Capital Markets, Growth, and Economic Policy in Latin America

Looking at how Latin American countries have coped with the 1994 Mexican crisis and the earlier debt crisis of the 1980s, this book reveals the full extent of what has come to be known as the tequila effect. Written by distinguished economists and financiers from Latin America, the Caribbean, and the United States, the volume also examines the social, political, and economic issues associated with ever-expanding trade and globalization.

The book opens with chapters considering the impact of the Mexican crisis on Argentina, Colombia, and Venezuela, and it provides an interesting account of the events leading up to the crisis itself. In the following section, the contributors examine issues of economic growth by considering such topics as the need for a new growth strategy, by comparing the Latin American and Asian economies, and by looking at the Cuban economy from a trading partner's perspective. The final section takes an indepth look at the complex issues of neoliberalist versus neopopulist thinking in shaping Latin America's economic policies for the 21st century.

ANTONIO JORGE is Professor of Economics at Florida International University and a Senior Research Scholar at the University of Miami. His recent publications include Price Policies and Economic Growth (Praeger, 1997) and The Economics of the Caribbean: Present Problems and Future Trends (1997).

JORGE SALAZAR-CARRILLO is Professor of Economics and Director of the Center for Economic Research at Florida International University and a nonresident staff member of the Brookings Institution. Recent works include Oil in the Economic Development of Venezuela during the Twentieth Century (Praeger, 1994), Price Policies and Economic Growth (Praeger, 1997) and The Economics of the Caribbean: Present Problems and Future Trends (1997).

BERNADETTE WEST is a Lecturer of Economics at the University of Miami and Florida International University.