Joan B. Anderson

The U.S.-Mexico border: a half century of change

Abstract The region surrounding the border between the U.S. and Mexico has been an area of dynamic growth and development during the last fifty years. In this region where the U.S. and Mexico share a common heritage, cultures and languages meet and intertwine. This paper presents a description of trends in population and quality of life indicators: education, housing and poverty, tracing how they have grown and changed over the last half of the 20th century. Census data from 1950 through 2000 indicate that population has grown more rapidly in the border regions than in the nations as a whole. Educational attainment and quality of housing has improved on both sides, but to a greater extent in the Mexican border region. However, despite this growth, poverty rates remain too high with no clear downward trend.

Borders, border regions and economic integration: One world, ready or not

The effects of a border on economic interaction depend on the nature of that border with respect to the degree of openness, the degree of cultural, racial and linguistic differences, political relations between the respective regions and the degree of economic disparity. High walls and slow border crossings are detrimental to economic exchange. Economic and political tensions surrounding a border are directly related to the degree of economic disparity. At the same time, large differentials in relative factor costs (i.e. cheaper capital on one side and cheaper unskilled labor on the other) tend to encourage cross-border production sharing, as well as cross-border shopping and crossborder working. The extent and shape of border relationships vary widely and are strongly influenced by the degree of asymmetry in the neighboring economies, as well as the social and political organization of each. This paper presents a discussion of factors affecting the degree and nature of economic interactions between borders that are moving toward increased economic integration. It addresses the question of why in some cases with all political barriers removed, barriers to trade and cooperation persist, while in other cases large amounts of trade and cooperation exist despite substantial political barriers.

Formal sector job growth and women’s labor sector participation : The case of Mexico

Abstract This paper looks at the effects of demand and supply on the determinants of labor sector (school, home work, informal, and formal) participation between Torreon and Tijuana, Mexico for married and single women. Comparisons between the two cities are used to capture differences in labor demand. Torreon is a traditional city with an agri-industrial base and Tijuana is a border city with large export processing (maquiladora) and tourism sectors, both of which demand female labor. Factors influencing labor supply include both individual and household characteristics. Married women, given the strong cultural tradition of working in the home, do not significantly increase their paid labor participation with higher labor demand or changing characteristics of the household. Personal characteristics have the greatest impact on labor sector participation. Single women do, however, increase their formal sector participation with additional employment opportunities and respond to household needs by moving in and out of the paid labor market. Results indicate that increases in labor demand in Mexico from the NAFTA could expand formal sector labor force participation of single women.

Economic Survival Strategies of Poor Families on the Mexican Border

This study examines the coping strategies of poor families during the Mexican economic crisis and how the border environment affects those strategies. To emphasize the impact of the border context, the results are compared to and contrasted with a similar, though more extensive, study of poor families in Guadalajara by Mercedes Gonzalez de la Rocha (1986 and 1988). Gonzalez de la Rocha concluded that the important elements in the survival strategies of poor families were the size of the family, its phase in the domestic cycle and increased informal sector work. Large families in the second and third stages of the domestic cycle fared better than small young families. This Tijuana study is consistent with the earlier study. In addition it explores four general ways in which the border influences coping strategies: (1) the dollarization of the economy; (2) the maquiladora boom and its affect on employment and the type of labor demanded; (3) the creation of binational families, with family members on both sides of the border; and (4) the existence of an economy of discards from the U.S.

A human development index for the United States‐Mexico border

Abstract This paper presents a Border Human Development Index, which is a modified version of the United Nations Development Programs Human Development Index, in order to compare the development levels of the U.S. counties and Mexican municipios that touch the U.S.‐Mexico Border. The paper presents the methodology used for constructing this index, along with results of the HDIs three sub‐indices of income, education and health, and the full Border HDI for 1990 and 2000. The sub‐index of health shows the smallest gap, while that of education is by far the largest both in 1990 and 2000. A key finding is the importance of the education gap because it has significant implications for an approach to closing the human development gap in the border region, and more generally between the United States and Mexico. A focused effort to increase secondary education would lead to increased productivity which would increase per capita income.

The impact of opening markets on Mexican male/female wage and occupational differentials

Abstract This article addresses the effect of a more open market under NAFTA on the economic status of Mexican women. It is assumed that increases in export processing and tourism, industries that have a high demand for female labor, will result from the agreement. The approach of this study is to use regression and correlation analysis to compare wage and occupational differences in two Mexican cities: Tijuana, on the U.S.-Mexican border, and Torreon, in the interior. A major findings is that the overall wage gap is statistically significantly lower where there is increased export processing activity, but there appears to be very little change in occupational segregation. Three additional impacts are: first, that labor force participation rates increase for both men and women, but proportionally more for women. Second, the higher labor demand appears to weaken the relationship between the job qualifications of education and experience and wages. Third, wages by gender are more equal, but for the labor force as a whole there is a greater level of wage dispersion.

The response of labour effort to falling real wages: The Mexican peso devaluation of February 1982

Abstract This paper reports empirical evidence on the effect of the February 1982 Mexican peso devaluation with its concomitant reduction in real income on the output of individual workers. Using a set of pooled data for 46 workers employed in two textile plants in Mexicali over a 22-week period the regression results show a significant increase in average output of about 15% in response to the 25% decrease in wages due to the devaluation. The study also finds that there was no significant response in output to the legislated, annual increase in money wages of January 1982.

Effects of Increased Trade and Investment on Human Development in the U.S. and Mexican Border Communities

This paper analyzes the effects of increased trade and investment on population growth and the quality of life in the U.S. and Mexican border regions. The analysis on quality of life changes is based on 1990 and 2000 U.S. and Mexican census data. Quality of life is measured by a Border Human Development Index. We find that increased trade and investment has had a major impact on population growth and migration, especially in the Mexican border communities. With respect to changes in the quality of life, there is evidence of improvement on both sides of the border, but only the gains on the Mexican side appear to be linked to trade and investment. The evidence indicates that the increased U.S.-Mexican trade and investment has affected the border communities on the Mexican side of the border more so than those on the U.S. side.

Privatization, efficiency and market failure : transforming ecuador's public sector

Much of the privatization that is occurring in Latin America is leading to improved efficiency. However, privatization in areas where markets do not yield efficient solutions, for example of public goods, like light houses, natural monopolies, mainly utilities, and goods with externalities, like education, can lead to lower output and higher costs in the long run. This paper first presents an outline of the shift in development theory with respect to the role of the public sector. It then examines the growth of Ecuadors public sector and its current debate on how privatization should proceed. It concludes that while careful privatization can be positive, privatizing natural monopolies like the electric utility and/or quasi-public goods, like highways are likely to be detrimental to long run economic development. In order for Ecuadors economy to continue to develop, the public sector still needs to play a significant role in developing human capital and physical infrastructure.

A Dataset for U.S.-Mexico Border Research

This note describes a new dataset for research on the United States-Mexico border regions. The dataset forms the empirical core of the newly published book, Fifty Years of Change on the U.S.-Mexican Border: Growth, Development, and Quality of Life by Joan B. Anderson and James Gerber (2007), and is contained in 75 Excel files hosted by the Center for Latin American Studies at San Diego State University. The files can be found at http://latinamericanstudies.sdsu.edu/BorderData.html.