In the early 1990s Mexico City's Federal District (the D.F.) initiated a series of service contracts with four operators in the private sector, each to be implemented in three stages over ten years. The idea was to introduce competitive pressures and to find out if a "gradualist" aaproach would...

The case in Mexico City offered an opportunity to observe the advantages, and disadvantages of gradualist reform. Unfortunately, the authors find that the long-term nature of an incremental approach does not match well with the generally shorter-term horizons of elected politicians. Difficult...

Regulatory simplification has become a part of many countries' efforts to improve the investment climate and the overall economy. Reducing red tape can lift constraints on private sector development and foster economic growth. In Latin America, where decentralization has advanced considerably in...

Privatization of state-owned assets was a central economic reform of the 1980s and 1990s. Lack of data has made it impossible to judge the extent to which privatization has diminished the importance of state ownership in the economy or changed the performance of state-owned enterprises. This...