Impact of Oil Prices on Economic Growth in Latin American Oil Exporting Countries (1990-2014): A Panel Data Analysis

Abstract

This paper is aimed at assessing the impact of oil prices on the GDP growth rate of a sample of net oil exporting Latin American countries during the period 1990-2014. The obtained empirical results from pooled regression and panel data analysis allowing for idiosyncratic differences among the observation units (countries) suggests that the relative economic importance of oil exports and crude oil price fluctuations (West Texas Intermediate and Brent) has a positive relationship and a highly significant effect on the levels of economic activity in Latin American countries.