TRADE AND MIGRATION IN NORTH AMERICA: THE ROLE OF NAFTA

At the end of 2003, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) turned ten years old. With two-thirds of its implementation period passed, one may ask whether NAFTA has served its main purpose -- to facilitate and strengthen the flow of goods and services between Canada, Mexico, and the US. In t...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Law and business review of the Americas 2005-07, Vol.11 (3/4), p.327
Main Authors: Hollifield, James F, Osang, Thomas
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
American dollar
Analysis
Changes
Economic impact
Free trade
GDP
Gross Domestic Product
Growth rate
International trade
Migration
Noncitizens
North American Free Trade Agreement
Ratios
Trends
US exports
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:At the end of 2003, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) turned ten years old. With two-thirds of its implementation period passed, one may ask whether NAFTA has served its main purpose -- to facilitate and strengthen the flow of goods and services between Canada, Mexico, and the US. In this paper, the authors compare and contrast trade and migration indicators for pre- and post-NAFTA periods. Based on the authors' analysis of trade and migration patterns in North America over the last two decades (and longer in some cases) they conclude that NAFTA did what is was supposed to do -- increase the flow of goods and services between NAFTA partners, but having no discernable impact on the flow of legal migrants. Income convergence in North America depends heavily on the continuing integration of factor markets, particularly labor markets. The move- ment of labor has a larger impact on factor prices, inequality and income than trade, at least in the short term.
ISSN:1571-9537