The EU-Mercosul free trade agreement: Quantifying mutual gains

We identify trade in goods opportunities in a EU-Mercosul free trade area. Gains for Mercosul are rather concentrated, being mostly associated to a few agricultural commodities nowadays facing high protection barriers. EU gains are evenly spread, comprising a variety of market penetration possibilities. Trade deviation by the EU products is never higher than trade creation, confirming their international competitiveness and signalling that a great distortion of Mercosul’s imports won’t take place. Balanced gains exist for both sides; for Mercosul, the agreement can act as a first serious trial for future liberalisations with other developed partners, and as a warning on needed competitiveness improvements.

From free software to free culture: the emergence of open business

This paper provides an examination of the emergence of open business models — entrepreneurial strategies that take advantage of the ease of digital reproduction to distribute free content, while earning money from the sale of related products and services. Locating the origins of open business in the open source software phenomenon, the authors suggest that the business strategies innovated there have broader economic relevance. Through a case study of the tecnobrega music scene in Belém, the paper illustrates how open business models can be applied to the production of cultural materials more generally