Luis Servén - Böcker

Latin America's macroeconomic crises of the 1980s and '90s forced a severe fiscal adjustment across the region. More often than not, fiscal stability was achieved at the cost of a drastic compression of public infrastructure spending, accompanied by the hope that the private sector would take the leading role in infrastructure provision. This book documents the major trends in infrastructure provision in Latin America over the past two decades n order to assess the consequences of this changed public-private partnership from the perspective of economic growth, public finances, and the quantity and quality of infrastructure services. It will be of particular interest to those in the fields of infrastructure, fiscal policy, and economic growth, and anyone concerned with Latin America's development. For orders originating outside of North America, please visit the World Bank website for a list of distributors and geographic discounts at http://publications.worldbank.org/howtoorder or e-mail pubdistributors@worldbank.org.

Analyzing the experience of Mexico under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the authors draw lessons for other countries considering free trade agreements with the United States. The authors conclude that NAFTA raised external trade and foreign investment inflows and had a modest effect on Mexico's average income per person. It is likely that NAFTA also helped achieve a modest reduction in poverty and an improvement in job quality. However, major obstacles remain to Mexico's long term development-NAFTA is not enough. The main lesson for other countries is that free trade agreements offer opportunities to accelerate economic growth, but do not guarantee it.

Analyzing the experience of Mexico under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the authors draw lessons for other countries considering free trade agreements with the United States. The authors conclude that NAFTA raised external trade and foreign investment inflows and had a modest effect on Mexico's average income per person. It is likely that NAFTA also helped achieve a modest reduction in poverty and an improvement in job quality. However, major obstacles remain to Mexico's long term development-NAFTA is not enough. The main lesson for other countries is that free trade agreements offer opportunities to accelerate economic growth, but do not guarantee it.

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