IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/aea/jecper/v15y2001i1p125-144.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Impact of NAFTA on the United States

Author

Listed:
  • Mary E. Burfisher
  • Sherman Robinson
  • Karen Thierfelder

Abstract

We describe the main economic arguments posed for and against the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) during the U.S. policy debate. To evaluate these arguments, we analyze recent trade data and survey post-NAFTA studies. We find that both the U.S. and Mexico benefit from NAFTA, with much larger relative benefits for Mexico. NAFTA also has had little effect on the U.S. labor market. These results confirm the consensus opinion of economists at the time of the debate. Finally, studies find that trade creation greatly exceeds trade diversion in the region under NAFTA, especially in intermediate goods.

Suggested Citation

  • Mary E. Burfisher & Sherman Robinson & Karen Thierfelder, 2001. "The Impact of NAFTA on the United States," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 15(1), pages 125-144, Winter.
    • Handle: RePEc:aea:jecper:v:15:y:2001:i:1:p:125-144
    Note: DOI: 10.1257/jep.15.1.125
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.aeaweb.org/articles.php?doi=10.1257/jep.15.1.125
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Robinson, Sherman & Thierfelder, Karen, 2002. "Trade liberalisation and regional integration: the search for large numbers," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 46(4), pages 1-20.
    2. Steven Berry & Vittorio Grilli & F. Lopez-de-Silanes, 1992. "The Automobile Industry and The Mexico-Us Free Trade Agreement," NBER Working Papers 4152, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Karemera, David & Ojah, Kalu, 1998. "An Industrial Analysis of Trade Creation and Diversion Effects of NAFTA," Journal of Economic Integration, Center for Economic Integration, Sejong University, vol. 13, pages 400-425.
    4. Joyce Manchester & Warwick Mckibbin, 1995. "The global macroeconomics of NAFTA," Open Economies Review, Springer, vol. 6(3), pages 203-223, July.
    5. David M. Gould, 1998. "Has NAFTA changed North American trade?," Economic and Financial Policy Review, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, issue Q 1, pages 12-23.
    6. Rudiger Dornbusch & Alejandro Werner, 1994. "Mexico: Stabilization, Reform, and No Growth," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 25(1), pages 253-316.
    7. Anne O. Krueger, 1999. "Trade Creation and Trade Diversion Under NAFTA," NBER Working Papers 7429, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Arvind Panagariya, 2000. "Preferential Trade Liberalization: The Traditional Theory and New Developments," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 38(2), pages 287-331, June.
    9. Hinojosa-Ojeda, Raul & Robinson, Sherman, 1992. "Labor Issues in a North American Free Trade Area," CUDARE Working Papers 198601, University of California, Berkeley, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics.
    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. M. Ayhan Kose & Guy M. Meredith & Christopher M. Towe, 2005. "How Has NAFTA Affected the Mexican Economy? Review and Evidence," Springer Books, in: Rolf J. Langhammer & Lúcio Vinhas Souza (ed.), Monetary Policy and Macroeconomic Stabilization in Latin America, pages 35-81, Springer.
    2. Philippa Dee, 2005. "The Australia-US Free Trade Agreement: An Assessment," Asia Pacific Economic Papers 345, Australia-Japan Research Centre, Crawford School of Public Policy, The Australian National University.
    3. Philippa Dee, 2005. "The Australia–US Free Trade Agreement - An Assessment," Trade Working Papers 22309, East Asian Bureau of Economic Research.
    4. Howard J. Wall, 2003. "NAFTA and the geography of North American trade," Review, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, vol. 85(Mar), pages 13-26.
    5. Fukao, Kyoji & Okubo, Toshihiro & Stern, Robert M., 2003. "An econometric analysis of trade diversion under NAFTA," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 14(1), pages 3-24, March.
    6. Ramirez, Miguel D., 2003. "Mexico under NAFTA: a critical assessment," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 43(5), pages 863-892.
    7. Wang, Zhi & Gehlhar, Mark & Yao, Shunli, 2006. "Estimating Hong Kong Re-export Markups and Reconciling Trade Statistics from China, Hong Kong and Their Major Trading Partners - A Mathematical Programming Approach," Conference papers 331486, Purdue University, Center for Global Trade Analysis, Global Trade Analysis Project.
    8. Magee, Christopher S.P., 2008. "New measures of trade creation and trade diversion," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(2), pages 349-362, July.
    9. Lee, Hiro & Roland-Holst, David & van der Mensbrugghe, Dominique, 2004. "China's emergence in East Asia under alternative trading arrangements," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 15(4), pages 697-712, August.
    10. Lucian Cernat, 2003. "Assessing South–South Regional Integration: Same Issues, Many Metrics," UNCTAD Blue Series Papers 21, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.
    11. Gutiérrez, Gabriel, 2005. "Ex-post evaluation of the employment effects of a preferential trade agreement: methodological issues, illustrated with a reference to Chile," Comercio Internacional 4399, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL).
    12. John Romalis, 2007. "NAFTA's and CUSFTA's Impact on International Trade," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 89(3), pages 416-435, August.
    13. Xiao-guang Zhang & George Verikios, 2006. "Providing Duty-Free Access to Australian Markets for Least-Developed COuntries: a General Equilibrium Analysis," Economics Discussion / Working Papers 06-09, The University of Western Australia, Department of Economics.
    14. A. Ganesh Kumar & Gordhan Kumar Saini, 2007. "Economic co-operation in South Asia: The Dilemma of SAFTA and beyond," Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumbai Working Papers 2007-017, Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumbai, India.
    15. Tokarick, Stephen, 2011. "Should Countries Worry About Immiserizing Growth?," Conference papers 332133, Purdue University, Center for Global Trade Analysis, Global Trade Analysis Project.
    16. Erick Elder & Mark Funk & Ashvin Vibhakar & Vincent W. Yao, 2006. "Intra-NAFTA trade and surface traffic: a very disaggregated view," Regional Economic Development, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, issue Oct, pages 87-99.
    17. Sven Arndt, 1996. "North American Free Trade: An assessment," Open Economies Review, Springer, vol. 7(1), pages 77-92, January.
    18. Susanto, Dwi & Rosson, C. Parr & Adcock, Flynn J., 2007. "Trade Creation and Trade Diversion in the North American Free Trade Agreement: The Case of the Agricultural Sector," Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 39(1), pages 121-134, April.
    19. Burfisher, Mary E. & Robinson, Sherman & Thierfelder, Karen, 2004. "Regionalism: old and new, theory and practice," MTID discussion papers 65, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    20. E. M. Ekanayake & John R. Ledgerwood, 2009. "An Analysis Of The Intra-Regional Trade In The Middle East And North Africa Region," The International Journal of Business and Finance Research, The Institute for Business and Finance Research, vol. 3(1), pages 19-29.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • F15 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Economic Integration
    • F14 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Empirical Studies of Trade
    • F13 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Trade Policy; International Trade Organizations

    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:aea:jecper:v:15:y:2001:i:1:p:125-144. 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: Michael P. Albert (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/aeaaaea.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.