In this paper the authors inquire why, after more than 25 years of domestic agricultural reforms in Mexico and 15 years of trade liberalization of maize under the North American Free Trade Agreement （NAFTA）, the dom...In this paper the authors inquire why, after more than 25 years of domestic agricultural reforms in Mexico and 15 years of trade liberalization of maize under the North American Free Trade Agreement （NAFTA）, the domestic production of maize, a non-competitive crop and the major staple in Mexico, has increased. The authors present new empirical evidence showing that, as expected, maize prices in Mexico dropped until 2006 and have experienced a process of convergence with USA prices, and maize imports from the USA have increased. However, despite lower prices, maize production in Mexico has trended upward since 1992, two years before the beginning of NAFTA＇s implementation. Based on the heterogeneity of maize production in Mexico, three possible explanations are proposed to explain this unexpected outcome： government supports to big commercial farmers in the agriculturally rich North of Mexico; the persistence of maize production by subsistence farmers; and to a lesser degree, increasing yields on some irrigated maize farms. We finish the paper by drawing lessons from the experience of Mexico for other Less Developed Countries.展开更多
文摘In this paper the authors inquire why, after more than 25 years of domestic agricultural reforms in Mexico and 15 years of trade liberalization of maize under the North American Free Trade Agreement （NAFTA）, the domestic production of maize, a non-competitive crop and the major staple in Mexico, has increased. The authors present new empirical evidence showing that, as expected, maize prices in Mexico dropped until 2006 and have experienced a process of convergence with USA prices, and maize imports from the USA have increased. However, despite lower prices, maize production in Mexico has trended upward since 1992, two years before the beginning of NAFTA＇s implementation. Based on the heterogeneity of maize production in Mexico, three possible explanations are proposed to explain this unexpected outcome： government supports to big commercial farmers in the agriculturally rich North of Mexico; the persistence of maize production by subsistence farmers; and to a lesser degree, increasing yields on some irrigated maize farms. We finish the paper by drawing lessons from the experience of Mexico for other Less Developed Countries.
