Sistema Regional de Información
en línea para Revistas Científicas de América Latina,
el Caribe, España y Portugal

This note compares the performance of the Mexican economy with that of the rest of the region over 23 years, since NAFTA took effect, based on the available economic and social indicators. Among the results, it finds that Mexico ranks 15th out of 20 Latin American countries in growth of real GDP per person, the most basic economic measure of living standards; Mexico’s poverty rate in 2014 was higher than the poverty rate of 1994; and real wages (inflation-adjusted) were almost the same in 2014 as in 1994. It also notes that if NAFTA had been successful in restoring Mexico’s pre-1980 growth rate —when developmentalist economic policies were the norm— Mexico today would be a high-income country, with income per person comparable to Western European countries. If not for Mexico’s long-term economic failure, including the 23 years since NAFTA, it is unlikely that immigration from Mexico would have become a major political issue in the United States, since relatively few Mexicans would seek to cross the border.

The Mexican Law Review published an article by Dr. Susana Dávalos entitled “The Rejection of Executory Contracts”1 that addresses the comparison of three legal systems in Spain, Germany and the United States of America when dealing with contracts pending execution when a debtor is declared insolvent. From the analysis of these three systems, the author concludes, for the reasons given therein, that the Spanish regime is the most adequate to reach the objectives pursued by insolvency procedures. Motivated by the reading of this interesting work, the objective of this comment is to show how the regime Mexican legislation has adopted to deal with this issue.

The concept of competitiveness has evolved over time, especially in recent years, when tariff and non-tariff barriers have been eliminated, and markets have increasingly been compacted, thus offering companies better chances to transcend and access other markets. In a context of increasing international trade, it is important to assess the logistics competitiveness of maritime transport. The port competitiveness of the country must be analyzed considering the concept of logistics chain in which the port is the most important link in the transport of goods of export and import. The present study aims to analyze and contrast  the main variables used to evaluate the logistics competitiveness of maritime transport among the member countries of the Pacific Alliance. The results of this analysis are of particular importance to identify the areas of strength or weakness of maritime transportation in these countries. This information may be of particular relevance in the formulation of public policies, the generation of a regional cooperation framework or in making business decisions.

Developing countries are under constant pressure to improve economic conditions and generate sources of employment. To achieve these goals, in the last few decades the mantra has been to engage in global production networks and carry out institutional reforms to attract foreign capital. However, the current set of ideas about globalization is dominated by the premise that economic institutions should aim to insert national economies (or sub-regions) into certain stages of production and specialization (Baldwin, 2012, 2013; Gereffi & Sturgeon, 2013; World Trade Organization, 2011). Developing countries are often targeted at the extractive and labor intensive stages, thus influencing the reforms to become as functional nodes of the global capitalist network. This article argues that any institutional reformulation must contemplate a two-track strategy instead of a single one. This is, the economy must be re- structured to attract foreign direct investment, but it must also seek to develop domestic capacities independently not only engage local capital, preferably in high value-added stages, but also to socially master as many phases of the production process as possible. Thus, it is suggested to reconsider an updated developmental industrial policy as the guiding thread of economic policy.

Today Mexico is still immersed in the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP), so there are expectations that would lead to a diversification of trade and investment despite the excessive concentration of trade agreements that Mexico has signed both in North America and some countries in Asia. Despite the complications and major wear on the negotiations for the consolidation of this, before the departure of the United States, important trade agreements are having been achieved. Indeed, the agenda of international negotiations is moving forward with the proliferation of the negotiations in Asia-Pacific. For Mexico,is vitally important trade and investment integration particularly in sectors such as the automotive, computer, electronics, among many others; interest is a priority for the country transnational corporations. This research aims to carry out an analysis based on the effects of the accession of Mexico to the TPP could generate the country in terms of trade and investment, as well as to consider various strategies that favor their inclusion in the TPP. To do this, is carried out a review and analysis of the same.

The continuous increase in temperature between March and September 2016, in addition to the ratification of the required number of States for the current delivery of the Paris Agreement in the same year, gave the international community the impression that in spite of the big challenge of the climate change, starting from this day, the subject would be tackled under a committed and responsible multilateral diplomacy. For the first time, the main greenhouse gas emitters, The United States and China, led an agreement whose objective proposed avoiding the temperature to reach 2oC degrees and suggests an economical fund of 100 billion dollars to make it happen. However, with the government change in the United States the situation was modified, since the current president, Donald Trump, decided to leave the Paris Agreement. Given this context, China, and other world powers, have accepted to lead the agreement that, currently, seems to be a priority, challenging and risky.

This article analyzes the internationalization of China’s higher education, ai- med to discover if it is oriented toward cooperation or competition. The study takes as theoretical framework the paradigms of cooperation and competition of Huisman and van der Wende (2004). For the analysis of these two para- digms, the following six categories were proposed: 1. State versus Market; 2. Geopolitics of higher education; 3. Prestige and quality of higher education; 4. International student mobility; 5. Tuition and fees, and 6. Language of instruction. The work was based on an exploratory study of these different categories in order to discover the trends of internationalization of higher education in China through the analysis of content of updated documentary sources of books, electronic journals and web pages on this subject. A third model is proposed, the hybrid model, which has characteristics of both coo- peration and competition, and it is argued that the process of internationa- lization of higher education in China pursues this model.

This article proposes an approach of investment relations on a global scale. Two premises of dispute for global economic leadership are discussed: the interpenetration relations between the United States and China, and regulatory framework for FDI in both countries. Based on UNCTAD data, FDI flow and stock are analyzed. Results find American and Chinese-based companies as main competitors for global economic leadership. The article concludes summarizing the most important cases of FDI regulation in both countries by trying to curb foreign companies’ participation in strategic industries.

Financial inclusion is the availability, affordability and accessibility of financial services, regardless of the level of income, location or gender. Despite the efforts and commitments of the international community to reach this state, there are still challenges, especially regarding the incorporation of minority groups and the transition to sustainable financial systems. Therefore, it is important to include a gender perspective in the economic and financial analysis because women face more barriers to access and be part of the benefits and opportunities of the financial system. The following text seeks to clarify the previous premises through an analysis of the advances or setbacks in terms of financial inclusion in APEC member economies and if this positively influences the progress of the Agenda 2030. In the first section, it contextualizes the reader on financial inclusion, why it is important from a gender perspective and why it is crucial for the fulfillment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The following section presents statistical evidence on financial services in the countries of the region to identify achievements and blank spaces. Subsequently, is analyzed one of the alternatives to include the most vulnerable population in the financial system microfinance, and the advances of  the region are shown in a series of good practices. Finally, is indicated a section of conclusions.