IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/gnt/wpaper/4.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Economic Complexity and Regional Manufacturing Performance in Mexico, 2004-2019

Author

Listed:
  • Manuel Gómez-Zaldívar

    (Universidad de Guanajuato)

  • Fernando Gómez-Zaldívar

    (School of Government and Public Transformation, Tecnológico de Monterrey)

Abstract

The development of Mexico's manufacturing sector has progressed unevenly across regions and industry groups, with the underlying causes varying over time. Using data from 2004 to 2019, we find that all Mexican regions experienced increased specialization and diversification. However, only those regions that shifted toward more complex manufacturing activities were able to expand their share of national manufacturing output. These findings underscore the critical role of industrial sophistication in shaping regional economic relevance. Consistent with prior research, our results highlight the importance of a clear and strategic industrial policy to support less dynamic regions. Such policy is essential for enabling structural transformation, fostering more balanced and inclusive economic growth, and overcoming persistent institutional and productive constraints that continue to hinder regional development.

Suggested Citation

  • Manuel Gómez-Zaldívar & Fernando Gómez-Zaldívar, 2025. "Economic Complexity and Regional Manufacturing Performance in Mexico, 2004-2019," Working Paper Series of the School of Government and Public Transformation 4, School of Government and Public Transformation, Tecnológico de Monterrey.
    • Handle: RePEc:gnt:wpaper:4
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://egobiernoytp.tec.mx/sites/default/files/2025-07/wp4_economic_complexity_mexico.pdf
    File Function: First version, 2025
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Utar, Hale & Ruiz, Luis B. Torres, 2013. "International competition and industrial evolution: Evidence from the impact of Chinese competition on Mexican maquiladoras," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 267-287.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Keller, Wolfgang & Utar, Hale, 2023. "International trade and job polarization: Evidence at the worker level," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 145(C).
    2. Giuntella, Osea & Rieger, Matthias & Rotunno, Lorenzo, 2020. "Weight gains from trade in foods: Evidence from Mexico," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 122(C).
    3. Fernández Guerrico, Sofía, 2021. "The effects of trade-induced worker displacement on health and mortality in Mexico," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    4. Alexandra Sotiriou & Andrés Rodríguez-Pose, 2021. "Chinese vs. US Trade in an Emerging Country: The Impact of Trade Openness in Chile," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 57(12), pages 2095-2111, December.
    5. Pinar Mine Gunes & Magda Tsaneva, 2022. "Labour market conditions and adult health in Mexico," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 55(1), pages 106-137, February.
    6. Lai, Tat-kei & Lu, Yi & Ng, Travis, 2022. "Import Competition and Workplace Safety in the U.S. Manufacturing Sector," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 203(C), pages 24-42.
    7. César, Andrés & Falcone, Guillermo & Gasparini, Leonardo, 2021. "Costs and benefits of trade shocks: Evidence from Chilean local labor markets," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    8. David H. Autor & David Dorn & Gordon H. Hanson, 2016. "The China Shock: Learning from Labor-Market Adjustment to Large Changes in Trade," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 8(1), pages 205-240, October.
    9. Benedikt Heid & Raúl Mínguez & Asier Minondo, 2021. "Is competition from China so special?," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(1), pages 64-88, January.
    10. Nobuaki Yamashita & Isamu Yamauchi, 2020. "Innovation responses of Japanese firms to Chinese import competition," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(1), pages 60-80, January.
    11. Zhang, Hongwei & Wang, Xinyi & Tang, Jing & Guo, Yaoqi, 2022. "The impact of international rare earth trade competition on global value chain upgrading from the industrial chain perspective," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 198(C).
    12. Nurina Merdikawati & Sarah Xue Dong, 2021. "Labour Regulation Shift and Labour Intensive Manufacturing," Departmental Working Papers 2021-06, The Australian National University, Arndt-Corden Department of Economics.
    13. Banh, Thi Hang & Caselli, Mauro, 2022. "Foreign Competition, Skill Premium, and Product Quality: Impact of Chinese Competition on Mexican Plants," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1162, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    14. Deiana, C, 2016. "Local Labour Market Effects of Unemployment on Crime Induced by Trade Shocks," Economics Discussion Papers 16529, University of Essex, Department of Economics.
    15. Wolfgang Keller & Hale Utar, 2022. "Globalization, Gender, and the Family," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 89(6), pages 3381-3409.
    16. André Pineli & Rajneesh Narula, 2023. "Industrial policy matters: the co-evolution of economic structure, trade, and FDI in Brazil and Mexico, 2000–2015," Economia e Politica Industriale: Journal of Industrial and Business Economics, Springer;Associazione Amici di Economia e Politica Industriale, vol. 50(2), pages 399-444, June.
    17. Liliana Avelar-Sosa & Jorge L. García-Alcaraz & José M. Mejía-Muñoz & Aidé A. Maldonado-Macías & Giner Alor Hernández, 2018. "Government Support and Market Proximity: Exploring Their Relationship with Supply Chain Agility and Financial performance," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(7), pages 1-20, July.
    18. Kanat Abdulla & Balzhan Serikbayeva & Yessengali Oskenbayev & Farhad Taghizadeh-Hesary, 2022. "Regional Differences in Human Capital and Occupational Choice: Evidence from Mexico," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 34(6), pages 2899-2922, December.
    19. Jorge Luis García-Alcaraz & Aidé Aracely Maldonado-Macías & Sandra Ivette Hernández-Hernández & Juan Luis Hernández-Arellano & Julio Blanco-Fernández & Juan Carlos Sáenz Díez-Muro, 2016. "New Product Development and Innovation in the Maquiladora Industry: A Causal Model," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(8), pages 1-18, July.
    20. Matteo Bugamelli & Silvia Fabiani & Enrico Sette, 2015. "The Age of the Dragon: The Effect of Imports from China on Firm‐Level Prices," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 47(6), pages 1091-1118, September.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • L60 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Manufacturing - - - General
    • R11 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Regional Economic Activity: Growth, Development, Environmental Issues, and Changes
    • R12 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Size and Spatial Distributions of Regional Economic Activity; Interregional Trade (economic geography)

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gnt:wpaper:4. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Fabian Fuentes-Rivas (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/egtecmx.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.