The role of industrial planning in trade is one of the most important areas of dispute between Mexico and the United States. The official U.S. stance stresses the dominance of the marketplace, while official Mexican industrial policy demands a large and active government role. Although the United States espouses free trade in theory, in practice it
The role of industrial planning in trade is one of the most important areas of dispute between Mexico and the United States. The official U.S. stance stresses the dominance of the marketplace, while official Mexican industrial policy demands a large and active government role. Although the United States espouses free trade in theory, in practice it responds to pressures from industry and labor by imposing uncoordinated restrictions on imports and often by providing government support. Mexico, usually more thorough and coordinated in its policy, has been forced by fiscal austerity and the noncompetitive posture of its industry to reconsider past programs. The contradictions faced by these two countries often result in policies that are indistinguishable in their effect on specific industries. Analyzing overall as well as industry-specific strategies in both countries, the authors explore ways to foster cooperation in the industrial arena and to reduce the damaging effects of existing policy.
This study is divided into four chapters. The first chapter discusses the industrial development plans of Mexico, how they were made, how planning might be accomplished in future administrations, and how effective the plans have been to date. Special emphasis is placed on an understanding of history and culture as it affects planning. The second chapter focuses on six key industrial sectors: petroleum, steel, automotive, electronic equipment, agribusiness and transportation. Each sector is analyzed to determine probable levels of production and output, likely commerce with the United States, and constraints on achieving sectoral objectives. Chapter Three considers those constraints which cross all sectors and bear on the entire economy. Particular attention is given to inflation and related constraints common to oil-wealthy developing countries. Financial, budgetary, sectoral, infrastructural, labor and transportation constraints are considered. In Chapter Four the implications of the first three chapters as they relate to trade with the United States are discussed. Dangers which may face both countries, the need for a framework for the relationship between both countries, and major commercial opportunities are considered.
This book explores developmental policymaking across the multiple levels of Mexico’s contemporary state, arguing that many of the innovations in industrial policy have been driven at the subnational level. In the three decades since Mexico’s neoliberal turn in its political economy, subnational units of government have taken a lead in industrial transformation, galvanising policy from below. With most literature on new developmentalism focusing on the national level, this book is an important exploration of the differentiated and rewarding results that may be found below the state’s centre. Based on an original dataset of written and oral interviews gained from national and subnational governmental units of industrial policymaking in Mexico, the book shows how attribution and power are diffused across the contemporary state’s multiple levels. Notable subnational projects explored by the book include public-private collaboration, productive investments and an interesting array of incentives targeted towards industrial upgrading and innovation. The book concludes by providing a distinctive and systematic comparison between subnational units from different countries in Latin America and further afield, in order to assess the commonalities of developmental roles and policies. Industrial Development in Mexico will be an important read for scholars across the fields of political science, political economy and Latin American development.
This volume examines a number of regional and sectoral developments in Mexico and assesses how they are related to undocumented migration to the United States, representing efforts to identify productive alternatives to the problem of migration.
The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (IRCA) was amanifestation of widespread public concern over the volume of undocumentedimmigration into the United States. The principal innovationof this legislation-the provision to impose penalties on employers whoknowingly hire undocumented immigrants-was a response to thisconcern.This effort at restriction was tempered in IRCA by other provisionspermitting the legalization of two types of undocumented immigrantsthosewho had resided in the United States since January 1, 1982; andwhat were called special agricultural workers (SAWs), persons who hadworked in perishable crop agriculture for at least 90 days during specifiedperiods from 1983 to 1986. Approximately 3.1 million persons soughtlegalization (what is popularly referred to as amnesty) under these twoprovisions. The breakdown was roughly 1.8 million under the regularprogram and 1.3 million as SAWs. Mexicans made up 75 percent of thecombined legalization requests.
The industrialization process in Mexico began before that of any other nation in Latin America except Argentina, with the most rapid expansion of new industrial firms occurring in the 1930s and 1940s, and import substitution in capital goods evident as early as the late 1930s. Though Mexico’s trade relations have always been dependent on the United States, successive Mexican presidents in the postwar period attempted to control the penetration of foreign capital into Mexican markets. In Industry, the State, and Public Policy in Mexico, Dale Story, recognizing the significance of the Mexican industrial sector, analyzes the political and economic role of industrial entrepreneurs in postwar Mexico. He uses two original data sets—industrial production data for 1929–1983 and a survey of the political attitudes of leaders of the two most important industrial organizations in Mexico—to address two major theoretical arguments relating to Latin American development: the meaning of late and dependent development and the nature of the authoritarian state. Story accepts the general relevance of these themes to Mexico but asserts that the country is an important variant of both. With regard to the authoritarian thesis, the Mexican authoritarian state has demonstrated some crucial distinctions, especially between popular and elite sectors. The incorporation of the popular sector groups has closely fit the characteristics of authoritarianism, but the elite sectors have operated fairly independently of state controls, and the government has employed incentives or inducements to try to win their cooperation. In short, industrialists have performed important functions, not only in accumulating capital and organizing economic enterprises but also by bringing together the forces of social change. Industrial entrepreneurs have emerged as a major force influencing the politics of growth, and the public policy arena has become a primary focus of attention for industrialists since the end of World War II.
First published in 1989, this book focuses upon the phenomenon of export-led industrialisation fuelled by foreign investment and technology. He concentrates on Mexico, where US companies have been taking advantage of inexpensive labour to establish "maquila" factories that assemble US parts for export. Through this detailed study of the maquila industry, Sklair charts the progress from the political imperialism of colonial days to the economic imperialism of today.
