The Repercussions of Mexico's Neoliberal Reforms and the North American Free Trade Agreement

Introduction

To understand and elaborate on the text with its reference to the repercussions of Mexico's neoliberal reforms and the North American Free Trade Agreement, it is important to look at the topics individually. Through evaluation of the topics can provide insight to effectively elaborate and relate them to the context of the text. Keeping this in mind, we can elaborate that neoliberal economists sought support for their drastic recipes by promising long-term gain for short-term pain (Gilbert, 709-716). While imposing immediate losses, structural adjustment and market reform would soon unleash sustained growth, as Chile experienced it from the mid-1980s onward. Therefore, majorities of citizens in many Latin American countries initially supported or accepted drastic, painful change. But when economic recovery quickly petered out and gave way to new rounds of austerity and belt-tightening, the popular mood began to turn increasingly sour. As the annual Latino-baro-metro data show, more and more people report dissatisfaction with the new market model and criticize structural reform measures such as the privatization of public enterprises and services (John, 78).

Market Reforms

The surprising wave of market reforms that swept across Latin America during the 1980s and 1990s has profoundly affected the region's economic, social, and political development. For instance, drastic trade liberalization has exposed important branches of industry to serious competitive challenges while commodity exports have flourished; countries' patterns of international economic specialization have therefore changed (Gilbert, 709-716). The resulting dislocations have exacerbated employment problems and further aggravated social inequality, a longstanding problem in the region. Economic crises and increasing social informality in turn have contributed to political convulsions such as the collapse of party systems and the rise of neo-populist leaders. On the other hand, however, high and higher inflation, a scourge for decades, has been brought under control; economic recovery has reduced poverty in the mid-1990s and the mid-2000s; and democracy, which looked shaky in the 1980s, has survived the tremendous socioeconomic and political troubles and travails of the last two decades (Gilbert, 699-707).

Market Problems

Considering the problems that Latin America's new market economies have faced inevitable byproducts of the reform model or the results of preventable mistakes during implementation that an additional round of reforms can remedy? And what theoretical conclusions can scholars draw from the actual performance of the new market model, which has been significantly weaker than promised by neoliberal experts, but not nearly as catastrophic in its economic, social, and political repercussions as predicted by hard- line critics? In theoretical terms, advocates of market reform believed in the power of agency: they expected that "getting the prices right" and, more recently, "getting the institutions right" would restart Latin America's development, end persistent stagnation, and usher in a new era of prosperity (Gilbert, 699-707).

Thus, well-designed reforms enacted by bold political leadership would bring profound change for the better. This optimistic viewpoint assumes that economic, social, and political life is susceptible to voluntaristic manipulation (John, 79). Since people are seen as ...