Mercosul: o dilema entre união aduaneira e área de livre-comércio

Mercosur: the dilemma between the customs union and a free trade area. In 2001, the government of Argentina - facing a major economic crisis - took a rather controversial decision and reduced the tariff rates of all capital goods to zero. This became a main source of conflict with Brazil, the only country of Mercosur that produces such goods. This paper discusses two possible scenarios for the resolution of this issue. In the first one, the countries would opt for the maintenance of the customs union. The authors present some suggestions for the rebuilding of the Common External Tariff (CET), by which the countries would take a middle course acceptable to all. The other possible outcome would be a step back in the direction of a free trade area, with no CET at all.

Exchange rate pass-through inflation and wage differentials in late-industrializing economies: the Mexican case

This paper investigates exchange rate pass-through inflation, and the wage bargaining process, in a developing economy in which firms' market power is largely dependent on technical progress embodied in imported intermediates and capital goods. It develops a heterodox model of income distribution, based on theoretical contributions from Latin American structuralists, labor market segmentationists and post-Keynesian writers, and it presents supportive empirical evidence from the Mexican economy.