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The goal of this paper is to test alternative explanations of slow growth in the Mexican economy. There are two groups of explanations: The first, closer to the government's position, considers the cause to be the lack of completion of structural reforms, in particular: liberalization of the labor market and foreign investment, and full privatization of the oil sector. The second, proposed by academics and independent economic research centers underlines the negative effect of the neoliberal fiscal and monetary policy applied in the Mexican economy for the past thirty years. In the academic debate held by this second group of economists there is a belief that, directly or indirectly, poverty and the income concentration are related to Mexico's weak growth performance. This article, grounded in post Keynesian and Kaleckian theory, uses econometric models to provide evidence that the principal cause of the slow growth of the Mexican economy is income concentration, and concludes that the strategy of neoliberal policies applied in the past thirty years have been self-defeating: By favoring corporate profits and high income classes, it neglected the domestic market and social welfare. The result is that the growth capacity of domestic effective demand has deteriorated, which explains the low level of the national growth rate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The uneven income distribution in Mexico has frequently being subject to both scrutiny and concern. This phenomenon seems to have a spatial counterpart much less explored and increasingly complex. This paper introduces a novel approach to analyse space–time integration of income distribution dynamics in Mexico. We draw on recent extensions in Exploratory Space-Time Data Analysis (ESTDA) anddirectionalstatistics, to investigate spatial dynamics and income movement patterns between Mexican states over 70 years. We use spatial randomization to test directional co-movements in spatially contiguous units as evidence of spatial dependence in income distribution dynamics. Strong evidence of spatial integration of income distribution dynamics is found along the study period. Our results suggest that, in many instances, states do not act independently and we identify a range of integrated movements. The lack of independence itself has important implications for income distributional outcomes as higher mobility will not necessarily imply mixing in the distribution, which is more likely to occur among neighbouring states within a similar income strata. This can be illustrated by the findings of two spatial, yet, contrasting effects: spatial integration in (low) top-down mobility, on the one hand, and negative spatial dependence on the other. While the latter is mostly explained by losses in states and distributional gains of the neighbours with income mixing (rank shifts among neighbouring states) within a group of states, the former phenomena obey a different spatial process where a state and neighbours move in the same direction in the distributional space. Altogether, our findings suggest the presence of slow spatial change in Mexico, mainly due to the presence of heterogeneous, spatially integrated dynamics influencing net change in income distributional outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper examines the determinants of interstate migration flows in Mexico for the period between 1985 and 2005. The aim is to explore internal changes in the Mexican economy as a result of the impact of trade and financial liberalization to identify factors contributing to or deterring migration flows. Internal migration is modelled using extended spatial gravity models that are then properly estimated using Poisson estimation techniques. The findings suggest a structural break in terms of a reduction of interstate migration flows in the post-NAFTA period. The evidence suggests that much of this effect could be attributed to higher levels in the indicators of trade liberalization, which appear to also offset the expected effects of wage differentials. RÉSUMÉ La présente communication se penche sur les facteurs déterminants des flux migratoires entre états, au Mexique, au cours de la période de 1985 à 2005. Son objet est l'examen de changements internes survenus dans l'économie du Mexique à la suite de l'impact de la libéralisation commerciale et financière, afin d'identifier des facteurs contribuant aux flux migratoires, ou les dissuadant. On procède à la modélisation de la migration interne en utilisant des modèles à gravité spatiale étendus, dont on effectue ensuite une estimation correcte, en appliquant les techniques d'estimation de poisson. Les résultats permettent d'en conclure une rupture structurelle sous forme d'une réduction des flux migratoires entre états au cours de la période post-NAFTA. Les documents à l'appui permettent d'affirmer que cet effet pourrait être attribué, dans une grande mesure, à des niveaux supérieurs dans les indicateurs de la libéralisation commerciale, qui semblent compenser, en outre, les effets imprévus des écarts salariaux. EXTRACTO Este estudio examina la determinación de los flujos de migración interestatal de Méjico entre 1985 y 2005. El propósito es explorar los cambios internos en la economía mejicana como resultado del impacto de la liberalización comercial y financiera, para identificar factores que contribuyen a, u obstaculizan, los flujos de migración. La migración interna se modela utilizando modelos extendidos de gravitación espacial que luego se estiman apropiadamente aplicando técnicas de estimación de Poisson. Los descubrimientos apuntan hacia una ruptura estructural en términos de la reducción de los flujos de migración interestatal en el período post-NAFTA. La evidencia sugiere que gran parte de este efecto podría atribuirse a niveles más altos en los indicadores de liberalización comercial, que también parecen compensar los efectos esperados de los diferenciales de sueldos. 摘要 : 本文研究了1985到2005年间墨西哥州际迁移的影响因素。目的在于通过探索贸易和金融自由化对墨西哥经济内部变化的影响 , 找到促进或者抑制国内迁移的因素。先使用拓展的空间引力模型对国内迁移进行建模 , 然后使用泊松估计方法进行准确估计。结果发现国内迁移呈现结构性断层—— 在后NAFTA时代州际迁移减少。有证据表明 , 在很大程度上 , 更大的贸易自由度导致了这一现象 , 它似乎还改变了工资差异的预期效果。 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a historical overview of economic reform in Mexico leading up to the financial crisis of 1994, beginning with trade policy and complementary policies for the liberalization of the domestic market. The principal outlines of macroeconomic reform and stabilization are then reviewed, leading to a brief account of the recent financial crisis and recent macroeconomic adjustment. The paper concludes with some observations about Mexico's recovery from the 1994 crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is not only an agreement covering tradable commodities; it includes important chapters on services, especially financial services. In addition, NAFTA is also a foundational agreement for investment protection. The free movement of capital and the safeguarding of ownership rights are essential features. This article argues that Mexico’s financial reform in 1989–92 was a precondition for trade and financial liberalization under NAFTA. Thus, the content of this reform is analyzed and compared with the one carried out during the 1970s, which also opened up the financial market. Subsequently, the establishment of financial subsidiaries, and the global financial business model and its consequences on financing, are examined. Although it is not a monetary union, NAFTA does set up a form of financial junction. For Mexico, this junction signifies a global/national funding determination. It is argued that the regionalization of credit is fanciful, since credit regionalization pretends to set a constraint on the credit capacity of the central bank vis-à-vis the government and to transfer this capacity to the market. The idea of replacing the central bank’s role as a lender of last resort, in the context of the current financial climate of “too-bigto-fail,” through legislated changes cannot rely upon the support of a globalized financial system dealing in national or regional currencies. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The debate about the rise of civil society in Mexico suggests that the processes of political and economic liberalization are multiple and uneven and, thus, have different and contradictory effects on different social groups. This study takes such arguments into account and examines the nature of collective identities and social networks that are more likely to be mobilized in the rising civil society. Who, with what types of social networks and identities, are the active actors in this rising civil society in Mexico? This study also attempts to identify the central actors who take an active part in multi-sector coalitions. As such a broad coalition often leaves profound effects on politics and society, it is vital to ask which actors are likely to take an important step toward multi-sector coalition making. Using a catalog of 1797 protest campaigns collected from three Mexican newspapers between 1964 and 2000, event frequency analysis is employed to find active actors and social network analysis – blockmodel method and degree centrality measure – is applied to uncover central actors. The analyses reveal that while workers, peasants, or students continue to be very active, the centrality of these actors in contentious networks and coalitions has not increased. New central actors in the rising civil society turn out to be civic associations and NGOs formed around single issues, such as environment, retirement, and human rights. When a multi-sector coalition occurs in contemporary Mexico, NGOs and civic associations are likely to play a crucial role in it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After twenty years of trade liberalization in Mexico, the relationship between gender wage inequality and trade remains insufficiently studied, in spite of evidence of increasing numbers of women in industrial employment. This study aims to analyze the effects of export orientation and other characteristics that represent the industrial underpinnings of restructuring on gender wage inequality for 2001-5. There is consistent evidence of the negative impact of export orientation on men's and women's wages and the gender wage ratio, signifying that women lose in both absolute and relative terms. This result holds after controlling for women's share of employment and the skills of both genders, contrary to the expected effect from trade on equality. There is also a negative relation between a rise in the proportion of unskilled workers and the gender wage ratio, which suggests that the trade-induced skill hypothesis cannot be considered an adequate explanation for gender inequality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the interaction between Mexico's economic opening and political opening. Mexico's economic opening is more remarkable compared to the United States. It is suggested that Mexico achieved economic liberalization in six years since it joined the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) where U.S. took 40 years to attain. Events showing the contrast of the Mexico's economic opening from its political opening is also discussed. According to the author, Mexico's economic and political opening is similar to Chile and Asian countries like Taiwan and South Korea.