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Structural reforms and price liberalization in Mexican agriculture
Author(s) -
Baffes John
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
journal of international development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.533
H-Index - 66
eISSN - 1099-1328
pISSN - 0954-1748
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1099-1328(199807/08)10:5<575::aid-jid430>3.0.co;2-l
Subject(s) - liberalization , economics , agriculture , sorghum , agricultural economics , fertilizer , government (linguistics) , crop , market economy , agronomy , geography , biology , linguistics , philosophy , archaeology
This paper shows that the policy changes introduced by the Mexican Government in the mid‐1980s induced a reduction in the profits of the crop subsector. A simple simulation exercise revealed that, under price liberalization of the four crops studied, the demand for agricultural labour will decline by 6 per cent (equivalent to about 360,000 agricultural workers); the supply of maize is expected to decline by about 11 per cent while the corresponding declines of wheat, sorghum, and beans will be 22, 13, and 5 percent, respectively. The use of fertilizer is also expected to decline to two thirds of its current use. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.