This file is part of IDEAS, which uses RePEc data


[ Papers | Articles | Software | Books | Chapters | Authors | Institutions | JEL Classification | NEP reports | Search | New papers by email | Author registration | Rankings | Volunteers | FAQ | Blog | Help! ]

Who benefited from trade liberalization in Mexico? Measuring the effects on household welfare

Author info | Abstract | Publisher info | Download info | Related research | Statistics
Author Info
Nicita, Alessandro

Additional information is available for the following registered author(s):

Abstract

This study performs an ex-post analysis of the effects of the trade liberalization in Mexico between 1989 and 2000, taking into account regional differences in the Mexican economy. The effects of trade liberalization are first translated into changes in regional prices and wages. Those estimates are plugged into a farm-household model to estimate the effect on households'welfare. The findings suggest that trade liberalization has affected domestic prices and labor income differently both across income groups and geographically across the country, hence producing diverse outcomes on different households. Regarding prices, the results indicate that trade liberalization haslowered relative prices of most non-animal agricultural products and, while reducing the cost of consumption, has reduced households'agricultural income, widening the income gap between urban and rural areas. The findings also show that trade liberalization has had diverse effects on wage rates. Skilled workers, for which trade liberalization has produced an increase in wages, have benefited relative to unskilled workers. Wages of unskilled workers have in many regions decreased as a result of trade liberalization. Similar differences are found in the geographic distribution of the benefits of trade liberalization, with the states closest to the U. S. border gaining threefold more relative to the least developed states in the south. Therefore trade liberalization, although beneficial, has contributed to an increase in inequality between the south and the north of the country, urban and rural areas, and skilled and unskilled labor. From a poverty perspective, the trade liberalization that occurred between 1989 and 2000 has had the direct effect of reducing poverty by about 3 percent, therefore lifting approximately 3 million individuals out of poverty.

Download Info
To download:

If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the proper application to view it first. Information about this may be contained in the File-Format links below. In case of further problems read the IDEAS help page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS site. Please be patient as the files may be large.

File URL: http://www-wds.worldbank.org/servlet/WDSContentServer/WDSP/IB/2004/05/04/000009486_20040504120729/Rendered/PDF/wps3265Mexico.pdf
File Format: application/pdf
File Function:
Download Restriction: no

Publisher Info
Paper provided by The World Bank in its series Policy Research Working Paper Series with number 3265.

Download reference. The following formats are available: HTML (with abstract), plain text (with abstract), BibTeX, RIS (EndNote, RefMan, ProCite), ReDIF
Length:
Date of creation: 01 Apr 2004
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:3265

Contact details of provider:
Postal: 1818 H Street, N.W., Washington, DC 20433
Email:
Web page: http://www.worldbank.org/
More information through EDIRC

For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its listing, contact: (Roula I. Yazigi).

Related research
Keywords: Environmental Economics&Policies; Labor Policies; Markets and Market Access; Economic Theory&Research; Payment Systems&Infrastructure; Markets and Market Access; Environmental Economics&Policies; Economic Theory&Research; TF054105-DONOR FUNDED OPERATION ADMINISTRATION FEE INCOME AND EXPENSE ACCOUNT; Access to Markets;

Other versions of this item:

This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports: References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Porto, Guido G., 2003. "Trade reforms, market access, and poverty in Argentina," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3135, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
  2. Robert C. Feenstra & Gordon H. Hanson, . "Productivity Measurement And The Impact Of Trade And Technology On Wages: Estimates For The U.S., 1972-1990," Department of Economics 97-17, California Davis - Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  3. Reimer, Jeffrey J., 2002. "Estimating the Poverty Impacts of Trade Liberalization," GTAP Working Papers 1163, Center for Global Trade Analysis, Department of Agricultural Economics, Purdue University. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  4. Edmonds, Eric V. & Pavcnik, Nina, 2005. "The effect of trade liberalization on child labor," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(2), pages 401-419, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Goldberg, Pinelopi Koujianou & Pavcnik, Nina, 2003. "The Response of the Informal Sector to Trade Liberalization," CEPR Discussion Papers 3874, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  6. Hanson, Gordon H, 1997. "Increasing Returns, Trade and the Regional Structure of Wages," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 107(440), pages 113-33, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. Leamer, Edward E, 1996. "Wage Inequality from International Competition and Technological Change: Theory and Country Experience," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 86(2), pages 309-14, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  8. Nicita, Alessandro, 2004. "Efficiency and equity of a marginal tax reform - income, quality, and price elasticities for Mexico," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3266, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
  9. L. Alan Winters, 2002. "Trade Liberalisation and Poverty: What are the Links?," The World Economy, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 25(9), pages 1339-1367, 09. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  10. Robert C. Feenstra, 1987. "Symmetric Pass-Through of Tariffs and Exchange Rates Under Imperfect Competition: An Empirical Test," NBER Working Papers 2453, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  11. Krugman, Paul, 1991. "Increasing Returns and Economic Geography," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 99(3), pages 483-99, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  12. Elena Ianchovichina & Alessandro Nicita & Isidro Soloaga, 2002. "Trade Reform and Poverty: The Case of Mexico," The World Economy, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 25(7), pages 945-972, 07. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
Full references

Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Gordon H. Hanson, 2005. "Globalization, Labor Income, and Poverty in Mexico," NBER Working Papers 11027, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  2. Cadot, Olivier & de Melo, Jaime & Dutoit, Laure, 2006. "The Elimination of Madagascar's Vanilla Marketing Board, Ten Years On," CEPR Discussion Papers 5548, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  3. Seshan, Ganesh, 2005. "The impact of trade liberalization on household welfare in vietnam," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3541, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
  4. Pinelopi Koujianou Goldberg & Nina Pavcnik, 2007. "Distributional Effects of Globalization in Developing Countries," NBER Working Papers 12885, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  5. Julien GOURDON & Jaime MELO DE & Nicolas MAYSTRE, 2007. "Openness, Inequality, and Poverty: Endowments Matter," Working Papers 200711, CERDI. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  6. Nicita, Alessandro, 2006. "Export led growth, pro-poor or not? Evidence from Madagascar's textile and apparel industry," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3841, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
  7. Nicita, Alessandro, 2005. "Multilateral trade liberalization and Mexican households : the effect of the Doha development agenda," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3707, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
  8. Lucio Castro & Daniel Saslavsky, 2005. "Trade, Poverty and Employment: The Social Consequences of Integration with China," International Trade 0512017, EconWPA. [Downloadable!]
  9. Aksoy, M. Ataman & Isik-Dikmelik, Aylin, 2007. "The role of services in rural income : the case of Vietnam," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4180, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
  10. Yoko Niimi, 2005. "An Analysis of Household Responses to Price Shocks in Vietnam: Can Unit Values Substitute for Market Prices?," PRUS Working Papers 30, Poverty Research Unit at Sussex, University of Sussex. [Downloadable!]
  11. Krivonos, Ekaterina & Olarreaga, Marcelo, 2006. "Sugar prices, labor income, and poverty in Brazil," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3874, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  12. Hertel, Thomas W. & Winters, L. Alan, 2005. "Poverty impacts of a WTO agreement : synthesis and overview," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3757, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
  13. Charles Ackah, & Simon Appleton, . "Food Price Changes and Consumer Welfare in Ghana in the 1990s," Discussion Papers 07/03, University of Nottingham, CREDIT. [Downloadable!]
  14. Vergez, Antonin, 2007. "Agricultural Price Seasonality and Market Failure: Examining the Net Seller Household and the Net Benefit Ratio Definition," 106th Seminar, October 25-27, 2007, Montpellier, France 7911, European Association of Agricultural Economists. [Downloadable!]
  15. Luis San Vicente Portes, 2005. "On the Distributional Effects of Trade Policy: A Macroeconomic Perspective," Computing in Economics and Finance 2005 358, Society for Computational Economics. [Downloadable!]
  16. De Hoyos, Rafael E., 2005. "The Microeconomics of Inequality, Poverty and Market Liberalizing Reforms," Working Papers RP2005/63, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER). [Downloadable!]
  17. Isik-Dikmelik, Aylin, 2006. "Trade reforms and welfare : an ex-post decomposition of income in Vietnam," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4049, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
  18. Jorge Toro & Gloria Alonso & Pilar Esguerra & Daira Garrido, 2006. "El Impacto Del Tratado Del Libre Comercio Con Estados Unidos (Tlc) En La Balanza De Pagos Hasta 2010," BORRADORES DE ECONOMIA 002511, BANCO DE LA REPÚBLICA. [Downloadable!]
Statistics
Access and download statistics

Did you know? You too can volunteer for RePEc, for example by providing information about publications in your institution.

This page was last updated on 2009-11-24.

This information is provided to you by IDEAS at the Department of Economics, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, University of Connecticut using RePEc data on a server sponsored by the Society for Economic Dynamics.