Global Commodity Chains (GCCs), set up by Gereffi=Korzeniewicz[1994], has been applied by many researchers as a tool to gain insights of international business networks and global industrial organizations. However, several papers suggest that these applied studies are insufficient to catch the whole picture of the originally advocated concept, because of their limitations on the range of actually treated data. This paper proposes the GCCs-Skyline model, which is a method to analyze various industrial sectors in a whole country based on I-O table. As an illustration, the GCCs-Skyline model is used to catch the historical transition of Mexican automobile sector (1970-1996). Finally the result of this measurement observes participation of the automobile sector in GCCs.

In the context of the urban economics, the recent transformation of the geographical distribution of employment in industrial countries is understood by the simultaneous effects of the pull of the cheap labor cost in the periphery and the agglomeration economies based on either Marshall-Arrow-Romer type localization economy or Jane Jacobs type urbanization economy. We analyze the case of the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, applying the methodology of Glaeser et al. (1992). We found the effect of the cheap wage in attracting jobs but both MAR and Jacobs type externalities were not relevant for urban growth in the Rio de Janeiro State during 1985-2004. This may reflect the lack of momentum in the non-traditional industries in Brazil, especially in Rio.

The privatization in Paraguay has started since 1990s. The Paraguayan Government dealt with the telecommunication sector as a model of public reform. However public deficits and external debts cannot maintain investments for future demand increase without participation of private enterprises. The Government sets up the possible frame work to enable private participation in the telecommunication sector. This paper focuses on history, regulation and political process for privatization.

This study analyzes regional income inequality in Mexico during 1993-2003, the periods of economic liberalization, using a one-stage Theil decomposition method. The regional income inequality is also studied by sector (commercial, manufacturing and service) for 1989-1999 in order to observe the effects of each sector in the regional inequality as well as to obtain the robustness of the results. My principal empirical results are as follows: First, the overall regional income inequality exhibits an increasing trend in 1993-2003, principally because of the increasing within-region inequality. Within-region inequality has contributed less than between-region component to the overall income inequality, but its contribution has been getting larger in recent years. Second, the increase of the within-region inequality in the region Capital contributed most to the increase of the total within-region inequality. Capital, the most developed region in Mexico, is the most unequal region with the largest increase in within-regional inequality during the period. Third, the increase of the overall regional income inequality in the service sector is outstanding during 1989-1999. In the service sector, both the within and between-region components increased, leading to the significant increase of the overall regional inequality.

Central American economic integration has been reinforced since the ratification of the New Economic Integration Treaty in 1993. The New Treaty focuses upon the liberalization of regional tariff, trade barriers and setting of lower common external tariff under the scheme of so called Open Regionalism. During the period under consideration, 1994-2002, Central America has experienced much higher export growth of 81%, compared with that of world average of 47%. This study reveals whether this increase is caused by increasing competitiveness due to economic integration. We conduct the Constant-Market-Share analysis and show that the Central American countries except Guatemala have increased their competitiveness of intraregional exports. However their competitiveness has decreased in NAFTA and EU except Costa Rican case which is mainly due to Intel.

In this paper, we calculated efficiency of electric regulatory institutions in Central America by DEA（Data Envelopment Analysis）and evaluate current status and their future direction. Privatization and liberalization of power sectors in Central American countries has been proceeding. This situation has required and will require regulatory institutions to significantly expand their role and operations according as liberalization models they adopted. However, necessary staffing and the capacity building of relevant human resources tend to be delayed for the independent regulatory institutions, while the framework for the sector reforms has been proceeded.

We found that significant savings is to be realized if full scale merger of electric regulatory agencies in Central America take place. Successful electricity industry reform in this region will depends also on the presence of an appropriately staffed and budgeted regional electricity regulatory agency.

Observamos el círculo vicioso en México entre el estancamiento de la TFP y la dificultad del desarrollo dirigido por exportación. En Brasil se estima la evolución subida de la contribución de la exportación a la producción manufacturera, y de la tasa de crecimiento de la TFP en los últimos años. La subida de la TFP de Brasil refleja altamente el cambio de la estrategia de la inversión de las empresas. La condición necesaria para el desarrollo dirigido por la exportación será que el crecimiento del sector de exportación provoque: i) la demanda adicional por la inversión aumentada; y ii) el consumo privado incrementado. Este mecanismo se fortalecerá por la transferencia de la innovación tecnológica entre sectores.