TITLE:
Land Productivity Changes in a Trade Liberalization Environment: Mexico under NAFTA
AUTHORS:
Diego de la Fuente Stevens
KEYWORDS:
Latin America, Mexico, Agriculture, Productivity, NAFTA
JOURNAL NAME:
Theoretical Economics Letters,
Vol.4 No.3,
April
15,
2014
ABSTRACT: The focus of this research is the understanding of a fundamental aspect of the Mexican agricultural sector: the evolution of land productivity and the sources behind its changes. The study takes place in a period that runs from 1990 to 2011, a period of large structural transformations in the Mexican economy. The research offers answers regarding how the sector has adapted in terms of crop selection. Results show that a large share of total agricultural land productivity changes happened due to intrinsic changes in crop productivity; while these changes have different sources, most of them were the result of changes in production patters across states. Furthermore, around one quarter of total productivity, changes resulted from a better selection of crops in terms of productivity levels.