Effects of the North American Free Trade Agreement on the U.S. and Mexican fresh vegetable industries and trade /

This study is a comprehensive assessment of the possible

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Malaga, Jaime Enrique Javier
Format: Thesis Book
Language:English
Published: [Place of publication not identified] : [publisher not identified] ; 1997.
Subjects:
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Description
Summary:This study is a comprehensive assessment of the possible
effects of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) on
the US. and Mexican fresh vegetable markets and trade. The
analysis focuses on tomatoes, onions, cucumbers, squash, and
bell peppers which account for 85% of the U.S.-Mexico fresh
vegetable trade. The specification of the model was based on
a qualitative analysis of the production, economic, and
policy-related characteristics of the U.S. and Mexican fresh
vegetable industries. Application of the Barten method
suggested the Rotterdam model to be the most appropriate
demand system specification for both the winter and summer
seasons. A separability test indicated that onion demand is
weakly separable from the other fresh vegetables. Estimated
gross complementarity among fresh vegetable demands prevented
the Rotterdam demand system from being successfully
integrated with supply and trade components into a non-
spatial price-equilbrium simulation model of U.S.-Mexico
fresh vegetable markets. An alternative single demand
equation formulation was estimated and substituted for the
complete demand system in the U. S.-Mexico fresh vegetable
model. A separate annual model was estimated for onions.
Both models were validated through historical simulation and
sensitivity analysis. Simulation statistics indicated good
performance and stability of the estimated models. The
winter U.S.-Mexico fresh vegetable and onion models were used
to establish a ten-year baseline forecast for US. imports of
freash vegetables assuming the NAFTA tariff phase-out. The
baseline forecast, conditional on FAPRI projections for the
erogenous macroeconomic variables, indicated that although
U.S. freash vegetable imports from Mexico will continue to
grow over the next decade, the loss in market share for U.S.
growers Will be modest over that period. The models were
also used to simulate the likely effects of the main factors
expected to influence the future level of US. fresh vegetable
imports from Mexico over the next decade. The results
suggest that while NAFTA is expected to boost US. imports,
the peso devaluation clearly has had the largest impact on
U.S. imports over the short term. Over the longer term, the
largest effect on U.S. imports of fresh vegetables from
Mexico, especially tomatoes, could come from a poor U.S.
yield performance.
Item Description:Vita.
"Major Subject: Agricultural Economics".
Physical Description:xi, 199 leaves : illustrations ; 28 cm.
Issued also on microfiche from University Microfilms Inc.
Bibliography:Includes bibliographical references: pages 193-198.