ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to attempt de-construct an apparently consensual ideological view of these reforms by stressing some peculiarities of the Brazilian experience, especially vis-à-vis Argentina, Brazil’s main partner in the Common Market of the South (MERCOSUR), which represents Latin America’s most successful attempt at regional integration to date. It discusses the macroeconomic limits to MERCOSUR and reviews Brazil’s business environment and domestic reactions to regional integration. MERCOSUR, although structurally uncertain at both the macroeconomic and institutional levels, creates important business and trade opportunities while reinforcing broad modifications in business culture. Thus, a characteristic of MERCOSUR is that integration is to proceed among countries with marked macroeconomic incongruities and economic policies that appear distinctly different in their structures. Argentina imposed quotas and full tariffs on imports of Brazilian wood furniture just prior to the signing of the MERCOSUR agreement. Prospects for MERCOSUR must be evaluated from a geopolitical, rather than a strictly economic, perspective.
