Regional integration by direct foreign investment of the MERCOSUR and NAFTA and the role of its smaller partners, 1990-2016

Abstract

This paper analyzes and compares the integration by foreign direct investment (fdi) of Mercosur and NAFTA and the role of Uruguay and Mexico between 1990-2016 based on a new methodological proposal within the framework of structural analysis techniques. The results suggest that the Mercosur had low levels of integration although they increa- sed throughout the period, while in NAFTA integration was high, especially in some sub- periods. In this context, the coalition with the smaller partners had enormous differences, being much more intense in the case of Mexico than in the case of Uruguay.