U S Mexican Economic Integration

US and Mexican researchers in political science and economics began a research project with an April 1997 workshop at Georgetown University. Recognizing that the North American Free Trade Agreement is too recent, and the lack of a generally accepted theory of integration currently prevented an interpretive synthesis of its effects, they have assembled some descriptive studies that could contribute to such a synthesis when it does become possible. The ten studies cover society, economy, and demography; and government, politics, and public opinion. They are not indexed. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

For Richer, For Poorer explains the nuts and bolts of globalisation, and explores winners and losers in NAFTA-style free trade.

North America is steering a new course, with the United States, Canada, and Mexico moving toward continental economic, integration. This book examines basic value changes that are' transforming economic, social, and political life in these three countries, demonstrating that they are gradually adopting an increasingly compatible cultural perspective. A narrow nationalism, dominant since the 19th century, has slowly been giving way to a more cosmopolitan sense of identity. As old economic boundaries become outmoded, a North American perspective makes greater sense. To what extent, then, do the three North American publics - I each with its own heterogeneities and tensions - share a common culture? That question can only be answered if we have some yardstick by which to measure their cultural similarity. These societies are far from identical. But data from the 1990- 1991 World Values survey, drawn from 43 societies around the world, show that on crucial topics, the core values of the American public are significantly closer to those of the Canadians and (to a somewhat lesser extent) to those of the Mexicans, than they are to those of most other peoples in the world. Furthermore, time series evidence indicates that the values of the three North American publics have been converging. This book draws on a unique body of directly comparable cross-national and cross-temporal survey evidence to show that what Americans, Canadians, and Mexicans want out of life is changing in analogous ways. These changes, coupled with sociostructural transformations, are reshaping peoples' feelings about national identity, about trusting each other, and about the balance between economic and non-economic goals. North American economic integration is being reinforced by the gradual emergence of increasingly similar cultural values.

Economic relations between the US and Mexico are becoming an increasingly important part of the economic agenda of both countries, and it seems inevitable that closer economic relations will result. This book examines the prospects for increased US-Mexican economic integration.

An assessment of the impact of NAFTA on Mexico and its implications for the broadening of hemispheric economic cooperation.