China's and India's Challenge to Latin America: Opportunity or Threat?

The ten chapters of this volume summarize and present results from background papers commissioned for a regional study sponsored by the Office of the Chief Economist for the Latin America and the Caribbean Region of the World Bank in order to assess how the growth of trade, foreign direct investment, finance, and innovation in China and India have affected the region and how the regions' firms and governments have reacted and should respond. The study finds that the growth of Chinese and Indian markets offers a growing, if under-exploited, opportunity for Latin American and Caribbean exporters; that the two Asian countries represent a growing source of financing for the region; that there exists substantial scope for cooperation on innovation, such as in the case of Chinese-Brazilian bilateral agreements on satellite development; and that Indian and Chinese growth has led to more demand for commodities in which Latin America and the Caribbean countrie have comparative advantage. The study did find some negative effects among certain industries, firms, and subregions, but argues that much is attributable to domestic supply-side conditions, citing weak evidence of foreign direct investment substitution to China and India. Based on these findings, the study makes recommendations concerning worker training, the development of agricultural and natural resource commodities, and export and foreign direct investment promotion. Annotation c2009 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)