However, these outlays can become progressive if noncontributory benefits are provided to informal sector workers and families. The new approach aimed at stabilizing macroeconomic imbalances and reducing inflation by means of the monetary approach to the balance of payments. Public policies following from this approach focused on liberalization of domestic markets for goods, labour and finance, privatization of state companies and an overall reduction of the role of the state in the economy. These policies paved the way towards the liberalization of foreign trade, opening up to FDI, liberalization of portfolio flows, adoption of a standardized patent regime (embodied in the Agreement on Trade-related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS)) regarding intellectual property, and the simplification of all forms of international exchange, except for the free mobility of labour.