In late December 1994--after having attracted widespread praise as a model of economic reform and become a super-magnet for international investors as well as the United States' partner in the newly consummated NAFTA trade agreement--Mexico seemingly overnight plunged into political and economic crisis. The perceived threat to the global economy was to lead the Clinton administration, against strong congressional criticism, to push through an unprecedented $40-billion international rescue package.

The complex anatomy of this "first economic crisis of the 21st century" is here examined-in sometimes sharply divergent perspectives--by a distinguished international group that includes ex-ministers, financial market participants, leading political scientists and economists, and senior officials from the World Bank, the IMF, and the Inter-American Development Bank.