NAFTA and Economic Activity along the U.S.-Mexico Border

The purpose of this paper is to examine changes in economic activity in the US - Mexico border region in the years surrounding NAFTA's implementation. The analysis is restricted to the US side of the border. This region deserves special consideration for two reasons. First, because of its proximity to Mexico and its preNAFTA industrial structure, the impacts of NAFTA in the border region were likely to be more intense than in non-border regions of the nation. Second, the region attracted considerable attention during the NAFTA debate.