Spotlight: remittances to Mexico: cross-border money flows slowed by U.S. slump

Mexicans living in the U.S. are sending less money home. In 2009, remittances to Mexico totaled $21.5 billion, a 15 percent decline from 2008. With the exception of October 2008, remittances have been decreasing since mid-2007.Mexico ; Emigrant remittances ; Economic conditions - United States

Spotlight: maquiladora employment: new data confirm pickup in Juarez factory jobs

For decades, Mexico's maquiladoras have been a major growth engine in the Rio Grande region, and monthly reports on the industry's employment, wages and production were key barometers for the border region's economy. ; We developed a model to estimate Juarez's monthly maquiladora employment. This model will continue to be a timely indicator of El Paso-Juárez area manufacturing activity, given its track record and Mexico's two-month lag in reporting IMMEX (Maquiladora Manufacturing Industry and Export Services), data.Maquiladora ; Mexico ; Employment ; Economic indicators ; Mexican-American Border Region - Economic conditions

Economic on El Paso del Norte (Part 1)

Mexico ; Trade barriers

U.S.-Mexico trade: are we still connected?

Exports ; Imports ; Maquiladora

The impact of illegal immigration and enforcement on border crime rates

Border crime rates lie consistently below the national average. In the 1990s, however, while there as a large decline in property-related crime along the U.S.-Mexico border, violent crime rates began to converge to the national average. At the same time, legal and illegal immigration from Mexico surged and border enforcement rose to unprecedented levels. In this paper, we investigate the relationship between border county crime rates, immigration and enforcement since the early 1990s. We find that while the volume of illegal immigration is not related to changes in property-related crime, there is a significant positive correlation with the incidence of violent crime. This is most likely due to extensive smuggling activity along the border. Border enforcement meanwhile is significantly negatively related to crime rates. The bad news is that the deterrent effect of the border patrol diminishes over this time period, and the net impact of more enforcement on border crime since the late 1990s is zero.Emigration and immigration ; Labor supply ; Crime

Spotlight: El Paso Medical School: New facility kindles hopes for well-paying jobs

El Paso's efforts to move beyond low-wage manufacturing and services jobs will get a boost from next year's opening of a new medical school. Along with other new and expanded health care facilities, the school could serve as a catalyst for bringing well-paying professional jobs to West Texas. ; The Paul L. Foster School of Medicine will be the 10th medical school in Texas and the state's first new one since 1977. Perhaps more important, it will be the first U.S. medical school along the 2,000-mile border with Mexico.Economic conditions - Texas

Texas border benefits from retail sales to Mexican nationals

Maquiladora

Explaining the increase in remittances to Mexico

Remittances ; Maquiladora

Mexico rides global recovery but still faces hurdles

The Mexican economy has grown robustly following the worst recession since the peso crisis of 1994. Gross domestic product (GDP) growth surged 5.4 percent in 2010, surpassing expectations. Though the pace of expansion slowed in early 2011 as the U.S. engine sputtered, forecasts call for a slight pickup in the second half. ; The recovery is the product of primarily three factors: first, a rebound in manufacturing exports, mostly to the U.S. but also to other markets; second, a strengthening internal market fueled by a healthy domestic financial sector; and third, significant capital inflows from advanced economies seeking higher rates of return in emerging markets such as Mexico. ; In spite of the recovery, the country faces significant challenges both in the short and long run, including the worst violence since the Mexican Revolution.Economic conditions - Mexico ; Exports ; Employment ; Investments, Foreign

Trade conference explores U.S.–Mexico 'common bonds'

The El Paso Branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas held a daylong conference, “U.S.–Mexico Manufacturing: Common Bonds,” in November 2010 to assess the future of U.S.–Mexico trade in manufactured goods following the global recession. Speakers reviewed the prospects for bilateral trade and Mexico’s maquiladora plants, which typically take inputs from the U.S. and assemble them into products for export back to the U.S.Manufacturing industries ; Industrial productivity ; Maquiladora ; Employment