Hope springs eternal as a global recovery sparks investment in Latin America.

What makes a recession? What makes a recovery? There are plenty of hard and fast rules--quarters of negative growth, standstill job markets, slack consumption--but most will tell you that it has a lot to do with how a slowing economy affects one personally For some emerging economies, dropping from double-digit to single-digit growth feels like a slowdown; others would be thrilled if only joblessness would diminish. Some countries are going gangbusters but investors are on edge nonetheless (Venezuela, Argentina). Others see great times ahead, but worry how long the party can last (Brazil, Mexico). Other still have simply decided to ignore their longstanding problems and get moving (just look at Colombia's stellar numbers, despite years of virtual civil war).

To our annual look ahead at the region's biggest economies, we've added eight key sectors for which forecastable figures exist across most of the big markets. Most seem to be ready to light a fuse. Mostly, too, that's because the years after the late 1990s were such a bust--on dot-com blues, then terrorism, and then just plain old malaise. But China is buying (and selling), and the United States and Europe are off the ropes. Even Japan is expected to post positive numbers. Can Latin America turn good times into a sustained ride? As the money pours in, much depends on smart managers, smarter regulators and ever-declining barriers. In short, real competition equals real growth.