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  3. American Economic Review
  4. September 2000
  5. Wage Shocks and North American Labor-Market Integration

American Economic Review

ISSN 0002-8282 (Print) | ISSN 1944-7981 (Online)

Wage Shocks and North American Labor-Market Integration

  • Raymond Robertson
American Economic Review
vol. 90, no. 4, September 2000
(pp. 742–764)
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Abstract

This study uses household-level data from the United States and Mexico to examine labor-market integration. I consider how the effects of shocks and rates of convergence to an equilibrium differential are affected by borders, geography, and demographics. I find that even though a large wage differential exists between them, the labor markets of the United States and Mexico are closely integrated. Mexico's border region is more integrated with the United States than is the Mexican interior. Evidence of integration precedes the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and may be largely the result of migration.

Citation

Robertson, Raymond. 2000. "Wage Shocks and North American Labor-Market Integration." American Economic Review, 90 (4): 742–764. DOI: 10.1257/aer.90.4.742

JEL Classification

  • F16 Trade and Labor Market Interactions
  • F15 Economic Integration