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Tomatoes or Tomato Pickers? Free Trade and Migration Between Mexico and the United States

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  • Amaranta Melchor Del Río
  • Susanne Thorwarth

Abstract

This paper examines the relationship between trade liberalisation and migration in the case of Mexico. The increasing bilateral trade between Mexico and the United States after signing the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was supposed to stem the illegal Mexican migration flow by contributing to economic growth and job creation in both countries. Twelve years after the treaty has come into effect, questions emerge about the extent to which NAFTA was able to reduce the migration pressure: are trade and migration substitutes like the policy-makers had assumed or are they complements? Using monthly data from 1968 until 2004, we estimate a distributed lag model with the number of apprehensions at the US-Mexican border as a proxy for illegal migration. The results indicate that increasing trade flows cause larger illegal migration from Mexico to the United States.

Suggested Citation

  • Amaranta Melchor Del Río & Susanne Thorwarth, 2009. "Tomatoes or Tomato Pickers? Free Trade and Migration Between Mexico and the United States," Journal of Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(1), pages 109-135, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:recsxx:v:12:y:2009:i:1:p:109-135
    DOI: 10.1016/S1514-0326(09)60008-8
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    Cited by:

    1. Hatzigeorgiou, Andreas & Lodefalk, Magnus, 2018. "Anti-Migration as a Threat to Internationalization? A Review of the Migration-Internationalization Literature," GLO Discussion Paper Series 287, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    2. Hatzigeorgiou, Andreas & Lodefalk, Magnus, 2017. "Anti-Migration as a Threat to Internationalization?," Ratio Working Papers 302, The Ratio Institute.
    3. Hatzigeorgiou, Andreas & Lodefalk, Magnus, 2018. "Do Migrants Facilitate Internationalization? A Review of the Literature," Working Papers 2018:11, Örebro University, School of Business, revised 19 Dec 2019.
    4. Christopher R. Parsons & L. Alan Winters, 2014. "International migration, trade and aid: a survey," Chapters, in: Robert E.B. Lucas (ed.), International Handbook on Migration and Economic Development, chapter 4, pages 65-112, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    5. Campaniello, Nadia, 2014. "The causal effect of trade on migration: Evidence from countries of the Euro-Mediterranean partnership," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 223-233.

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