current dynamics of the international economy. In particular, the implicit management of a partial integration by transnational companies has resulted in unequal relationships between countries and in a wider use from the mentioned process by the strongest economies. The article ends, then, seeking to revitalize the pioneer ideas of ECLAC and proposes guidelines for the construction of an alternative integrationist project that supports the need of exceeding t...

This article tracks the main ECLAC ideas over the economic integration in Latin American underlying the change of the ideological background of ECLAC towards an orthodox sense during the nineties. When comparing those ideas with the evolution of intraregional trade in recent years, empirical evidence shows that elements that have historically hindered the projected progress are still present but in more complex forms related to the current dynamics of the international economy. In particular, the implicit management of a partial integration by transnational companies has resulted in unequal relationships between countries and in a wider use from the mentioned process by the strongest economies. The article ends, then, seeking to revitalize the pioneer ideas of ECLAC and proposes guidelines for the construction of an alternative integrationist project that supports the need of exceeding t...