NAFTA as a Means of Raising Rivals' Costs: A Comment

The purpose of this comment is toclarify and extend a recent paper entitled NAFTA as a Means of Raising Rivals Costs. The paper indicates that the complexity of complying with the rules of NAFTA may lead to a decrease in competition in the domestic market. The comment shows that thecomplexity of NAFTA is related to the rules of origin which are a part of virtually any free-tradeagreement. Since rules of origin are a necessary part of virtually any trade agreement, the conclusions of the paper are not restricted to NAFTA but can be generalized to a large part of international trade.     

Integración económica,crisis económicas y ciclos económicos en México

This article analyzes the peculiarity of the dynamics of economic fluctuations of the Mexican economy, within the framework of its integration with the US and Canada; the article demonstrates how the Mexican economy make endogenous the macroeconomic crises from the USA (2001 and 2007), and how the business cycles of both countries became more aligned to each other. Based on the heterodox economic theory of crises and cycles, we check the “empirical law of economic dynamics” of the Mexican capitalist system according to the logic of the Multiplier-Accelerator theory that allowed us to study the dynamics of business cycles for the period of the study (1993-2013). To do this, we construct and estimate a stationary VAR model and utilize the Granger causality tests and quarterly data.     

RTAs与多边贸易体制之利弊分析

本文从区域贸易协定或安排("RTAs")与多边贸易体制的关系入手,结合NAFTA,阐述RTAs对WTO等多边贸易体制乃至国际贸易自由化根基的最惠国待遇原则的冲击.笔者分析该冲击对多边贸易体制以及国际贸易自由化可能带来的破坏性作用和影响,并从建设国际经济贸易新秩序的高度提出一些原则性的建议和意见.     

从NAFTA到TPP（上）--纪念北美自由贸易协定签订20周年

1993年12月,克林顿总统正式签署了北美自由贸易协定（NAFTA）的实施法案。由于贸易和投资会受到各种经济变量的影响,因此,目前要对20年来北美自由贸易协定的影响做一整体评估还有难度,但有一点是可以肯定的,即北美自由贸易协定有力地推动了北美地区和整个世界的贸易自由化进程。北美自由贸易协定是最全面的自由贸易协定,提出了一些具有历史意义的条款,成为美国新一代自由贸易协定的模板或范例,并且为乌拉圭回合的多边贸易谈判提供了理论和经验基础。在美国与其他11个国家（包括加拿大和墨西哥）关于跨太平洋伙伴关系协定（TPP）的谈判中,与北美自由贸易协定相关的政策问题仍是美国政府关注的焦点。到目前为止,反对者所担心的情况没有发生,支持者所预言的巨大的经济利益也没有出现,北美自由贸易协议对美国经济的实际影响似乎并不太大。一方面是因为美国与加拿大和墨西哥的进出口贸易占美国国内生产总值的比重较小;另一方面是因为当这三个国家真正实行了更加开放的贸易和投资时,三国之间的企业也随之产生了成本调节机制。     

北美自贸区促进了成员国技术进步吗？——基于制造业相对技术水平演变的比较分析

以中国为标准国,利用EKS模型测算1995—2011年3个北美自由贸易区（NAFTA）成员国和具有代表性的35个非NAFTA国家14个制造行业的相对技术水平系数,并进行时间上的纵向动态分析和国家间的横向比较,得出以下结论：NAFTA的成立给各成员国的技术进步都带来好处,且经济互补性强的“南北”型自贸区比经济同构性强的“北北”型区域一体化组织（欧盟）更能使成员国获得技术福利;在NAFTA成员国中,美国制造业相对技术水平最高但各行业差异也最大,而墨西哥最低但行业差异不大;在变化趋势上,美、加、墨三国存在差异,说明NAFTA并不能使各成员国、各行业的技术水平都同比提高,而会产生区域内的分工和分化。因此,不能因某些部门的不景气而全盘否定自贸区或自贸协定,要通过双边和多边自贸协定或经济一体化协定打破日益严重的贸易保护主义壁垒;中国尤其应重视与经济互补性强、技术水平高的国家签订经济贸易一体化协定,积极提升国内技术水平和产品在国际价值链上的位置。     

NAFTA Students’ Whistle-Blowing Perceptions: A Case of Sexual Harassment

Business students from the three NAFTA countries were shown a possible Sexual Harassment scenario from Arthur Andersen’s Business Ethics Program. They were asked to respond to a pre-questionnaire concerning the three characters’ behaviors and possible actions and a post-questionnaire after writing a report from the points of view of the three characters in the scenario. The students were asked to consider whether the characters should report the possible harasser to their supervisor, and thus engage in whistle-blowing behavior, as well as directly confront the harasser. Hypotheses are formulated for the three NAFTA countries based on Hofstede’s cultural dimensions. There were significant differences, but in some cases not in the direction expected. Gender differences are also explored, but there were few significant differences.     

REVIEWS

Abstract

PRIVATE CAPITAL FLOWS TO EMERGING MARKETS AFTER THE MEXICAN CRISIS. Calvo, Guillermo A., Morris Goldstein, and Eduard Hochreiter (Eds.). Washington, D.C.: Institute for International Economics, September 1996, Tables, Figures, 330 pp. Reviewed by Roberto J. Santillán Salgado.

INDUSTRIALIZATION AND POLITICAL AFFINITY: INDUSTRIAL POLICY IN BRAZIL. Nelson, Roy C. London and New York: Thunderbird/Routledge, 1995, 144 pp. Reviewed by Kurt Weyland.

PRIVATIZING MONOPOLIES: LESSONS FROM THE TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND TRANSPORT SECTORS IN LATIN AMERICA. Ramamurti, Ravi. (Ed.). Baltimore, Maryland: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996, vii + 401 pp. Reviewed by Alejandro Ibarra Yunez.     

东盟与NAFTA投资规则的比较分析

本文对东盟和NAFTA两大自由投资贸易区的投资规则进行了简要的比较,认为两者的差异反映了处于不同经济发展阶段的区域对投资的要求,而两者的共性反映了国际投资保护规则的走向一致的发展趋势。     

On the Linkages of the Stock Markets of the NAFTA Countries: Fundamentals or Speculative Bubbles?

We analyze whether the linkages between the stock markets of the NAFTA member countries (Canada, Mexico, and the United States) reflect movements in fundamentals or speculative bubbles. To this end, we estimate a state-space model to decompose the stock market indexes of the three NAFTA member countries into fundamentals and speculative bubbles. We analyze the linkages of the three stock markets by means of cointegration techniques. Evidence of cointegration linkages between fundamentals is stronger than evidence of cointegration linkages between speculative bubbles.     

Product-Country Images in the Context of NAFTA

Abstract

This article presents the results of a survey of 415 male consumers carried out in Mexico (240 respondents) and Canada (175 respondents). In this study, country-of-origin information was manipulated along three dimensions, namely country of design, country of assembly, and country of parts. Consumer judgments of the quality and purchase value of three product categories, i.e., automobiles, videocassette recorders, and shoes, were obtained in a multi-cue context. The results showed that Canadian and Mexican consumers put more emphasis on the country of origin of consumer products than on brand names. The product-country evaluations of Mexicans seemed to be affected by a strong home country bias. Implications for international marketers were derived from the results.