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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]

Several nations, including Mexico, are encountering problems with accomplishing the targets of sustainable development goals (SDGs). This study addresses how to develop SDG agenda for Mexico, which may also be applied to other emerging markets with comparable profiles. Therefore, this study utilizes a newly developed load capacity factor (LCF, a detailed environmental evaluation tool) that combines biocapacity (supply side) and ecological foot (demand side) to examine the effect of renewable energy consumption and trade openness on LCF while controlling for nonrenewable energy consumption and economic growth in the case of Mexico during 1970–2017. Using the dual adjustment approach, we find evidence of long-run cointegration nexus among the series. In addition, trade openness affects LCF positively, whereas renewable energy consumption, economic growth, and nonrenewable energy consumption impact LCF negatively. Furthermore, results of the frequency domain causality show that all the variables can predict LCF in the long-term. Based on these results, Mexico should focus on promoting public understanding of green energy and environmental preservation measures and participate in the production of nonenergy-consuming and ecologically friendly products while compelling polluting enterprises to migrate to countries with less stringent environmental restrictions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, many states have undertaken to green their free trade agreements (FTA). As the pace of this evolution towards greener trade relations continues to accelerate, it has also been met with resistance. The inclusion of environmental commitments in FTAs has sometimes been dismissed as an attempt by high-income countries to level the playing field for their market actors by raising environmental standards abroad. Against this background, this article aims to investigate what underlying motive(s) (high-income) states pursue when they negotiate environmental provisions. Using the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) as a case study, it is argued that it is possible to rely on the legalization of these commitments to unravel treaty parties’ motives for negotiating such rules in the first place. In the case of the USMCA, it is found that the agreement’s environmental commitments could be interpreted as mirroring concern either for the environment or for unfair foreign competition. A closer look at the negotiation process leading to the adoption of the agreement suggests that it was mainly – although certainly not exclusively – out of environmental concerns that stringent environmental commitments were included in the USMCA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]