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As recent events in Southeast Asian have demonstrated, the fragility of a country’s financial sector can have severe macroeconomic consequences, affecting its ability to manufacture, import, and export. Through a combination of case studies and theoretical papers, this book addresses this vital issue by examining the interaction between trade and financial development.

Using detailed trade and firm-level financial data, the authors demonstrate, for example, that while links between finance and competitiveness are strong, they are not uniform across sectors and countries. This book examines the link between finance and competitiveness at the macro and sectoral levels in seven different countries: Argentina, Brazil, India, Indonesia, the Philippines, South Africa, and Tunisia, and investigates key international issues, such as the evidence of the impact of exchange rate variability on trade, patterns in bank lending, and trade openness and development.

THE EDITORS

José María Fanelli is currently Senior Professor of Macroeconomics at the University of Buenos Aires. Since 1994, Dr Fanelli has also been a senior researcher at the Centre for the Study of State and Society (CEDES) and the National Research Council (CONICET) in Buenos Aires.

Rohinton Medhora is Vice-President of Programs at Canada’s International Development Research Centre. He has published primarily in the areas of monetary integration and central banking and holds a doctorate in economics from the University of Toronto.

CONTENTS

1. Finance and competitiveness: Framework and synthesis — José María Fanelli and Rohinton Medhora

2. Finance and changing trade patterns in developing countries: The Argentine case — José María Fanelli and Saúl Keifman

3. Finance and changing trade patterns in Brazil — Maria Cristina T. Terra

4. International competitiveness, trade and finance: India — A. Ganesh-Kumar, Kunal Sen, and Rajendra R. Vaidya

5. International trade, productivity and competitiveness: The case of the Indonesian manufacturing sector — Ari Kuncoro

6. Trade, competitiveness and finance in the Philippine manufacturing sector, 1980-95 — Josef T. Yap

7. Competitiveness, international trade and finance in a minerals-rich economy: The case of South Africa — Trevor Bell, Greg Farrell, and Rashad Cassim

8. Trade, finance and competitiveness in Tunisia — Mustapha K. Nabli, Mejda Bahlous, Mohamed Bechri, Marouane El Abbassi, Riadh El Ferktaji, and Bechir Talbi

9. Trade openness, industrial change and economic development — Paolo Guerrieri

10. Trade specialization and economic growth — Jaime Ros

11. Two problems in bank lending for development — Rodney Schmidt

12. Exchange rates, real-financial and micro-macro linkages — Rohinton Medhora

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