Exploring the Possible Benefits and Costs of FTAA

Given the unclear results in Latin America's past experience with free trade areas and customs unions, one wonders whether the present degree of enthusiasm about the prospects of a much more grandiose effort in the same direction (the Free Trade Area of the Americas [FTAA]) is really justified. This document takes a coldly analytical look at the pluses and minuses surrounding a prospective FTAA and focuses on the economists' tried and true criteria of costs and benefits.