This volume examines issues of economic interest faced by Latin America economies in the late 20th Century. The fifteen chapters deal with macroeconomic problems, financial crises, the development of trade and trade agreements and labour issues. Of particular interest are the chapters dealing with Argentina, which provide an absorbing background to the financial crisis faced today. CONTENTS: Introduction; E.Bour, D.Heymann & F.Navajas PART I: MACROECONOMIC CRISES A Comparison of Currency Crises between Asia and Latin America; K.Hamada Latin American and the External Crisis of the Second Half of the 1990s; V.Corbo Banking Crises in Latin America in the 1990s: Lessons from Argentina, Paraguay and Venezuela; A.Garcia Herrero On the Causes of the Latin American and Asian Currency Crises of the 1990s; M.Fratzscher Contagion in Emerging Markets: When Wall Street in the Carrier; G..Calvo PART II: TRADE AND TRADE AGREEMENTS Preferential Trade Agreements at the Turn of the Century; T.N.Srinivasan The Role of Sub-regional Agreements in Latin American Economic Integration; V.Urquidi International Specialization and Trade Regimes in Argentina 1960-99; L.Miotti, C.Quenan & C.Winograd Testing the Short- and Long-run Exchange Rate Effects on the Trade Balance: The Case of Colombia; H.Rincon External Shocks, Relative Prices and Sectoral Reallocation in a Small Open Economy: Evidence from Mexico; T.Iscan Exchange Rate Pass-through: The Case of Brazilian Exports of Manufacturers; A.Ferreira & A.Sansó PART III: LABOUR AND INCOME DISTRIBUTION The Impact of Firing Costs on Turnover and Unemployment: Evidence from Colombia; A.Kugler Structural Reform and the Distribution Effects of Price Changes in Argentina; F.Navajas Endogenous Child Mortality, the Price of Child Goods and Fertility Decisions: Evidence from Argentina; A.Cigno & G.Pinal Child Labour in Peru: an Empirical Analysis and Modelling Implications; R.Ray