Beyond the Crisis? Thinking Strategically About Mexico’s Economic Future
Mexico’s economy was one of the most severely affected by the global economic crisis. The country’s GDP shrank by 6.5 percent in 2009—the most serious contraction since the 1995 peso crisis. Even prior to the collapse, Mexico grew at relatively low rates even under highly favorable global economic conditions. This suggests that there are structural problems that must be addressed if Mexico is to bolster its development.
On June 25, the Latin America Initiative at Brookings and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) hosted a conference with leading Mexican and international experts to discuss Mexico’s economic future. The conference diagnosed Mexico’s development strategy and highlighted key aspects of an economic agenda to take Mexico beyond the global economic crisis.
Arturo Sarukhan, the Mexican ambassador to the United States, and Luis Alberto Moreno, President of the Inter-American Development Bank, delivered opening remarks. Alejandro Werner, deputy secretary of Finance of Mexico, Santiago Levy, IDB vice president for sector and knowledge, and Jesús Silva-Herzog Márquez, of the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México, served as panelists. Brookings Senior Fellow Mauricio Cárdenas, director of the Latin America Initiative, was joined by Brookings experts Kevin Casas-Zamora, Vanda Felbab-Brown and Carol Graham as moderators and discussants. After each panel, participants took audience questions.
Agenda
9:00 AM - Welcoming Remarks and Introduction
Mauricio Cárdenas
Visiting Senior Research Scholar, Center on Global Energy Policy - Colombia University
Former Minister of Finance and Public Credit - Republic of Colombia
Former Brookings Expert
Featured Remarks
Amb. Arturo Sarukhan
Nonresident Senior Fellow and Former Ambassador of Mexico to the United States - Foreign Policy, Latin America Initiative
9:30 AM - Panel One: Understanding Mexico’s Long-term Economic Performance
Mauricio Cárdenas
Visiting Senior Research Scholar, Center on Global Energy Policy - Colombia University
Former Minister of Finance and Public Credit - Republic of Colombia
Former Brookings Expert
Alejandro Werner
Director of the Western Hemisphere Department - International Monetary Fund
Santiago Levy
Nonresident Senior Fellow - Global Economy and Development, Brookings Economic and Social Policy in Latin America Initiative
10:30 AM - Panel Two: The Microeconomics of Growth – Issues in Mexico
Kevin Casas-Zamora
Former Brookings Expert
Director, Programa Estado de Derecho, Diálogo Interamericano
William F. Maloney
Lead Economist, Development Economics Research Group, The World Bank
Manuel Molano
Assistant General Director, Instituto Mexicano para la Competitividad, A.C.
Aaron Tornell
University of California, Los Angeles
11:30 AM - Panel Three: The Political Economy of Low Growth in Mexico
Carol Graham
Leo Pasvolsky Senior Fellow and Research Director - Global Economy and Development
Vanda Felbab-Brown
Director - Initiative on Nonstate Armed Actors
Co-Director - Africa Security Initiative
Senior Fellow - Foreign Policy, Center for Security, Strategy, and Technology
Jesús Silva-Herzog Márquez
Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México
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