América del Sur en la Apertura, Evidencias de un Modelo Global

Abstract

The opening processes of South America countries beginning the eighties have been decisive in the performance of their macroeconomic variables; particularly in the fields of employment, openness, competitiveness and economic growth.

The evolution of these variables has been different in all these countries, and especially dissimilates if we compare with the high level income countries members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

This article, beyond a comparative analysis of the most important macroeconomic variables behavior in South America and other countries, aims to study the relation between the real exchange rate (RER), economic growth and unemployment (placing emphasis on the latter aspect, which has rarely been mentioned in South America's economic literature). To achieve this, a panel data model was estimated which measures the degree of existing dependence between unemployment, RER, and other economic activity variables for the period of time between 1988 and 2002. The main results show that a higher reevaluation (with two years in advance) and a lower growth result in higher unemployment rates, and, apparently changes in the inflation rate does not affect the last variable.