 Import processing zones, tools for regional integration? The case of the free trade zone of Manaus (Brazil)MPRA Paper from University Library of Munich, Germany Abstract: Characterised by low-quality transport infrastructures and located quite far from the country economic centre, the Amazonian region in Brazil was almost wholly disconnected from the rest of the country for several decades. In conjunction with other factors, this motivated the creation of a Free Trade Zone in the region by Brazilian authorities to foster economic linkages with the country’s other states. We examine in this article whether this challenging goal of connecting an isolated region marked by lowquality transport infrastructures to a distant economic centre has been accomplished and if the Free Trade Zone (FTZ) has played a role in the process. Using a gravity model to assess each Brazilian state trade performance and level of trade costs, we found that the two entities representing the state of Amazonas (Manaus where the Free Trade Zone is implanted and the rest of Amazonas) were among the most effective intra-national exporters in Brazil in 2008 despite facing the highest level of trade costs in the country. These apparently counter-intuitive findings indicate a potentially significant role of the FTZ in this process of integration. Keywords: stochastic frontier analysis; regional integration; trade costs; Import processing zones (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pra:mprapa:97652 Access Statistics for this paper More papers in MPRA Paper from University Library of Munich, Germany Ludwigstraße 33, D-80539 Munich, Germany. Contact information at EDIRC. |
Is your work missing from RePEc? Here is how to contribute.
Questions or problems? Check the EconPapers FAQ or send mail to .
EconPapers is hosted by the
School of Business at Örebro University.