Uruguay Capital Market: Law-in-the-books or Law-in-action?

This paper discusses the process of legal infrastructure reform to build better institutions for capital market development in Uruguay during the 1990s. It contains a description, a brief literature survey, an explanation, and an evaluation. From this we draw lessons and make a prospective analysis of the fate of capital market development under the new political scenario shaped by the first left-wing government in the national history. In particular we find fascinating the conundrum of a legal reform in a country in which the legislator and the politician have played a first order role in the interpretation of the law and regulating the gap between "law-in-the-books" and "law-in-action".