Lessons from NAFTA: For Latin America and the Caribbean (Latin American Development Forum) - Softcover

Luis Serven; Daniel Lederman; William F. Maloney

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0821358138 ISBN 13: 9780821358139

Publisher: World Bank Publications, 2004

Synopsis

Analyzing the experience of Mexico under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), 'Lessons from NAFTA' aims to provide guidance to Latin American and Caribbean countries considering free trade agreements with the United States. The authors conclude that the treaty raised external trade and foreign investment inflows and had a modest effect on Mexico's average income per person. It is likely that the treaty also helped achieve a modest reduction in poverty and an improvement in job quality.This book will be of interest to scholars and policymakers interested in international trade and development.

About this title

From the Inside Flap

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.

From the Back Cover

"Lederman, Maloney, and Serven offer an excellent empirical investigation into the impacts of the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) on the Mexican economy. . . . The authors pay close attention to the experiences of other Latin American countries and the European Union while avoiding ideological debates.”—CHOICE
“Lessons from NAFTA is important perhaps less for what it tells us about changes under a free-trade agreement and more for its nuanced and careful empirical investigation of how trade can actually make people better off. This, indeed, is the ‘big story’ of NAFTA and the potential for free trade agreements in the region.”—Political Science Quarterly

Edition details

• Publisher: World Bank Publications
• Publication date: 2004
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0821358138
• ISBN 13: 9780821358139
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 428