Globalization and its Impact on Migration in Agricultural Communities in Mexico

In this paper, I examine several market liberalization measures taken in Mexico in the first half of the 90’s and their impact on municipalities’ migration incidence. Specifically, I look at events that affected generally small agricultural producers of basic crops, such as the removal of price supports and input subsidies, changes in laws governing the property rights of communal landowners and the reduction in tariffs on agricultural imports brought about by NAFTA, and their impact on migration to the U.S. I find that reliance on basic crop production is positively and significantly associated with municipality level U.S. migration incidence. I also find small effects of exposure to changes in property rights of communal landowners and negative but insignificant effects of exposure to globalization on migration to the U.S.