Nafta As A Model Of Development

This book discusses the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in terms of its implications for job creation, reduced tariffs, and increased investment. Although the regional trading blocs merging in Europe, North America, and East Asia differ strikingly, there is one basic feature common to each--the formation of regional trading blocs involves a uniting of high- and low-wage areas. The authors address this issue directly, questioning whether NAFTA will promote upward or downward convergence of compensation rates, unit labor costs, and benefit levels. Equally important, they consider whether this trading arrangement will promote economic growth, investment, and efficiency. Viewpoints from the U.S., Canada, and Mexico and from the business and labor communities are included.

In this book, the dynamics of continuity and change in the regional economic development of Mexico and the US border states are analyzed. These studies cover the last 25 years, after the first trade agreement, between a developed and a developing country, tooks place, and where international trade and investment have been combined with a set of relevant local factors such as regional innovation, industrialization patterns, multinational corporations’ modes of operation, public investment, and national content of exports. The book offers researchers a precise identification of stylized facts that characterize the pattern of regional development in Mexico and the US Southwest as well as state-of-the-art applications contrasting hypotheses from new economic geography, endogenous and neo-Schumpeterian economic growth models, and new international trade. To graduate and advanced undergraduate students in the fields of spatial geographic economics, this book offers an excellent source for its updated review of current topics on regional development in Mexico. To policy makers, the book helps to identify policy areas to reinforce the dynamics of regional development. Whereas other books have looked at the several impacts of NAFTA on national economies, productive sectors, and societies, this book analyzes the trade agreement’s impact with a long-term view across the diversity of developments of Mexico ́s regions. As well, the analysis is carried out with the perspective of prospective reforms of a renovated trade agreement between the United States and the new Mexican federal administration . The collaborators in this book are researchers who are experts at the international and national levels in the field of regional economic development. During the last 25 years they have conducted their analyses in different regions of Mexico and the United States as university researchers, advisors to state and federal governments, and as practitioners.

The North American Free Trade Agreement involved much more than simple trade barrier reduction. This volume provides an in-depth examination and analysis of the structure, functions, and performance of the NAFTA institutions from their inception.

In this book, the dynamics of continuity and change in the regional economic development of Mexico and the US border states are analyzed. These studies cover the last 25 years, after the first trade agreement, between a developed and a developing country, tooks place, and where international trade and investment have been combined with a set of relevant local factors such as regional innovation, industrialization patterns, multinational corporations' modes of operation, public investment, and national content of exports. The book offers researchers a precise identification of stylized facts that characterize the pattern of regional development in Mexico and the US Southwest as well as state-of-the-art applications contrasting hypotheses from new economic geography, endogenous and neo-Schumpeterian economic growth models, and new international trade. To graduate and advanced undergraduate students in the fields of spatial geographic economics, this book offers an excellent source for its updated review of current topics on regional development in Mexico. To policy makers, the book helps to identify policy areas to reinforce the dynamics of regional development. Whereas other books have looked at the several impacts of NAFTA on national economies, productive sectors, and societies, this book analyzes the trade agreement's impact with a long-term view across the diversity of developments of Mexico ́s regions. As well, the analysis is carried out with the perspective of prospective reforms of a renovated trade agreement between the United States and the new Mexican federal administration. The collaborators in this book are researchers who are experts at the international and national levels in the field of regional economic development. During the last 25 years they have conducted their analyses in different regions of Mexico and the United States as university researchers, advisors to state and federal governments, and as practitioners.

The proposed North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) represents a historic change in relations among Canada, Mexico, and the United States. The effect of the agreement on the three economies has generated controversy and some degree of alarm within each country. In this book, noted trade and development experts review the available literature on the effects of NAFTA on the three member countries and the world trading system. They evaluate how NAFTA will affect areas such as economic growth, employment, income distribution, industry, and agriculture in Canada, Mexico, and the United States; and consider the significance the trade agreement holds for the rest of the world. Drusill K. Brown begins the discussion by providing an overview and comparison of the general results from recent studies. Raúl Hinojosa-Ojeda and Sherman Robinson explore in greater detail the potential effects of NAFTA on wages and employment in Mexico and the United States. Sidney Wintrab reviews industry-specific effects of NAFTA, in particular, the environment, the social agenda, and human rights and democracy. Finally, Carlos Alberto Primo Braga considers the implications of NAFTA on the rest of the world. Following each of these chapters, international scholars assess the alternatives and provide recommendations for future research.

The United States – Mexico – Canada Agreement (USMCA) was signed on November 30, 2018 and aims to replace and modernize the North-American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). This paper uses a global, multisector, computable-general-equilibrium model to provide an analytical assessment of five key provisions in the new agreement, including tighter rules of origin in the automotive, textiles and apparel sectors, more liberalized agricultural trade, and other trade facilitation measures. The results show that together these provisions would adversely affect trade in the automotive, textiles and apparel sectors, while generating modest aggregate gains in terms of welfare, mostly driven by improved goods market access, with a negligible effect on real GDP. The welfare benefits from USMCA would be greatly enhanced with the elimination of U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from Canada and Mexico and the elimination of the Canadian and Mexican import surtaxes imposed after the U.S. tariffs were put in place.

This volume provides a comprehensive analysis of the economic, social, cultural and political dimensions of the evolving trilateral relationship among the three countries of North America. Contributors address such topics as energy, the environment, trade, labour, the maquiladora industrial sector of Mexico, the Mexican auto industry, and Canada - U.S. cultural relations.While other publications have focused on U.S. issues, this one emphasizes Canada and Mexico, yet adds significantly to our understanding of the place of the United States in this evolving trilateral relationship.