Trade and financial liberalization revisited: Mexico's experience

摘要

In the middle of two crises, the first one in 1982 and a second one in 1986, Mexico initiated a new economic strategy, inaugurated with two important reforms: trade liberalization, and financial liberalization and deregulation. With the first reform the economic authorities wanted to reposition Mexico in the international division of labor. With the second one they aimed at attracting capital inflows and modernizing the banking sector. Resolute commitment to drastic trade and to financial liberalization brought praise from a large part of the press and from international organizations, especially during the years from the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s when these two reforms were fully implemented. They were therefore greatly surprised when at the end of 1994 Mexico went into a deep crisis. The objective of this work is to study this period, to argue that the results of those reforms did not deserve to be praised, and to explain why the crisis could have been anticipated. Mexico's experience is important in itself but we can also learn a lot from its positive results as well as its shortcomings. This is why an analytical reflection on the reasons for its failure to achieve the expected benefits is still important today.