Globalization, Free Trade and Economic Growth in Mexico

Abstract

The fast and steady growth that characterized several East Asian countries during the 1970s and 1980s prompted policy makers from most developing countries to copy the East Asian model, in the hope of getting on the fast-track of growth and catching up with the club of the rich. International organizations such as the World Bank, IMF, GATT, etc. exaggerated the virtues of free market in order to convince policy makers around the world that “liberalization and deregulation” are the recipe for the ‘East Asian Miracle’. Under such temptations, Mexico abandoned its import-substitution strategy and began liberalizing its economy in the late 1970s.