ABSTRACT
As many other developing countries in Latin America and elsewhere, but perhaps faster and farther than most of them, Mexico has been moving in the 1980s towards a liberalized trade regime after a long period of importsubstitution industrialization. Compared to the experiences of other countries, especially those which are also well advanced in this process such as Chile and Bolivia in Latin America, the Mexican case shows a number of singular features which, over a longer time span, will probably make it a unique example of economic and political success in terms of the smoothness of its transition, given the small adjustment costs involved and the virtual absence of political tensions and resistance to change.
