Trading Places: International Integration after the Crisis
average number of exported varieties at six-digit harmonized system
Figure 3.2 Southern Countries Still Export Fewer Varieties Than Northern Countries 4,000
3,000
2,000
1,000
0 2000
1996 HICs
UMICs
2004 LMICs
2008 LICs
Source: UN Comtrade. Note: LICs = low-income countries, UMICs = upper-middle-income countries, LMICs = low- and middleincome countries, HICs = high-income countries..
% of export growth explained by higher GDP growth in LMICs
Figure 3.3 LMIC GDP Growth Helps Drive LIC Export Growth, 2000–08 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 MENA
ECA low-income countries
SSA
Source: UN Comtrade; World Integrated Trade Solution (WITS). Note: MENA = Middle East and North Africa, ECA = Europe and Central Asia, SSA = Sub-Saharan Africa.
the same period. As noted, although there have been a variety of measures imposed to restrict trade during the crisis, in the aggregate these have not been significant (Evenett 2009; WTO 2009). However, the trend in the average level of tariffs in HICs has been up—although the movements reflected in figure 3.4 are exaggerated because the base in HICs is very low (the average is less than 5 percent).
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