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This paper studies the possible role of US trade liberalization in explaining Puerto Rico's deindustrialization. In order to address this issue, time series techniques were used. The results of the Granger Causality Test suggest that the imports made by the US from Mexico, Canada, Ireland, and Costa Rica do not explain Puerto Rico's deindustrialization. Therefore, no causal relationship was found between the imports made by the US from its NAFTA partners and the countries where the corporations that benefited from Section 936 relocated with the deindustrialization of Puerto Rico. Besides, the impulse response exercise suggests that in the first period, deindustrialization explains its variability by 100%, and in the final period, it explains 95.47%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper conducts a comprehensive long-run analysis of the global spatial concentration and locational dynamics of manufacturing agglomerations in Mexico. While prior research on Mexico has examined the impact of trade liberalisation on processes of regional convergence or divergence, effects on the scale, location and dynamics of agglomerations and local specialisation remain underexplored. To address this gap in the literature, we use a newly-collated municipality-level dataset containing more granular data distinct from more frequently used state-level data. Our analysis spans the period 1950–2019, capturing the full extent of the growing importance of the manufacturing sector and providing a nuanced perspective on the evolution of agglomerations and local specialisation patterns. We investigate shifts in agglomeration during import substitution and following the introduction of trade liberalisation, examining whether new agglomerations emerged or existing ones attracted further economic activity and how these changes impacted local specialisation. In extension, we also examine recent trends, assessing the persistence or alteration of agglomeration dominance in the north of the country. In doing so, our analysis provides valuable insights into the intricate dynamics of agglomerations and local specialisation and their significance in shaping regional disparities. • Analysis of municipality manufacturing agglomerations in Mexico 1950-2019. • Import substitution is characterised by decreasing levels of global agglomeration and specialisation. • Recent decades are characterised by substantial increases of global agglomeration and specialisation. • Manufacturing has become increasingly concentrated in several core agglomerations. • Changing levels of agglomeration and local specialisation have clear implications for regional disparities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction and Aims: The Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) included novel rules for wine and spirits requiring parties to allow wine and spirits importers to display information required by the importing country on a supplementary label rather than on the standard label. Since the TPP negotiations concluded, alcohol-specific supplementary labelling rules have begun to appear in other trade agreements. The aim of this paper was to map the new instruments containing these rules and examine developments in the rules with implications for health information on alcohol containers.Design and Methods: Trade agreements signed after the TPP negotiations concluded were retrieved and searched for alcohol-specific labelling provisions. A legal analysis of these provisions and related exceptions was undertaken.Results: Supplementary labelling rules similar or identical to those in the TPP have been included in five subsequent trade agreements. The United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement also includes several additional provisions about alcohol labelling. Exceptions in the agreements provide some space for governments to defend labelling measure that might otherwise breach the rules, in the event of a dispute.Discussion and Conclusions: By securing these rules, the alcohol industry is better positioned to claim the space on the standard label as industry 'real estate' and to oppose mandatory health information incorporated into the standard labelling. These risks can be mitigated by stemming the adoption of supplementary labelling rules in further trade agreements; clarifying the text of agreements and ensuring that regulators understand that the rules do not prevent the use of 'best-practice' warning labels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • Sigma convergence in Europe is studied from a new perspective, multi-sectoral and multi-regional of income generation. • There is a clear breakpoint in the process of European convergence, around 2008, corresponding to the international crisis. • Increase in the role of trade in explaining the domestic and total evolution of income in Europe. • Differential contribution of sectors according to their technological nature. • Need to include the productive structure and structural change in the analysis of global processes such as convergence. Abstract The promotion of economic, social, and territorial cohesion has been one of the main pillars of the construction of the European Union. This general principle has been manifest in the objectives of achieving a higher level of economic convergence, territorial competitiveness, and fostering employment creation in EU countries. The recent economic crisis has implied profound changes, not only in the path of growth but also in the structural and technological characteristics of EU countries, with these elements highly conditioning their inter-dependencies, economic outcomes, and convergence. This paper analyzes the role that the evolution of economic structures has played in the evolution of recent convergence in Europe expanding the traditional measures of economic convergence extended to a multi-regional input-output framework. Our study shows a trend towards convergence among EU countries and a significant breakpoint with the arrival of the economic crisis in 2008. Moreover, we observe a continuous change in the role of different components, raising the participation of trade (intra and extra European trade) in income for most of the countries and sectors analyzed. In addition, the different behavior of services, in particular, knowledge intensive services in the EU countries notably condition income generation in countries. Nevertheless, our results show that despite services economy explains significantly income growth in Europe over the period 2000–2014, income growth in Eastern Europe countries has notably relied on the positive reliance of manufacturing sectors (particularly medium and low technology sectors), and the expansion of conventional services, with a lower representativeness of the knowledge intensive sectors. Domestic and intra-EU markets are dominant, although also with an increasing share of extra-EU exports. The opposite can be said for central EU economies, which a smoother evolution over the period but a clear dominance of the knowledge intensive services and, in some cases, the high and medium-high technology industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • We examine why Mexico's success as an exporter of manufactures has failed to translate into overall growth. • Our explanation hinges on the negative demand externalities of input outsourcing. • Outsourcing reduced demand for key manufacturing industries during 1980–1995 and 1995–2011. • The demand stimulus of industrial exports was lower in Mexico than in high-performing countries. • We use a model to examine the macroeconomic links between outsourcing and growth. Abstract In recent decades the Mexican economy has seen a dramatic expansion of exports of manufactured goods and imports of manufactured inputs. Mexico's integration with global production chains, however, has failed to produce sustained output and productivity growth. In this paper we propose an explanation for slow growth that hinges on the negative demand externalities of input outsourcing. We make two contributions. First, using input–output data we show that outsourcing has lowered domestic demand for the manufacturing sector, especially for capital-intensive basic industries. Second, we develop a model of outsourcing and capital accumulation and show that lower costs of outsourcing can hurt accumulation if, for the aggregate manufacturing sector, the negative effect of domestic demand shortfalls on profitability exceeds the offsetting effects of lower input costs and of export expansion. Our findings complement the broader literature on the apparent paradox of Mexico's success as an exporter of manufactures amid sluggish growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper formulates a static applied general equilibrium model of a small open economy and then calibrates it to the Mexican input–output matrix for 1987. We use the calibrated model to quantify how much of the dramatic rise in the skill premium over the period 1987–1994, following the liberalization of the trade policy in Mexico, can be accounted for by the change in the extensive margin of trade or trade variety. Our numerical experiments show that the increase in the extensive margin of Mexican manufactured trade with the U.S. can account for up to approximately 12 percent of the actual increase in skill premium in Mexico from 1987 to 1994. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we analyse data on 523 commercial French agents established in Mexico that were registered in the "Indicateur General de l'Industrie et du Commerce Francais pour l'exportation et l'importation", published in Paris since 1892 by Engineer and Businessman F. Bianconi. Two consular reports from 1892-1893 were filed and secured by descendants of Honorary Consul of the French Legation in Puebla. One of the main topics discussed in this paper is the fact that "Free-Trade Imperialism" by French Businessmen was the result of regional and national capital accumulation and social and political networks of these residents inside Mexico, than an active foreign French imperialist policy as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this paper is to analyze the changes in the traditional scheme of distribution and supply of foods in Mexico, derived from its adaptation to the open economy model. It emphasizes the demographic concentration in cities, technological advances and the simplification of stages of intermediation. Applies a simple methodology that uses data about the number of users of computer, cell phone, with internet access and that also have electronic means of payment. The results suggest that current food supply networks for cities transit towards other schemes as electronic distribution of food, although with certain limitations, as it is still emerging digital infrastructure and transport companies as well as the low level of consumption. The conclusions indicate that this channel has expectations extensive development, as a result of the concentration of consumers in cities, their easier access to credit and the gradual incorporation of digital platforms in shopping, as it is the case of Amazon, 99minutos.com or Hellofood, as well as traditional format stores type Walmart or Comercial Mexicana. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the second part of the 1980s, and with the negotiation and implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), Mexico's growth-and industry-orientated policies have shifted from the realm of public policy to a market-driven domain. This paper suggests that economic openness and the empowerment of market actors is provoking a new regionalisation of Mexico's core economic activities that will play a crucial role in the coming century. For Mexico, the core of NAFTA, so to speak, encompasses a cross-border territoriality covering two key southern American states: Texas and California, and key Mexican states located from the border to the Central plateau of the country. I also argue in this paper that Mexico's changing economic territoriality, triggered by the dominance of the outward-looking economic model, is exacerbating regional inequalities that prevailed in the country even before the outset of economic reforms. This is mainly the case of Mexico's southern region, still very agriculture-orientated, and with a deficit of those export-orientated industries currently fuelling economic growth. This region is the least endowed with mobile assets-such as technology, capital, knowledge-in order to exploit the opportunities of market-orientated policies. Consequently, social cohesion is at stake, not necessarily provoked by the market, but exacerbated by it, and the market mechanism cannot by itself address this problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines how traditional multicropping milpa systems have been abandoned in a locality in southeast Veracruz. In a relatively short period of time, the economic and social fabric that allowed the people of Soteapan to maintain these production strategies was seriously disrupted. In addition, economic forces undermined the capacity of the time-honored milpa production systems to provide food security and improve household livelihoods. Trade liberalization intensified price reductions of the most important crops while support for agriculture through public policies was curtailed. A direct consequence is the weakening and abandonment of milpa systems with important negative environmental effects. Because agro-biodiversity is a critical component of sustainable agriculture, new policies are needed to recover the capacity to guarantee food security and to continue to provide important environmental services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: This paper examines the trend in income inequality and poverty among the self-employed workers in Mexico during 1984–2002, a period of rapid trade liberalization. In the decade following the liberalization, inequality and poverty among the self-employed increased; as the economy stabilized inequality started to go down, but poverty kept increasing. To understand the observed changes the inequality and poverty indices are decomposed into within and between group components. Rising returns to skilled labor, regional differences in impact of liberalization and sectoral shifts in employment are important factors in explaining the trends in both inequality and poverty. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The competitiveness of the export manufacturing industry (EMI) in Central America, Mexico, and the Dominican Republic has been significantly eroded by increasing competition from Asian countries in the past decade. This paper examines technological upgrading strategies followed by export-oriented manufacturing firms that operate under various investment attraction and export promotion schemes such as maquila and free zones in order to face the increasing Asian competition. In particular, it aims to study why the strategies followed in the two main sectors of the EMI—electronics and apparel—have had significantly different impacts on export competitiveness. Although the empirical evidence shows that both sectors have mainly followed process upgrading strategies, and to a lesser extent functional and inter-sectoral upgrading, the type of governance of the global value chain, sector-specific characteristics, and corporate strategies help explain their diverging impacts on competitiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the ways in which foreign direct investment (FDI) has really affected economic growth in Mexico. Considering that special efforts have been made to rely on an outward industrialisation strategy, we test the FDI-led growth and export-led growth hypotheses in Mexico with multivariate analysis using a Autoregressive Vector model. Results show that support for FDI-led growth is not as strong as for export-led growth. However NAFTA has been conducive in improving the potential effect of foreign capital inflow. The estimates show that both private and foreign capitals have statistically significant effects on growth. They also show that manufacturing FDI, exports, labour force and human capital have significant positive effects on the economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: This paper presents new empirical evidence on externalities from Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in several Mexican regions in the early 1990s. The main findings are threefold. First, the presence of FDI creates negative externalities within industries and positive externalities between industries through backward linkages. Second, FDI-externalities are stimulated by large technological differences between FDI and Mexican firms and by geographic concentration of industries. Third, we identify a substantial level of regional heterogeneity of the externality impact of FDI, in line with the notion that FDI may have contributed to processes of changing regional prosperity under trade liberalization. The findings also imply that maquiladora firms in the border states are generating positive externalities. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Specialized literature offers numerous arguments that support the postulate on the positive relation between the processes of integration and economic growth of regions. However, analyzing the results after few more than ten years of NAFTA had demonstrated that the economic growth has not arrived homogeneously to all regions, nor the states that inside them. So is the case of Sonora, located in the North border of Mexico, whose strategic geographical position promised better expectations. This paper has as objective to demonstrate again, that an economic growth model found on exogenous basis turns out pour results in medium and long term and does not leave room to enhance local capabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines changes in geographical patterns in Mexico's manufacturing sector. Particular attention is paid to transformations that occurred after trade liberalization and the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was signed. We use information on manufacturing Gross Domestic Product (GDP) (1970-2004) by state, reviewing state-level shares and densities. The figures reveal the existence of a process of dispersion of total manufacturing GDP in the long term. Although there was greater geographical dispersion after the generalized liberalization program and following the signing of the NAFTA, the relocation of manufacturing was already underway before that. The states bordering the United States were the initial beneficiaries of this decentralization, but the Bajío region states have recently had the largest increases in regional shares of manufacturing GDP. However, it is uncertain whether a significant change has taken place in the dual regional structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of the specific event of 2006's presidential election, and in the historical frame started in 1983 with the so called "mexican transition to democracy", this paper shows the enormous difficulties faced by our country towards the creation of a new State and a new national project both legitimated by a new social pact which embraces electoral democracy as a supreme symbolical value found in all occidental countries which are immersed in a free trade society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines Japan’s FTAs with Mexico and the Philippines in the context of parallel negotiations in the Doha Round. Although the limited results produced by these FTAs represent an inferior outcome to what might be achieved with multilateral trade liberalization, there is no evidence that these agreements have weakened the political will of Japanese export interests to push ahead with trade liberalization in the WTO or increased the leverage of protectionist interests in opposing that goal. The greatest hope for increased Japanese flexibility in WTO agricultural talks lies in accelerated reform of domestic farm policy rather than reduced emphasis on pursuit of FTAs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we provide evidence based on New Economic Geography Models and estimate the statistical effects of second nature advantages to shed some light on the locational transformation of the manufacturing sector in Mexico. Changes in regional industry shares and regional wages during trade liberalization show that the border states have gained at the expense of the old manufacturing belt in Mexico City. Furthermore, the statistical evidence indicates that that the relevant market has shifted from Mexico City to the USA. However, the relation between trade liberalization and industry location is subject to a considerable level of industry heterogeneity, suggesting the co-existence of processes of regional convergence and divergence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a rich dataset on traffic between members of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), this paper examines industry-level trade growth since the implementation of NAFTA for five Mid-South states. Gravity model results show significant disparities across states and industries. For exports within the NAFTA region, the results show large differences in growth rates both between states and between industries. For imports within the NAFTA region, the growth rates vary more between industries than between states. Our results also confirm the importance of intra-industry trade in the U.S.-Mexico trade relationship and suggest a considerable relocation of production linked to trade between NAFTA members. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper has the purpose of showing that after the first years of North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) operations, Mexico's northern border states have been benefited differentially by improving their economic integration to United States and Canada, conducting to a distinct ranking of productive capabilities within this region. It is shown that after this restructuring process, winners are not necessarily those entities with prior best economic performance. Particularly, considering the employment growth Baja California, appears as the great winner and Sonora as the loser. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After a long period of industrialization based on import substitution (ISI), Mexico started to open up its economy by accessing the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) in 1986. The export-promotion strategy was transformed into one of regional integration with the signing of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in 1994. The paper explores the impact of the opening of the economy on regional disparities in Mexico using σ and β-convergence analyses. Four different samples have been employed to control for possible data bias linked to the inclusion of oil-producing and maquiladora-based states. The results show that whereas the final stages of the ISI period were dominated by convergence trends, trade liberalization (GATT) and economic integration (NAFTA) have led to divergence. In particular, the NAFTA period is related to divergence regardless of the type of analysis chosen and the sample used. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we present a frame of reference for analysing the possible impact of economic integration under NAFTA on the size, composition and forms of migration between Mexico and the United States. Our argument is that the source of any possible impact on migration ought not to be sought in NAFTA but in the underlying processes of change in production operations. In particular, we contend that the new forms of migration are indicative of structural changes related to changes in labour market dynamics caused by the various forms of labour flexibility introduced in both Mexico and the United States. Both the neoliberal policy implemented in Mexico and economic restructuring in the United States have facilitated the reconfiguration of the two countries' trade relations in a context of more integrated economic and industrial relations. In this regard, labour force mobility within the bloc will depend not so much on the integration process in itself as on the linkage between work processes and labour markets in each economy and in the bloc as a whole. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through a qualitative case study of peasant-organized forestry in Durango, Mexico, this paper examines how neoliberal policy reform is reshaping the community forestry sector. Post-1992 agrarian and forestry laws facilitate the emergence of new forms of association in ejidos (collective property communities created by agrarian reform) and agrarian communities, and reorganize the delivery of forestry technical services. These developments indirectly undermine peasants' capacity to deal with the sector's long-standing internal problems, putting at risk their ability to provide themselves with the services they need for sustainable community livelihoods and forest exploitation. Nevertheless, this study of a forest peasant federation shows that institutional change is a process peopled by groups of social agents who respond creatively to external structure from local organizational and community contexts. Ethnographic methods can be used fruitfully to study complex interactions between multiple levels of political-economic structure and local action, which both constrain and provide opportunities for the organization of common-pool resource management regimes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the prospects for Mexican industry after opening to freer trade. The first part deals with the impact during transition on industrial capacity, particularly the loss of technological capabilities and the scarce development of industrial linkages. The second part shows the recent pattern of industrial specialization in Mexico lacking sectorial linkages, increasing imports content and heavily concentrated in scale intensive and resource based industries. The specialization has favored activities of little technological dynamism where most technological innovations are controlled or dominated through suppliers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At the beginning of 1990, the Institute of Economic Research of the National Autonomous University of Mexico brought together 16 experts to examine the many implications for Mexico of the proposed North American Free Trade Area Treaty with the United States and Canada. The participants were particularly charged with the task of evaluating the changes that were taking place in respect to the relationships between Mexico and the U.S. The authors published the first edition of their papers in 1990, and for this third edition of 1992, at a time when the Treaty was still under negotiation, they revised and enlarged their contributions. The current instability and declining course of the Mexican economy confirms the accuracy of a number of the authors' predictions of the negative consequences of the Treaty for an economy characterized by deep structural discrepancies, manifested in the vulnerability of its external and financial sectors, the insufficient modernization of its productive structures, its low productivity and its abysmal social inequalities, the latter a condition of explosive proportions.

The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) which went into effect on January 1[sup st] of 1994 established the largest free trade zone in the world, with a population of over 360 million people. In order to facilitate the escalation in trade that is resulting, transportation planners must have an accurate understanding of current trade patterns. Both U.S. and Mexican Customs agencies collect detailed information on each shipment which crosses the border for both import/export control and assessment of duties. However, traditionally this information has been considered confidential between the shipper and these government agencies and, as such, has not been released publicly or used in any public planning studies. Both agencies have released summaries of shipment data for overall trade statistics, but the level of aggregation in these summaries is not sufficient for detailed transportation studies. Beginning in April 1993, through the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS), U.S. Customs began releasing more detailed information on U.S.Mexican freight flows. This paper discusses the trade pattern depicted in these data files, the quality of the data, as well as the limitations of the data for transportation planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The impact of the peasant rebellion in southeast Mexico has resonated tar beyond the region. Part of the reason for this was the upsurge of unrest in a country whose government was a champion of fast-track neo-liberal reforms. The uprising appeared to be a timely indictment of these economic reforms - a view which seemed further confirmed by the rebellion's coincidence with the creation of the NAFTA. Our paper acknowledges the significance of these facts but argues first for a deeper historical perspective. The Mayan rebellion criticises not only neo-liberalism but also the whole post revolutionary trajectory. We also argue for the need to lake into account a variety of intervening factors which facilitated the rebellion. One inspiration for the rebellion came from an unexpected source from a radical section of the Catholic Church, a church which had supposedly been buried as a political three for over a hundred years. The combination of theology of liberation and the sensitivity of post-1968 radicals to indigenous traditions behind the uprising exposed the extent to which the Mexican elite had systematically disregarded the condition of the indigenous population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The trade liberalization associated with NAFTA has affected the pattern of state exports by altering the origin as well as the destination of merchandise exports. We find that NAFTA has increased US merchandise exports to Mexico and Canada by just over 15%, and has increased total US merchandise exports by nearly 8%. We also find that although many states have seen large increases in exports to both Mexico and Canada, others have seen large decreases. NAFTA has also affected states’ exports to non-NAFTA regions of the world, tending to decrease exports to Europe and Latin America and increase exports to Asia. States in the northeast regions of the United States have seen the smallest increases in exports in the wake of NAFTA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]