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What Has Happened to Wages in Mexico Since NAFTA? Implications for Hemispheric Free Trade. National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper 9563 (2003)
| Citations: | 82 - 2 self |
BibTeX
@MISC{Hanson03whathas,
author = {Gordon H. Hanson},
title = {What Has Happened to Wages in Mexico Since NAFTA? Implications for Hemispheric Free Trade. National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper 9563},
year = {2003}
}
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Abstract
Abstract. In this paper, I examine the impacts of trade and investment liberalization on the wage structure of Mexico. Part one of the paper surveys recent literature on the labor-market consequences of Mexico’s economic reforms in the 1980’s. Mexico’s policy reforms appear to have raised the demand for skill in the country, reduced rents in industries that prior to reform paid their workers high wages, and raised the premium paid to workers in states along the U.S. border. These changes have resulted in an increase in wage dispersion in the country. Part two of the paper examines changes in Mexico’s wage structure during the 1990’s. In the last decade, Mexico has experienced rising returns to skill, which mirror closely wage movements in the United States. There is, however, little evidence of wage convergence between the two countries. Regional wage differentials in Mexico have widened and appear to be explained largely by variation in regional access to foreign trade and investment and in regional opportunities for migration to the United States. I discuss implications of Mexico’s experience for the rest of Latin America in the event a Free Trade Agreement of the Americas is enacted.
Keyphrases
economic research working paper hemispheric free trade national bureau united state wage convergence free trade agreement paper survey recent literature last decade mexico policy reform foreign trade investment liberalization wage movement mexico wage structure u.s. border labor-market consequence regional access regional wage differential wage structure worker high wage latin america economic reform wage dispersion little evidence regional opportunity
