The World EconomyVolume 5, Issue 2 p. 133-148 Apertura Policies in the Cone of Latin America T. G. Congdon, T. G. Congdon T. G. CONGDON: Partner, L. Messel & Company, stockbrokers, London; formerly Economics Correspondent, The Times, London; author of Monetarism: an Essay in Definition (1978), Against Import Controls (1981) and Monetary Control in Britain (1982)Search for more papers by this author T. G. Congdon, T. G. Congdon T. G. CONGDON: Partner, L. Messel & Company, stockbrokers, London; formerly Economics Correspondent, The Times, London; author of Monetarism: an Essay in Definition (1978), Against Import Controls (1981) and Monetary Control in Britain (1982)Search for more papers by this author First published: September 1982 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9701.1982.tb00062.xCitations: 4 ‘Elasticity pessimism’ was a particularly influential concept in the debate about the conditions necessary for a successful devaluation. It does, however, have a more general relevance. For a statement of the case, see Paul Streeten, ‘Elasticity Optimism and Pessimism in International Trade’, Economia Internazionale, February 1954. J. R. Behrmann, Foreign Trade Regimes and Economic Development: Chile (New York: Columbia University Press, for the National Bureau of Economic Research, 1976) p. 20. Carlos F. Diaz-Alejandro, ‘The Argentine Tariff 1906–40’, Oxford Economic Papers, March 1967, p. 94. R. D. Mallon, Economic Policymaking in a Conflict Society: the Argentine Case (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1975) p. 10. Rosemary Thorp, ‘The Stabilisation Crisis in Peru 1975–8’, in Thorp and Lawrence Whitehead (eds), Inflation and Stabilisation in Latin America (London: Macmillan, 1979) pp. 112 and 115. Jorge Cauas and Sergio de la Cuadra, ‘La Politica Economica de la Apertura al Exterior en Chile’, Cuadernos de Economia, 1981, p. 202; and M. H. J. Finch, ‘Stabilisation Policy in Uruguay since the 1950s’, in Thorp and Whitehead (eds), op. cit., p. 159. The hostility aroused in Peru by the mention of Chile is illustrated by a typical headline in Kausachum, a socialist newspaper, on 25 November 1981, which ran ¡A La Chilena! Rematan El Peru, Nada Detiene a Ulloa’ (‘In the Chilean Style! They Auction off Peru, Nothing Stops Ulloa’). Manuel Ulloa was the Minister of Economics and Finance. F. J. Weil, Argentine Riddle (New York: John Day, 1944) p. 140 (quoted in Diaz-Alejandro, op. cit., p. 88). For other insights into the Argentine and Chilean tariff morass, see Tim Congdon, Against Import Controls (London: Centre for Policy Studies, 1981) ch. 3. Of the principal empirical studies of the trade regimes of developing countries, the first was published as I. M. D. Little, Tibor Scitovsky and M. FG. Scott, Industry and Trade in Some Developing Countries: a Comparative Study (London: Oxford University Press, for the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, 1971). Other significant contributions to the literature have been Bela Balassa et al., The Structure of Protection in Developing Countries (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, for the World Bank, 1971); Anne O. Krueger, Foreign Trade Regimes and Economic Development: Liberalization Attempts and Consequences (Cambridge, Mass.: Ballinger, for the National Bureau of Economic Research, 1978); Juergen B. Donges and Lotte Muller-Ohlsen, Aussenwirtschafts-strategien und Industrialisierung in Entwicklungsländern (Tübingen: J. C. B. Mohr, for the Institut für Weltwirtschaft an der Universität Kiel, 1978); and Jagdish N. Bhagwati, Foreign Trade Regimes and Economic Development: Anatomy and Consequences of Exchange Control Regimes (Cambridge, Mass.: Ballinger, for the National Bureau of Economic Research, 1979). For a summary of the literature, see Bhagwati and T. N. Srinivasan, ‘Trade and Development’, in Rudiger Dornbusch and Jacob A. Frenkel (eds), International Economic Policy: Theory and Evidence (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1979). Larry A. Sjaastad, of the University of Chicago, and Kenneth W. Clements, of the University of Western Australia, have proposed an alternative measure of the incidence of protection, deriving from the idea that import tariffs affect the relative price of importables, exportables and non-traded goods. See Larry A. Sjaastad and Kenneth W. Clements, “The Incidence of Protection: Theory and Measurement’, a paper presented at a Conference on the Free Trade Movement in Latin America held in Hamburg, West Germany, on 21–24 June 1981, to be published in Sjaastad and Helmut Hesse (eds), The Free Trade Movement in Latin America (London: Macmillan, for the Trade Policy Research Centre, forthcoming). The proposed measure, taking values between 0 and 1, shows how much of a particular distortion is borne by exporters as a tax and how much accrues to the import-competing sector as true protection. J. J. Anichi, J. Caumont and Sjaastad, La Politica Comercial y la Pwleccion en el Uruguay (Montevideo: Banco Central, 1977) p. 171. La Politica Economica y la Industria Nacional 1972–80 (Montevideo: Camaras de Industria de Uruguay, 1980) p. 61. For a detailed account of trade liberalisation in Chile, see Cauas and de la Cuadra, op. cit. The import duty on motor cars is being gradually lowered to 10 per cent by 1986, according to a decree law of May 1979. World Financial Markets, Morgan Guaranty Trust Company, February 1982, p. 7. Ihid., p. 6. J. J. Medina, Evaluacion del Plan de Apertura de la Economia Argentina 1979–84 (Buenos Aires: CEMA, 1980) pp. 30 and 33. The CERTEX subsidies were often misdirected. For example, a subsidy was available on processed, but not unprocessed, products. As a result, companies exported gold in the form of ashtrays rather than bars. Non-traditional exports fell between the first quarters of 1980 and 1981, partly because of the elimination of these ‘exportaciones fantasmas’. Eualuacion del Desarollo de la Balanza de Pagos, Primer Semestre 1981 (Lima: Banco Central de Reserva del Peru, 1981) p. 8. AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat Citing Literature Volume5, Issue2September 1982Pages 133-148 RelatedInformation