In the author's view, the Mexican financial crisis which erupted at the end of 1994 was not unique, although it did have some special features. Thus, since it could happen again, it would be desirable to gain an in-depth understanding of it. This article therefore analyses the process and underlying causes of the Mexican peso crisis. For this purpose, the author distinguishes three main periods. The first of these extends from the beginning of 1990 up to March 1994, and an analysis is made of the problems that were hatching and the policy options that were available. With regard to the se…
With this new periodical publication, Panorama de la inserción internacional de América Latin y el Caribe, the ECLAC secretariat hopes to initiate a ongoing process of analysis of the region's linkages with the global economy, trade policy instruments that can help improve those linkages in the framework of multilateral and regional agreements and the factors that influence demand in the markets constituted by the industrialized countries and large transnational corporations. This first issue for 1996 describes trends in the trade and trade policies of the countries of the region, with sp…
This article analyses the interrelation between the macroeconomic framework and growth. After reviewing the recent macroeconomic environment, highlighting progress and shortcomings, it focuses on the implications of the existence of gaps between production capacity and its degree of utilization or effective demand; the way in which persistent disparities in this respect affect the speed of expansion of the production frontier is illustrated by examples from the 1980s and 1990s. It then reviews economic policies that affect the degree of proximity between the production frontier and effective d…
Trade liberalization, deregulation of economic activity, the privatization of public-sector production units and much more careful management of the main macroeconomic aggregates are causing profound changes in the behaviour of the Latin American economies. A more competitive climate is gradually spreading through the countries of the region as companies, markets and institutions adapt to a new micro- and macroeconomic scene. This article analyses the various types of modifications in the production structure of the industrial firms of Latin America, the variations in productivity, the systems…
The present surge of interest in participative rural development projects based on peasant communities differs from similar past experiences in that it forms part of a broader tendency to decentralize social management, to enhance the role of the beneficiaries of social policies, and to give them a bigger say in their implementation. In order to avoid repeating the failures of past decades in programmes designed to reduce rural poverty, it is necessary to incorporate elements of modern applied anthropology in programmes for the training of extension workers and in the explanatory models of spe…
This article analyses the treatment accorded to foreign investment under the present development strategy. To this end, it looks at the recent dynamics of both direct and indirect foreign investment, including portfolio investment and quasi-equity operations, the latter with reference to contracts for the transfer of production know-how. For this purpose, the main resource flows and their directions are analysed, together with the changes which have taken place in corporate strategies. It is concluded that it is necessary to put together an explicit development strategy in which the main objec…
Este artículo analiza el tratamiento a la inversión extranjera en el marco de la actual estrategia de desarrollo. Con ese fin examina la dinámica reciente de la inversión extranjera, tanto la directa como la indirecta, incluida la inversión de cartera y la cuasi accionaria, ésta última referida a los contratos de transferencia de conocimientos productivos. Para ello se examinan los principales flujos de recursos y su direccionalidad, así como los cambios ocurridos en las estrategias corporativas. Se concluye que es necesario articular una estrategia explícita de desarrollo y especificar como o…
En opinión de la autora, la crisis financiera mexicana que estalló a fines de 1994 no fue única, si bien tuvo características especiales. De allí la posibilidad que vuelva a repetirse y la necesidad de entenderla a fondo. En este artículo se examina el proceso y las causas de la crisis del peso mexicano. Para ello la autora distingue tres períodos principales: el primero, de comienzos de 1990 hasta marzo de 1994, respecto del que se analizan los problemas que se incubaban y las opciones de política disponibles. El segundo, entre marzo de 1994 y el 20 de diciembre del mismo año, enfatizando otr…
Este artículo entrega una visión de largo plazo del desarrollo de las ideas y políticas en América Latina y el Caribe. Examina los cambios de las tendencias en la formulación de políticas, señalando que los más abruptos de ellos ocurrieron, el primero en el período de entreguerras, y el segundo a principios de los años ochenta, y que en ambos casos se dieron cambios que pueden ser considerados pendulares o de etapas, pero que, en todo caso, fueron significativos. Enseguida pasa revista a las reformas económicas puestas en práctica a partir de los años ochenta, y pone de relieve sus factores co…
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