ABSTRACT Purpose: To understand how services can add value to the production and exports of NRIGs, in which South American countries have comparative advantages. Originality/value: South American countries play a key role in international markets of the so-called Natural Resource Intensive Goods (NRIGs), particularly, mining and food. It has been discussed that this specialization pattern has disadvantages in terms of economic development, and both policy makers and academia repeatedly sustain the need to search for new international insertion schemes. In this paper, we discuss that one such avenue could be based on these comparative advantages themselves, through Services and in a particular infrastructure. Design/methodology/approach: To measure the relevance of economic infrastructure services on the competitiveness of NRIGs, we develop a sectoral approach using domestic input-output tables for six Latin American countries. In particular, we measure Services value added incorporated in NRIGs, and we also analyse the impacts of productivity changes in infrastructure services on NRIGs producer prices. Findings: Results allow to identify which infrastructure services are more important to each NRIG in each country.

Se analiza el comportamiento de las exportaciones industriales de una muestra representativa de países latinoamericanos en el periodo 1990-2010, teniendo en cuenta el contenido tecnológico de las mismas y contrastándola con el desempeño de Estados Unidos, la Unión Europea y Corea del Sur. En este tiempo la mayoría de países de la región se comprometió con una serie de reformas al comercio internacional que en algunos casos se profundizaron y en otros se estancaron o se reversaron. La hipótesis del trabajo es que, en términos generales y relativos, la región presentaba en la entrada del nuevo milenio un incipiente proceso de diversificación exportadora basada en productos con mayor incorporación de tecnología. Este proceso se ha venido opacando, con algunas excepciones (Brasil, México), por la expansión del comercio de productos básicos y mineros, reprimarizando la oferta exportable y colocando a la mayoría de países de la región en una precaria senda de inserción en la economía mundial. La información aquí analizada apoya la validez de dicha conjetura.

We analyze the behavior of industrial exports from a representative sample of Latin American countries in the period 1990-2010, taking into account its technological content and contrasting it with the performance of the United States, the European Union and South Korea equivalent exports. At this time most countries of the region undertook a series of reforms in international trade, which in some cases were further deepened, while in others stagnated or were reversed. The main hypothesis of the paper is that the region presented, at the beginning of the new millennium, a process of exports diversification towards products with greater technology intensity. This process has been overshadowed, with some exceptions (Brazil, Mexico), by the expansion of trade in primary products, which recomposed the export basket in detriment of industrial products, and placed some of these countries in a precarious path of integration into the world economy. The information analyzed supports the validity of this conjecture.

En este documento se realiza una caracterización de las exportaciones industriales colombianas en el periodo 1990-2010, comparando la clasificación convencional de las exportaciones (tradicionales y no tradicionales) con la de los contenidos tecnológicos de Sanjaya Lall (2000) y resaltando las ventajas de esta última. Así mismo, se analizan la sofisticación y la diversificación de las exportaciones. Los resultados sugieren que en los primeros años del nuevo milenio se dio un leve proceso de diversificación de las exportaciones basado en bienes industriales, y que algunos de los bienes exportados presentaron niveles medios y altos de sofisticación. Sin embargo, este proceso se ve amenazado por el auge reciente de las exportaciones primarias.

We perform a characterization of Colombia's industrial exports for the 1990-2010 period. We contrast the commonly used classification of exports (traditional vs. nontraditional) to that of Lall's (2000), which is based on the technological component of exports, stressing the advantages of the latter. In addition, we analyze their diversification and their degree of sophistication. Our results suggest that there has been a process of exports diversification in the early 2000s, based on industrial goods, and that some of the exported goods presented medium to high degrees of sophistication. However, the boom of primary exports that emerged in the last few years is threatening this process.

Ce document réalise une caractérisation des exportations de produits industriels colombiens dans la période 1990-2010, en comparant la classification conventionnelle des exportations (traditionnelles et non traditionnelles) avec celle des contenus technologiques de Sanjaya Lall (2000), et en soulignant les avantages de cette dernière. L'article aborde également la sophistication et la diversification des exportations. Les résultats suggèrent que, dans les premières années du nouveau millénaire, il s'est produit un léger processus de diversification des exportations, fondé sur les produits industriels, et que certaines des marchandises exportées avaient des niveaux moyens et élevés de sophistication. Cependant, ce processus est menacé par l'essor récent des exportations de matières premières.