Joining Mercosur: a right movement for regional integration?

The regional trading blocs or Regional Trade Agreements (RTAs) have represented an important strategy for development in Latin American countries. Two central trade blocs in the continent, Mercosur and the Andean Community, took significant steps to create a Free Trade Area (FTA) among members, stopping negotiations in 2003. The proposal itself represents an interesting analytical issue for policy makers, in order to visualize the path through the determination of common free area and its direct effects in each country. This book aims to assess the net welfare effect of a possible future FTA among countries belonging to Mercosur and the Andean Community, focused on the particular case of Venezuela, filling an absent space in the literature. The contribution should be especially useful to economists, professionals involved with Latin-American commerce, policy makers and students.