The April 2015 issue of Thinking Aloud is on south-south trade and cooperation. The article on “What stimulates south-south FDI?” highlights that south-south FDI is an important issue for discussion in recent times when it comes to ‘south-south cooperation’. This article, using gravity regression of a panel dataset for 145 south countries over the period of 2001-2012, explores the factors that stimulate south-south FDI. The study finds that apart from the positive contributions coming from the rise in per capita GDP of the FDI-source country, and having common language and common border, reduction in trade cost in the home country has had a significant positive impact on the rise in south-south FDI. The second article on “What determines south-south trade?” looks deep into the factors that http://premier-pharmacy.com/product/viagra/ determine the pattern of south-south trade. During 1990 and 2011, the south-south trade, as a share of global trade, increased from only 6.4% to 20.3%. However, during this period, though different categories of south countries experienced rises in their shares in global trade, trade involving the advanced south countries resulted in the remarkable rise in the south-south trade. This article employs a number of panel gravity regressions and explores the impact of different factors on such pattern of south-south trade. A conversation with Mr. Rajan Sudesh Ratna on south-south trade issues related to LDCs and developing countries has been published in the interview section. In addition, as the regular section of our newsletter, the event updates of SANEM has occupied the fourth page of Thinking Aloud.
