On the future erosion of the North American Free Trade Agreement

Free trade ; North American Free Trade Agreement

Did NAFTA really cause Mexico's high maquiladora growth?

Although Mexico's maquiladora or in-bond plant system is an important and well-recognized component of Mexico-U.S. trade, the connection between the acceleration in maquiladora growth and NAFTA is less clearly understood. A broad cross-section of maquiladora observers - including journalists, political activists, industry analysts, and professors -- argue that Mexico's maquiladoras have been strongly influenced by NAFTA and have grown rapidly as a result. There are reasons to wonder if these conjectures are correct. I test for the contribution of NAFTA to fluctuations in maquiladora employment and find evidence that no such connection exists. Instead, maquiladoras post-NAFTA growth is connected to changes in Mexican wages relative to those in Asia and in the United States, and to fluctuations in U.S. industrial production. Indeed, for ever 1 percent change in U.S. industrial production I find a change in maquiladora employment of between 1.2 and 1.3 percent. This connection is consistent with declining maquiladora employment in 2001, as U. S. industrial production has fallen, but is not consistent with the NAFTA-caused-maquiladora growth story typically found in newspapers and magazines. ; Economic Research Working Paper 0106International trade ; North American Free Trade Agreement ; Mexico ; Maquiladora

NAFTA, trade diversion and Mexico's textiles and apparel boom and bust

North American Free Trade Agreement ; International trade ; European Union ; Competition ; Maquiladora

Beyond the border: Texas exports finally pick up but have far to go

Exports

Trade, WTO and the environment

World Trade Organization ; Environmental protection

Was NAFTA behind Mexico's high maquiladora growth?

Although Mexico's maquiladora system is an important and well-recognized component of Mexico-U.S. trade, the connection between the acceleration in maquiladora growth and NAFTA is less clearly understood. A broad cross section of observers -- including journalists, political activists, industry analysts, and academics -- argue that Mexico's maquiladoras have been strongly influenced by NAFTA and have grown rapidly as a result. William C. Gruben finds no such connection when he tests for NAFTA's contribution to fluctuations in maquiladora employment. Instead, he finds that maquiladoras' post-NAFTA growth is connected to changes in Mexican wages relative to those in Asia and the United States and to fluctuations in U.S. industrial production. For every 1 percent change in U.S. industrial production , maquiladora employment changes between 1.2 percent and 1.3 percent. This connection is consistent with declining maquiladora employment in 2001, as U.S. industrial production has fallen, but is not consistent with the contention that NAFTA was responsible for Mexico's high maquiladora growth.North American Free Trade Agreement ; Mexico ; Maquiladora

Do maquiladoras take American jobs? Some tentative econometric results

Manufactures ; Mexico ; Employment (Economic theory)

Policy priorities and the Mexican exchange rate crisis

Mexico's December 1994 devaluation and subsequent financial crisis came as a surprise even to some analysts who focus on Latin American financial markets. This article outlines the events leading up to the devaluation and discusses the tension that mounted throughout 1994 between policies to address growing banking-sector problems in Mexico, the policies designed to preserve the nation's exchange rate regime, and the pressures induced by rising U.S. interest rates. The article concludes that-while each difficulty impeded the resolution of the other-the explosive nature of the ensuing crisis may have reflected a third complication, the term structure of dollar-indexed debt.Financial crises - Mexico ; Mexico

Domestic policy no match for trade stance of Central American countries

Free trade