The geographic concentration in Mexican manufacturing industries, an account of patterns, dynamics and explanations: 1988-2003
This paper presents an examination of regional concentration levels
of individual industries in the Mexican manufacturing sector and its determinants.
The shifts after NAFTA are particularly weighed up. We employ state level data
of manufacturing output and employment (1988-2003). The data reveals that industries
have become, on average, more dispersed in terms of both production and
employment. However among the most concentrated industries are those which
are highly linked to international markets. The concentrated, concentrating and
largest industries tend to locate in traditional industrial regions, in the north but
increasingly more in the Bajio. The regression analysis for the determinants of
concentration shows consistency with a number of predictions such as the significance
of economies of scale, wages, exports and transport costs, which indicates
that international trade plays a role in concentration profiles of industries.
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