The Agriculture of Mexico After Ten Years of Nafta Implementation

The inclusion of the agrarian sector in the North American Foreign Trade Agreement (NAFTA) has created controversy since the beginning of negotiations. Mexico’s official vision has been that free trade, as well as agricultural reforms initiated in the country in the late eighties would transform the sector and increase national income; NAFTA opponents, on the other hand, claim that the Agreement has resulted in food dependency, massive rural migration and aggravated poverty. This paper present the main results of our econometric research on the true outcomes of nearly ten years into the NAFTA and around fifteen years of agrarian reforms, in terms of prices, trade and domestic agricultural production. Our findings suggest that the much-expected transformation of the Mexican agricultural sector has not occurred.

Productive Efficiency in Agriculture: Corn Production in Mexico

Using a stochastic production frontier model and data for 2002 from a representative sample of Mexican rural households, in this paper we first study empirically whether or not small and medium farmers produce corn efficiently. The results show that corn production is inefficient, nation-wide and for both commercial and subsistence farmers. Our findings also show that this is even more so for subsistence producers and for the Center and the South-southeast regions of rural Mexico. In addition, we find that subsistence farmers use less prod uctive inputs (seeds and agrochemicals) with respect to commercial farmers. Based on these results, we then apply a regression model to inquire about the factors explaining inefficiency. We get that farmers facing natural disasters, that produce corn for subsistence using diverse seed varieties of the grain in plots with less than 1 hectare and indigenous, are more inefficient than other farmers. The results also indicate that households located in communities with marketing facilities and that have benefited from infrastructural investments, produce corn in a less inefficient manner. The detailed nature of the data used allows us to have results that differentiate rural regions as well as commercial and subsistence corn producers, and hence, to suggest focalized policies for rural development.Crop Production/Industries, Productivity Analysis,

Convergencia regional y capital humano en M?xico

Se analiza la problem?tica de la convergencia regional en M?xico, indagando en que medida la distribuci?n del nivel educativo de la poblaci?n activa a escala regional puede contribuir a la explicaci?n del proceso. En efecto, el nivel educativo se ha identificado en diversos estudios como un claro determinante de la distribuci?n personal de la renta. Por extensi?n, cabe tambi?n tratar de analizar en que medida la distribuci?n del capital humano puede contribuir a la distribuci?n de la renta a escala regional

The Agriculture of Mexico After Ten Years of Nafta Implementation

La inclusión del sector agropecuario en el Tratado de Libre Comercio de América del Norte (TLCAN) ha provocado polémica desde el inicio de las negociaciones. La visión oficial mexicana ha sido que el libre comercio, así como las reformas internas en materia agropecuaria iniciadas a fines de los ochenta transformarían el sector y aumentarían el ingreso de los mexicanos; por su parte, los críticos argumentan que el TLCAN ha provocado la dependencia alimentaria, una emigración rural masiva y el aumento de la pobreza. El artículo presenta los principales resultados de nuestras indagaciones econométricas sobre cuáles han sido en realidad las tendencias de los precios, del comercio y de la producción interna agrícola, así como de la emigración rural, después de casi diez años del TLCAN y de alrededor de quince años de reformas internas en materia de política agropecuaria. Se puede concluir que la esperada transformación del sector agropecuario mexicano no ha ocurrido.

The Agriculture of Mexico After Ten Years of Nafta Implementation

La inclusión del sector agropecuario en el Tratado de Libre Comercio de América del Norte (TLCAN) ha provocado polémica desde el inicio de las negociaciones. La visión oficial mexicana ha sido que el libre comercio, así como las reformas internas en materia agropecuaria iniciadas a fines de los ochenta transformarían el sector y aumentarían el ingreso de los mexicanos; por su parte, los críticos argumentan que el TLCAN ha provocado la dependencia alimentaria, una emigración rural masiva y el aumento de la pobreza. El artículo presenta los principales resultados de nuestras indagaciones econométricas sobre cuáles han sido en realidad las tendencias de los precios, del comercio y de la producción interna agrícola, así como de la emigración rural, después de casi diez años del TLCAN y de alrededor de quince años de reformas internas en materia de política agropecuaria. Se puede concluir que la esperada transformación del sector agropecuario mexicano no ha ocurrido.

Productive Efficiency in Agriculture: Corn Production in Mexico

Using a stochastic production frontier model and data for 2002 from a representative sample of Mexican rural households, in this paper we first study empirically whether or not small and medium farmers produce corn efficiently. The results show that corn production is inefficient, nation-wide and for both commercial and subsistence farmers. Our findings also show that this is even more so for subsistence producers and for the Center and the South-southeast regions of rural Mexico. In addition, we find that subsistence farmers use less prod uctive inputs (seeds and agrochemicals) with respect to commercial farmers. Based on these results, we then apply a regression model to inquire about the factors explaining inefficiency. We get that farmers facing natural disasters, that produce corn for subsistence using diverse seed varieties of the grain in plots with less than 1 hectare and indigenous, are more inefficient than other farmers. The results also indicate that households located in communities with marketing facilities and that have benefited from infrastructural investments, produce corn in a less inefficient manner. The detailed nature of the data used allows us to have results that differentiate rural regions as well as commercial and subsistence corn producers, and hence, to suggest focalized policies for rural development