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Copyright of Estudios Económicos is the property of El Colegio de Mexico AC and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Medunarodni Problemi is the property of Institute of International Politics & Economics and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

A list of research and studies on labor markets in North America is presented. It includes "Affirmative Action Effects on Application and Hiring Probabilities for Female and Black Male Workers," by Larry W. Taylor, "The Effect of Free Trade on the North American Labor Market," by Morley Gunderson and Daniel Hamermesh, "An Analysis of the Earnings of Canadian Immigrants," by Morley Gunderson and David Bloom, and "The Changing Structure of Demand for and Supply of Registered Nurses in Canada," by Noah M. Meltz.

This paper addresses the need for a new analytical framework to reach a thorough understanding of the outcomes of unequal trade integration, in North America and beyond. To achieve this goal, it was divided in four main sections: the deconstruction of the orthodox argument of free trade areas; the assessment of the contrasting outcomes of NAFTA; an overview of relevant literature; and the delineation of an interdisciplinary agenda. The hypothesis is that the lack of theoretical certainty is due, in parts, to the causal opening of the object of study and to the scarce interaction of specialties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Choosing an exchange-rate regime is largely a matter of choosing the variables that will bear the brunt of adjustment to shocks and disturbances. Floating rates, supported by inflation-targeting regimes of varying degrees of transparency, have dominated currency arrangements in North America, especially after the peso crisis of 1994. Although the member countries have pursued their policy goals without formal coordination, their objectives have been very similar. Meanwhile, de facto integration of the three economies has continued, especially in the realm of cross-border production sharing. The result has been reduction of asymmetries and convergence of business cycles, as well as changes in balance of payments behavior and in the sensitivity of trade to the exchange rate. This paper explores the implications for monetary union. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues that conflicting assessments of the impacts of free trade in North America are incomplete because they do not analyse these effects in light of the key long term U.S. goal: the reconstruction of U.S. hegemony that was under siege by Japan and Europe. The declining competitiveness of U.S. raw materials supply systems badly damaged U.S. hegemony during the 1970s and 1980s. The original U S. strategy was to create a continental energy market to reduce overseas oil imports, guarantee access to oil and natural gas from Canada and Mexico, and reduce price instability. The evolution into broader agreements reflected the interests of other U.S. industries and the efforts of Canadian and Mexican states and firms to capture benefits from restructuring. This paper analyses the role continental integration of raw materials industries played in strategic efforts to reconstruct U S. hegemony and the consequences of these efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To anticipate the likely effects of recent trade agreements with Mexico on the environment and food safety, this paper examines changes in agricultural chemical use. Econometric estimation and simulation suggest that the combined effects of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), economic growth, research investment, and farm policy are expected to increase chemical usage substantially in the United States and undoubtedly lead to greater groundwater contamination. In Mexico, the expected effects are a substantial increase in fertilizer use but a decrease in pesticide use. Increases in private research investment are expected to increase the use of both types of chemicals, but increases in public research investment in the United States are not. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents a paper that begins from a US perspective, examining the costs to both the US and other countries from US protectionism. Costs of US import protection; Effect of an import quota on the US market; US deadweight loss; Quota rents; Foreign investment; When US protectionism affects world prices; Annual costs of US import protection; Trading regions; Trade shares and costs of trade war;Bilateralism or multilateralism; Details.

Discusses the effects of liberalized trade on environment quality. Level of analytical disaggregate; Integration of agricultural and environmental policies; Impact of North American Free Trade Association (NAFTA) and associated tariff reductions.

This article surveys and reconsiders the major predictions of economic models regarding the effects of North American trade liberalization. It compares those predictions to some of the aggregate dimensions of economic performance since liberalization, with a focus on the Canadian experience. It notes that the decisions by Canada and Mexico to enter a free trade relationship with the U.S. constituted turning points in their respective economic histories. A more balanced modeling approach would recognize that integration can have negative as well as positive economic impacts, depending on the interplay of demand, supply, and structural factors.

This article reviews theory and research on the expected impact and observed effect to date of the liberalization of international trade in the Americas on industrial relations. The effect of the movement toward freer trade both on the parties of interest and on research and teaching in the field are considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the publication of Harris (1984), applied general equilibrium models with imperfect competition and economies of scale have been extensively used for analyzing international trade and development policy issues. Their attractiveness comes from their offering a natural framework for testing the empirical relevance of numerous propositions from the industrial organization and new trade theoretical literature. Their role in the recent debates on the North American Free Trade Agreement demonstrates their potential importance in policy analysis. This paper warns model builders and users that considerable caution is however needed in interpreting the results and in deriving strong policy conclusion from these models: it is shown that in this generation of applied general equilibrium models, nonuniqueness of equilibria is not a theoretical curiosum, but a potentially serious problem. Disregarding this may lead to dramatically wrong policy appraisals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discusses the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and looks at the trade relationship between the United States (U.S.) and Mexico. Impact of trade agreement on jobs in the U.S.; Description of the trade relationship between the U.S. and Mexico; What year NAFTA was implemented.

Despite evidence that the North America Free Trade Association (NAFTA) accord has promoted significant increases in inward foreign direct investment (FDI) flows to Mexico, the impact of these investments has not served to fuel balanced economic growth and development. FDI has been concentrated in Mexican border regions producing significant negative, as well as positive, spillover effects. New policy initiatives are needed by the Mexican government in the areas of environmental, energy, macroeconomic, and investment promotion policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Excessive fluctuations in exchange rates often influence trade flows. Theoretically, increased uncertainty may increase or decrease the volume of trade, or leave it unchanged. Using annual export and import data for 102 industries from 1962 to 2004, we analyze both the short- and long-term effects of volatility in the peso/dollar real exchange rate on Mexican trade with the United States. We also investigate the effects of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) on this relationship. We find that increased volatility has short-term effects on the trade flows of most industries but that the long-term effects are significant (positive or negative) for only one-third of industries. Most of the significant effects are negative rather than positive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The North American agricultural markets have become much more integrated; but the level of integration varies across sectors and over time. Differential tariff phasing-out periods and remaining trade disputes are two of many factors contributing to this. This article applies panel data unit root tests to study price convergence and market integration in the North American onion markets. Commodity and variety monthly base price data for the period of 1998 to 2006 are used. Empirical results decisively suggest the existence of price convergence across markets as well as onion varieties. A two-sample period analysis shows an increase in the speed of price convergence over time, suggesting deeper market integration as NAFTA was fully implemented. Further analysis based on a two-country-market basis found that U.S.–Canadian markets have experienced deeper market integration compared with U.S.–Mexican markets as well as Canadian–Mexican markets. [EconLit citations: F150, Q170]. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recent proliferation of regional trade agreements (RTAs) has intensified the debate on their merits. This study contributes to this debate by analyzing trade creation and diversion effects of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) on trade in six important agrifood products. An extended gravity model is estimated using pooled data and generalized least squares methods. The result shows that the share of intraregional trade is growing within NAFTA and that NAFTA has displaced trade with the rest of the world. While NAFTA has served to boost trade among its members, it reduced the degree of openness to trade with nonmembers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We analyze the impact of continuing the existing U.S. sugar program, replacing it with a standard program, and implementing the standard program with multilateral trade liberalization. Under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), duty-free sugar imports from Mexico could undermine the program's ability to operate on a “no-cost” basis to taxpayers as large public stocks of sugar could accumulate. The replacement of the current sugar program by one similar to other major U.S. crop programs would solve the problem of potential stock accumulation, accommodate further trade liberalization under a new WTO and future bilateral trade agreements, but would induce significant fiscal outlays through direct payments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Cuadernos de Relaciones Laborales is the property of Universidad Complutense de Madrid and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article explores the condition of the North American economies after the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) went into effect on January 1, 1994. It notes that NAFTA was only one of the factors that affected North American economies in the past decade, however, and it was not necessarily the most important. The difficulties in disentangling how much the North American economies have been affected by NAFTA's specific provisions as compared with other causes are the motive for the word "after" in the title of this article. That is, the discussion is concerned with identifying what has happened since NAFTA went into effect, without necessarily attributing causality to NAFTA.

Discusses the opposition of the trade unions in the Western Hemisphere and Eastern and Central Europe to the proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) agreement. Efforts of the unions to influence votes regarding the integration projects of their respective regions; Contribution of the European Union to international economic reforms; Similarity of the FTAA with the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Discusses the effects of the North American Free Trade Agreement on the geographic pattern of North American trade. Reasons for the effects of preferential trading areas on geographic trade patterns; Expression for the gravity equation; Details of trade between North American regions.

Features a study which examined the impact of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) on intra-industry and inter-industry trade in agricultural food products. Effect of NAFTA on trade patterns between the United States (U.S.), Canada and Mexico; Details on intra-industry trade (IIT) in agricultural products in the U.S.; Estimates for IIT in agricultural food products.

Using confidential firm-level panel data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, we examine how the bilateral trade flows of U.S. multinational corporations (MNCs) and their Canadian affiliates responded to U.S.-Canadian tariff reductions from 1983 to 1992. We find that Canadian affiliate sales to the United States are negatively correlated with Canadian tariffs, but U.S. parent sales to Canadian affiliates have little association with Canadian tariffs. These results contradict the notion that Canadian tariff reductions would lead to a "hollowing out" of Canadian manufacturing. We also find substantial heterogeneity in MNC responses to tariff changes within narrowly defined manufacturing industries. Overall, bilateral trade liberalization is trade-creating, as U.S. MNCs integrated their North American production such that Canadian affiliates increased sales to the United States and reduced domestic sales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rules of origin govern preferential trade in the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). A model of trade in intermediate goods is used to examine the effect of rules of origin on trade between member and non-member countries. High MFN tariffs and quota restrictions on textiles and apparel face East Asian producers, including those in ASEAN, in NAFTA markets but are relaxed for producers within the FTA, including Mexico. Trade diversion on a large scale is thus predicted in textiles and apparel. Evidence of such trade diversion is provided. Within NAFTA, Mexico gains market share in textiles and apparel at the expense of ASEAN and Northeast Asia. However, in Japan ASEAN gains market share. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Assesses the 1989 Canada-United States Trade Agreement (CUSTA) from the perspective of market integration. Use of Johansen procedure to test for a long-run equilibrium or cointegrated price sysytem; Use of Kalman filter or time-varying parameter analysis to determine whether product markets are converging after the implementation of CUSTA; Reason for the success of CUSTA.

Reconsiders the dimensions of Mexican nationalism with the challenges from the North American Free Trade Agreement, the Ejercito Zapatista de Liberacion Nacional and the presence of economic and political crisis. Components of Mexican nationalism; Nationalist debates over the Indian, the American and the state; Link between nationalist sentiments, ideas and policies.

Discusses effects of the proposed North American free trade agreement (NAFTA) in US-Mexican agricultural trade. Effects in Mexican horticultural production; Empirical analysis of NAFTA's environmental impact in the Mexican state of Sinaloa.

The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is part of a 50-year process of trade liberalization in the United States. From the end of the Civil War through World War II, however average tariff rates were high by historical standards. The article explores the impact of "free trade" on regional economic performance--specifically, the pace of economic convergence between the American South and the rest of the United States. Econometric analysis suggests that trade liberalization speeded up convergence. Based on the authors' results, it is predicted that, on average, the South will benefit from NAFTA, although there may be some adverse distributional consequences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Investigates the relationship between the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the 1994 Mexican peso crisis. Whether NAFTA was the cause of the peso devaluation; Whether NAFTA helped alleviate some of the consequences of the crisis; Background information on NAFTA.

Analyzes the importance of Mexican economic reforms and the prospect of increased economic integration in North America in the development of bilateral flows. United States-Mexican trade and investment; Policy reforms; Impact and net gains from the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA); Rules of origin provision and other NAFTA provisions; Costs of non-NAFTA; Subregional plans.

Assesses academic literature on whether the movement towards free trade in North America has influenced the spatial organization of production in Canada, Mexico or the United States. Contraction of employment in the Mexico City manufacturing belt; Expansion of manufacturing employment in northern Mexico; Increase in wage premiums paid to skilled workers; Employment growth in United States cities on the Mexican border.

Analyzes the negotiations leading to the North American Free Trade Agreement. Employment of Putnam's two-level bargaining framework; Agricultural aspects of negotiation; Distribution of coalitions and preferences across the US polity.

Presents a list of events that have occurred since the approval of North American Free Trade Agreement by the United States Congress in November 1993.

Argues in favor of North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Restructuring of the American economy; Fallacies about free trade; Relationship between free trade and innovation; American leadership in an open world trading system; Cost of protectionism; Means of limiting the power of government; Benefits from trade restrictions; Impact of Nafta on unskilled workers.

Stresses the need for the establishment of free trade in North America in September 1980. Economic relationship of the U.S. with Canada and Mexico; Incident that occurred in August 1971 which put a strain on the trade relations between the three countries; Major argument in favor of free trade.

This article focuses on a planned European monetary union in 1996 and its benefits to North America. As the capstone of economic integration under the New Zealand and Australia Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) or in the European Union, monetary union would create a single capital market free of currency risk and financial systems that are compatible among member countries. If the Euro ultimately succeeds, it will pose a threat to the continued preeminence of the U.S. dollar and to its use for denomination in global trade and finance. U.S. citizens have reaped great benefits from this market-directed dominance. To take the challenge seriously requires a restructuring of the U.S. monetary authority and of monetary policy. Under these circumstances, the case for a North American Monetary Union (NAMU) will be made in the field by millions of economic operators. The lure of lower financing costs for private businesses, caught up in the dynamics of NAFTA-inspired economic integration, and the disruptive effects of real exchange rate swings on competitiveness, will cause monetary union to be given a second look in the Americas. For these reasons, the idea of monetary union is likely someday to become part of the public agenda in North America. Indeed, NAMU (or AMU) will crop up sooner rather than later if Europe succeeds in creating a mighty competitor to the U.S. dollar in global trade and finance.

Focuses on the impact of the North American Free Trade Agreement on labor. Effectivity of the American labor's nationalist and protectionist strategy; Effect of liberalization on the composition and political capacity of the working classes of the hemisphere.

Argues that some liberal changes may bring opportunities for Mexican social movements. Political implications of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) for Mexican trade unions and their future relations with the state; Declining position of labor in the 1980s; Developments and trends in state-labor relations under the administration of Carlos Salinas de Gortari.

Focuses on the impact of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) on agricultural workers in both the United States and Mexico. Implications of changes in agricultural employment for the migration of Mexican workers to the United States; Implications for agricultural workers in the United States.

Examines the economic development in the maquiladora industry under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) that has been implemented since 1994. History and background about the maquiladora program; Rules of NAFTA; Analysis on maquiladora trade and foreign direct investment; Challenges and concerns raised by the maquiladora program.

Discusses the liberalization of trade in Mexico due to the North American Free Trade Agreement. Changes in Mexico's petrochemical sector; Increase of capital flows and productivity; Adjustment of domestic regulations; Trade regime for the Mexican petrochemical industry.

Discusses the environmental aspects of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Rate and efficiency of resource extraction brought about by the increased level of activity in industries; Standardization of environmental policies among nations at different levels of economic development.