A Structuralist Evaluation of the US Initiatives for Trade Liberalization within Americas

This paper evaluates the Enterprise for the Americas Initiative (EAI) proposed by the United States government in light of the conclusions from some Structuralist hypotheses, which are surveyed here. Although the benefits of trade liberalization have been emphasized by mainstream economics, Latin American Structuralists have argued that economic integration may have some perverse effects which may transcend these benefits. With these sources of setbacks as a background, the paper suggests some policies which Latin American governments should adopt to avoid losses from any trade liberalization which takes place.