Latin America Financial Markets and Institutions
1- Is the Latin American Pension Reform Transferable?
Latin American Financial markets have experienced evolution and not revolution. Despite the fact that some countries in Latin America have experienced some forms of instability, while others have had unprecedented periods of stability, it is a fact that an economic revolution would occur if there were a change in the entire system such as changing from a capitalist to a socialist nation, without seeking support from citizens (Arbeláez & Click, 2005). However presently, developments in Latin America are evolutionary (Lopez, 2019). For instance, Latin American countries are enhancing their participation in the world market, diversifying their traditional production centers and extending toward attaining a greater parity between export and import ratios.
Latin America countries are also experimenting with different investment schemes and global partnerships. The region has started lessening its historical reliance on the U.S. as a dominant trade partner by looking to other nations for short and long-term mutually beneficial relationships (Griffiths, 2019). Venezuela, for example, is exporting its oil to China and other trade partners. Specifically, more than 70 percent of Venezuela’s oil exports have gone to Petroleum of Venezuela’s clients in Asia, with a larger percentage landing in India, Singapore and China (Smith, 2019). Venezuela exported a total of 200000 bpd of fuel and 1.46 million bpd of crude oil before the U.S. sanctions. Most Latin American countries like Argentina and Chile have also initiated product diversification including agricultural products that were traditionally absent in the region.
2- Have Latin American financial markets experienced evolution or revolution?
Domestic politics have primarily defined the U.S. policy toward Latin American countries. However, this has become extreme under Trump’s administration. Trump’s attention to Mexico has affected two critical areas: trade and immigration (Campbell, 2019). Regarding trade, Trump pushed for the renegotiation of NAFTA with Canada and Mexico. Trump has also imposed sanctions in some Latin American countries which has imposed dire consequences on their financial and banking sectors (Puig, 2019).
3- Banking and financial meaning of Trumps administration for Latin America-use data.