World Bank2017-06-152017-06-152012-10https://hdl.handle.net/10986/27215The Central America region is a small market. The region contains around 43 million inhabitants (0.6 percent of total world population) who generate around 0.25 percent of the world's Gross Domestic Product (GDP). While the region has successfully embarked on a regional integration agenda and has strong commercial links with the US, extra-regional trade-mainly with large fast-growing emerging economies-remains a challenge. Export performance is analyzed along three dimensions that, together, give a fairly comprehensive picture of competitiveness: 1) the composition, orientation and growth of the export basket; 2) the degree of export diversification across products and markets; and 3) the level of sophistication and quality of their main exports. This analysis allows exports dynamics at the different margins of trade (intensive, extensive, and quality) to be evaluated and individual countries' to be benchmarked with peers in the Central American region. The results of this report allow policy makers to identify key areas to explore in the overall discussion of export competitiveness in the Central American region. This paper relates to the literature on challenges and opportunities that trade liberalization can bring to the Central American region. Much of the recent literature focuses on the role of the free trade agreement negotiated by Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua, with the US.en-USCC BY 3.0 IGOAGGREGATE EXPORTSAGRICULTURAL PRODUCTSAPPARELAPPAREL EXPORTSAPPAREL INDUSTRYAPPAREL SECTORAVERAGE TARIFFBARRIERS TO TRADEBENCHMARKBENCHMARKINGBENCHMARKSBILATERAL RELATIONSHIPSBILATERAL TRADECAPACITY OF FIRMSCOMMON MARKETCOMPARATIVE ADVANTAGECOMPARATIVE ADVANTAGESCOMPETITIVENESSCONSUMERSCUSTOMSCUSTOMS TERRITORYDEVELOPING COUNTRIESDOMESTIC INDUSTRIESDOMESTIC MARKETDOMESTIC PRODUCERSDOMESTIC SUPPLIERSECONOMIC CRISISECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTECONOMIC INTEGRATIONECONOMIC SECTORSEMERGING ECONOMIESEMERGING MARKETSEQUIPMENTEXCHANGE RATESEXPORT BASKETEXPORT BASKETSEXPORT CAPACITYEXPORT COMPETITIVENESSEXPORT DIVERSIFICATIONEXPORT GROWTHEXPORT MARKETEXPORT MARKETSEXPORT ORIENTATIONEXPORT PATTERNSEXPORT PERFORMANCEEXPORT SECTOREXPORT SECTORSEXPORT SHAREEXPORT SHARESEXPORT VALUEEXPORT VOLUMESEXPORTEREXPORTERSEXPORTSEXTERNAL TARIFFSFINANCIAL CRISISFINANCIAL SUPPORTFINISHED PRODUCTSFOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENTFOREIGN FIRMSFOREIGN INVESTMENTFOREIGN MARKETFOREIGN MARKETSFOREIGN SUPPLIERSFOREIGN TRADEFREE ACCESSFREE TRADEFREE TRADE AGREEMENTFREE TRADE AGREEMENTSFREE TRADE ZONEFREE ZONEFREE ZONESGDPGDP PER CAPITAGLOBAL COMPETITIONGLOBAL ECONOMYGLOBAL MARKETGLOBALIZATIONGRAVITY MODELGROSS EXPORTSGROWTH RATEHOST COUNTRYHUMAN CAPITALIMPORT DATAIMPORT LICENSINGIMPORT SHAREIMPORTSINCOMEINCOME LEVELSINFORMATION SYSTEMINPUT PRICESINSTRUMENTINSURANCEINTELLECTUAL PROPERTYINTERMEDIATE GOODSINTERNATIONAL MARKETSINTERNATIONAL PRODUCTIONINTERNATIONAL TRADEINTRAREGIONAL TRADEINVESTMENT BANKINVESTMENT PROJECTSKNOWLEDGE SPILLOVERSLABOR MARKETLOCAL BUSINESSLOCAL ECONOMYLOCAL MARKETLOW TARIFFSMARGINAL COSTSMARKET ACCESSMARKET DIVERSIFICATIONMARKET FAILURESMARKET INFORMATIONMARKET SHAREMARKET SHARESMIDDLE INCOME COUNTRIESMISSING MARKETSMULTINATIONAL CORPORATIONSNEGATIVE SHOCKSNET EXPORTSOPENNESSOUTSOURCINGPER CAPITA INCOMEPREFERENTIAL MARKET ACCESSPREFERENTIAL RULESPREFERENTIAL TARIFFSPREFERENTIAL TRADEPREFERENTIAL TRADE AGREEMENTSPREFERENTIAL TREATMENTPRELIMINARY ASSESSMENTPRICE CONTROLSPROTECTIONISTPROTECTIONIST MEASURESQUOTA SYSTEMREGIONAL INTEGRATIONREGIONAL TRADEREGIONAL TRADE AGREEMENTSREMITTANCEREMITTANCESSALESSPECIALIZATIONSTATISTICAL ANALYSISSUPPLIERSUPPLY CHAINTARIFF PREFERENCE LEVELTARIFF REDUCTIONTARIFF REDUCTIONSTECHNICAL BARRIERSTERMS OF TRADETRADE AGREEMENTTRADE BALANCETRADE BALANCESTRADE CENTERTRADE COSTSTRADE DATATRADE DEFICITTRADE DEFICITSTRADE FACILITATIONTRADE FLOWSTRADE INTEGRATIONTRADE LIBERALIZATIONTRADE MORETRADE OPENNESSTRADE PARTNERTRADE PATTERNSTRADE PERFORMANCETRADE RELATIONSHIPTRADE RELATIONSHIPSTRADE RESTRICTIONSTRADE SURPLUSTRADE-RELATED INVESTMENTTRADINGTREATYTRUST FUNDTURNOVERVALUE ADDEDVOLATILITYWELFARE GAINSWORLD TRADEWORLD TRADE ORGANIZATIONWTOWorking PaperWorld Bank10.1596/27215