Openness and Total Factor Productivity: Test of Temporal Coincidence of the Structural Breaks for Latin America and the Caribbean

Abstract

We study the existence of structural break in TFP and in several indicators of openness for a sample of 20 Latin American and Caribbean economies for the period 1960-2005. For this purpose, it has been used the test of Zivot and Andrews (1992) on series of TFP computed from a development accounting exercise (Hsieh and Klenow, 2010) and alternative measures of openness with different characters: openness policies, openness as result, and measure of deviation (Wacziarg, 2001). The accumulation of cases, both potential and significant breaks in TFP are in line with the Oil Crisis of 1973/4 and 1979/80, and the Mexican Crisis of 1982. The cases of breaks on TFP during the consolidation process of openness in the region (1985-95) are not significant. Shocks in openness seem to have effects on the rate of growth of TFPApertura, Productividad Total de los Factores, America Latina y el Caribe