Alexander Blandon Lopez (p), Gustavo Adolfo Rubio Rodriguez , Janeth Gonzalez Rubio

The purpose of this research is to identify the main obstacles and opportunities for the consolidation of a value chain cocoa Tolima profitable and sustainable, while intends to design policy recommendations to consolidate the social inclusion and the competitive insertion of small cocoa producers in the global value chain.
The study intents to fulfill a theoretical and empirical gap in studies that support the analysis of the cocoa value chain with a global value chain approach for the department of Tolima and, in particular, for the main municipalities producers of the department. Hence, it seeks to determine the existing links between the small local producers and the international markets - current form of insertion. Second, to identify the conditions and entry barriers present in the global value chain for the access of products from the cocoa chain to international markets. Third, to identify current and potential international markets for products from the Tolima cocoa chain. Finally, to recommend policy interventions identifying where (links and activities), how and by whom should be done to improve the way of inserting small local producers into the global value chain.
The study reviews experiences in other realities and is supported on the framework of the global value chain which allows to compare theories with empirical elements presented in the local. It is part of a macro project of the research group Value chains and Regional competitiveness. At present the study is being carried out, thus results are preliminary and do not cover the full extent of its objectives.
The research is exploratory and uses a mix of qualitative and quantitative techniques to its development, through exercises with schemes such as focus groups and the continuous work with the productive and commercial collective of the cocoa value chain, productive associations, government institutions, production units and other commercial units in 8 municipalities.
The cocoa farmers of the department of Tolima consider agricultural producers have low quality of life and in this sense face critical issues to access international markets such low levels of education, lack of financial resources and technological cooperation schemes, poor social and physical infrastructure. Finally, it is important to point out that the actual degree of social inclusion of small cocoa producers can be boosted by the support of cooperation schemes at the level of value chain at the regional, national and international levels.

Mauricio Vaz Lobo Bittencourt (p), Alex Sander Souza Carmo, Stanley R. Thompson, Gabriel Casaril

We investigate the competitiveness of Brazilian and Chinese exports to MERCOSUR from 2008 to 2017. Following conventional methods, we compute an Export Similarity Index (ESI) for Brazilian and Chinese exports to MERCOSUR. This index is disaggregated according to product similarities. Results show that the similarity between Brazilian and Chinese product exports has increased over time. However, the ESI disaggregation reveals that the similarities largely occur with vertically differentiated goods, where the quality of the goods exported by Brazil are considered superior to those exported by China. Thus, competition between Brazil and China in the MERCOSUR has declined over time since the two countries export to different market segments.

Sandro Montresor, Jacopo Zotti (p)

According to Millar et al. (2019), there is no general evidence that the effects of the circular economy (CE) on sustainability are positive. This paper provides an explanation for this lack of evidence by showing that the relationship between CE and sustainability is conceptually ambiguous. This result directly follows from the own essence of the CE, and it is not due to the lack of a clear definition of CE or to the ambiguity of the concept of sustainability. Differently from previous contributions, which mostly rely on literature reviews, this paper formulates a theoretical reasoning, which is rooted in the notion of CE suggested by Zotti and Bigano (2019). A crucial strength of this notion is that it allows highlighting the theoretical ambiguity of its effects on the environment (Zotti and Bigano, 2019). Hence, since environmental sustainability is a necessary element for sustainability, this ambiguity inevitably impairs the whole relationship between CE and sustainability. In policy perspective, this result suggests that implementing the CE does not necessarily yield improvements in terms of sustainability. In the case of environmental sustainability, for example, we provide a series of considerations, which highlight the difficulties of using the CE to achieve environmental goals

Edoardo Pizzoli (p)

Regional statistics by Eurostat highlight clear differences of economic behaviour and performances in different areas. Local structural characteristics but also long run policies may explain the diverging speed of growth. Some regions have important financial centre, some other large industrial areas, still other are mainly rural areas. Technology is playing a crucial role in any region with respect to local and global markets. Which factors are more statistical significant and help explaining the differentiated reactions of European regions to the current global crisis? An investigation at NUTS 2 level following the indications of recent economic theories will try to mark the differences.