Mexican Migration to the United States of America under NAFTA - Reasons and Policy Recommendations

The increase in Mexican migration to the United States in recent years constitutesone of the most divisive issues in the US-Mexican relationship. Thephenomenon is especially interesting and puzzling if considered that itcontradicts the traditional economic models that consider trade and migrationto be perfect substitutes. According to these models increased tradeshould reduce the incentives for migration from poor to relatively wealthiercountries. So why has this not been the case between Mexico and the US;two countries that have fairly liberalized their trade since 1993 under theNorth American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)? The author Jana Kopyciokdescribes the reasons for the increase in Mexican migration to the US inrecent years focusing on why trade liberalization under NAFTA so far has notstemmed the migration flow between the two countries. She also proposespolicy recommendations on how the US and Mexico should deal with themigration flow laying the focus on the US point of view. The paper isdirected to research scholars political economists and all those interested tolearn about the migration phenomenon from a macroeconomic point ofview.