Experts Debate Equity and Competition in Mexico While Mexico has the highest annual per capita income in Latin America, at around US$7,000, its distribution of wealth is very unequal and its economy is losing ground to Asian competitors such as China and India. Mexico is a member of NAFTA and has signed a free trade agreement with the European Union. However, the country has been unable to tap its advantages fully, mainly due to structural problems that negatively impact competitiveness. Competitiveness is key for development and the creation of quality employment. Against this backdrop, the World Bank and the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies at Harvard University decided to co-sponsor a Conference on Equity and Competition for High Growth in Mexico on November 27 and 28, 2006. The aim of the conference is to explore the relationship between unequal institutional structures of power and influence and the design of economic and political institutions in Mexico. At the event, a large number of local and foreign experts will discuss whether the high concentration of wealth in the private sector and corporatist organizational structures (especially labor-related) in protected economic sectors are holding up pro-growth institutions and policy options. They will also analyze whether these two factors leave the government room to maneuver in implementing its economic policies. The participants will include François Bourguignon and Guillermo Perry, the World Bank’s Chief Economist and Chief Economist of the Latin America and the Caribbean Region, respectively; Raghuram Rajan, Chief Economist at the International Monetary Fund; Mexican decision-makers such as Francisco Gil DÃaz, Minister of Finance, and Guillermo Ortiz, Governor of the Banco de México; and experts from Harvard and Stanford Universities. For more information about this event and other topics of interest in the Latin America and the Caribbean Region, visit www.worldbank.org/lac |
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