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This paper, based on qualitative interviews realized between 2014 and 2022 with 36 Central American migrant women captured by drug cartels when they transited through Mexico, aims to examine the different repertories used by criminal organizations to capture, exploit, and subject the victims to a condition of sexual slavery. It is concluded that criminal groups have developed four different repertories, which aim to tame the body and mind of the slaves to achieve total submission: kidnapping, deception, recruitment in the country of origin and extortion. Inside these organizations the roles of victim and perpetrator are interchangeable, and enslaved women are not always passive victims, but some rescue themselves using both astuteness and brute force. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Domestic work is an oppressive occupational niche for migrant women. The strategies domestic workers employ to resist this situation have been scarcely studied. This paper is interested in their activism. Through a qualitative study in southern Spain, the meaning of such socio-political action for migrant women is explored. In the spring of 2020, eleven activists from the Seville Association of Domestic Workers were interviewed. The material was subjected to content analysis. The meanings associated with their activism were grouped into four categories: (1) the horizon of "struggle", (2) the forms of "struggle", (3) the levels of involvement, and (4) the challenges of activism. The results are limited to a historically recent case, and to a small sample chosen purposively; however, they contribute to the understanding of migrant women's agency, and open fields of reflection for domestic workers' organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The general objective of this paper is to analyze and explain the paradox of why objective knowledge based upon "facts and hard data" has been insufficient to forge a narrative, particularly in the U.S. side, that would lead towards a deeper cooperation and make the U.S.-Mexico border more fluid, functional and integrated. The main question is: why the "re-territorialization" narrative of reinforcing differences and solidifying the border has prevailed? The theoretical framework that guides this analysis is the Aristotelian concept of "phronesis" or "practical wisdom" to settle beliefs that cannot be reached through an objective scientific rationality. The issue of power is of great interest in this analysis; particularly, the paper explores the relationship between knowledge and communications power as explanatory factors to understand the forging of a narrative of reinforcing borders. The conclusion is that the military-surveillance industrial complex has been the most influential actor behind the kind of knowledge that shape border policy compared to academic and scientific knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of the paper is to analyze the experiences of returned migrants in Tejupilco, State of Mexico. We use the phenomenological epoche as a theoretical and methodological axis, and we apply it to ten individuals who migrated to the United States that for different reasons returned to Mexico (August-November 2007). In this way, the paper starts from the premise that it is necessary to deepen the migratory experience, beyond the established pragmatic knowledge, and to base the experiences of the individuals in a factual way. The results show the need for the social sciences to appreciate the migration issue in a phenomenological way. The findings demonstrated the existence a migratory identity of dynamic nature that does not depend on macrosocial factors but depends on the activity performed by the subject as a social actor. Likewise, the results allow us to conclude that the way in which migrants assimilate the meaning of experience is a source of transcendental meaning that currently represents their lifestyle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes to analyse the interrelation of two dynamics of territorial occupation based on American expansionism in an agroindustrial region of northwestern Mexico. The paper will analyze, from a longitudinal perspective, the colonization processes through economic development and the establishment of a Protestant religious model in the productive model and in the regional settlement of one of the most important agro-exporting zones of the northwest of Mexico. Despite limitations in the method, the work excels in connecting complex dynamics of globalization that are usually analyzed separately. The work shows the development of a colonial sense in the dynamics of territorial occupation of companies linked to agro-industry and the development of a Protestant religious field in the borders; at the same time, it identifies the dispute over the possession of a regional identity that has not remained untouched by conflicts between the local settlers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the experiences of vulnerability and the development of resilience in trans women and gay men from Central America who transited through Mexico to the United States between 2017 and 2020. Based on interviews conducted in a shelter for lgbt+ migrants in Tijuana, it is shown that vulnerability is expressed in acts of violence and discrimination by authorities, criminal organizations, and other migrants, in response to the sexual orientation and gender identity of trans women and gay men. In contrast, resilience developed thanks to the support provided by networks of the lgbt+ community itself in the form of chosen families and civil society spaces. From this, it is observed that even within vulnerability, mobility enables the development of resilience through new ways of living gender and sexuality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper investigates the impact of the international trade on employment of the northern border states of Mexico and its integration with the economy of the United States during 2007-2020. In order to analyze the effect of commercial penetration on the evolution of employment in the region, a dynamic panel model is used to estimate the effect of exports and imports. The results indicate that at the level of total exports there is no clear correlation of the penetration of exports on employment in the region. In contrast, the penetration of manufacturing exports and imports showed a positive and statistically significant effect on manufacturing employment in the northern border region of Mexico. The coefficient of average manufacturing wages showed an inverse coefficient suggesting that the employment dynamics are limiting the growth of wage income. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this paper is to examine what are the methods used by Mexican drug cartels to recruit migrant smugglers and which are the activities carried by former migrant smugglers in these organizations. A qualitative methodology was used, consistent in the realization, between 2011 and 2015, of interviews with 107 migrant smugglers (105 men and 2 women). This paper concludes that after 2013, there has been an increase of recruitment of migrant smugglers by drug cartels without coercion, and that the activities carried out by them are increasingly violent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the dynamics present in the relations between tourism, security and criminality in a border area, observing how the criminal and inequality dynamics coincide territorially with the spaces destined for visitors. The article investigates the case of Ciudad Juárez, a Mexican economic border center that has a significant flow of displacements with the usa. The study was conducted through secondary data on marginalization (2010) and prevailing crime (2010-2015) in Ciudad Juárez. The maps show that the spaces destined for tourism are not found in the most dangerous areas of the city, which implies that the visitor runs very little real risk if they do not extrapolate the dynamics of the comfort zone of the tourist territories. In Juárez, focusing on tourism security, there are much more representations of insecurity than a real threat to tourists who will hardly leave the comfort zones of the city. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the social right to health of a group of Mexicans deported in the context of their migration between Mexico and the US. Based on 20 semi-structured interviews with deportees living in the city of Monterrey, Nuevo León, it explores the search for medical care and access to healthcare services during a migratory trajectory conformed of three stages: destination, interception and return. The results emerge from a dual experience, first, as irregular immigrants in the United States and, later, as deportees in Mexico. The right to health was partially exercised in both national contexts with health systems and policies that exclude, either on purpose or by omission, irregular immigrants and deportees. The period of residence or absence, as well as family networks, acted as antagonistic factors encouraging or inhibiting access to health, according to the migratory stage analyzed. This right was typically exercised during medical emergencies caused mainly by accidents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The goal of this paper is to analyze the demographic and socioeconomic profiles of Guatemalan households by indigenous language in the southern border states of Mexico. In particular, it is explored how many Guatemalan households are settled, how they are configured and how they are integrated in structural terms, based on the Intercensus Survey 2015. To this end, descriptive statistics and a multinomial logistic model are used. The analysis indicates that Guatemalan households are concentrated in rural localities, are numerous and younger, and mainly work in the primary sector. Their socioeconomic integration is disadvantaged in aspects such as labor and housing conditions and access to social services. Nevertheless, Guatemalan indigenous households exhibit higher levels of social integration than their non-indigenous counterparts in the access to citizenship, housing and governmental economic transfers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the last five years, production has increased over the Chilean Peruvian border. However, the ethnographic deepening of the dynamics of this corridor will allow us to delve into its complex cross-border nature, allowing us to discuss theoretical and methodological proposals. This paper addresses the social, eco-nomic and cultural dynamics of the Second-Use Clothing and Footwear Trade Shows on the southern Peruvian border, complementing studies conducted in northern Chile. Finally, the results presented will discuss theoretical assumptions proposed for the Chilean-Peruvian border corridor. In this way, by means of an ethnographic methodology developed based on interview and observation techniques, it is sought to generate evidence of the socio-territorial dynamics manifested in the public sphere of the mentioned fairs. Finally, we will observe that the public sphere itself described allows us to discuss the territorial scales of analysis of the border corridor generating indications to consider a scale that extends to the Peruvian and Bolivian Altiplano. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aims at analyzing the social insertion of regional migrants in the Bahía Blanca municipality (Buenos Aires province, Argentina), focusing in their access to the social rights recognized by the Migration Law 25.871, in the period between 2010-2018. Through a qualitative research, this paper identifies the "critical knots/issues" in the access and usefulness of health resources and services of migrants, highlighting a set of institutional, cultural and social conditions that limit the practical exercise of citizenship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Hondo transboundary river basin is a territory shared by Mexico, Guatemala and Belize. There is not enough information about mechanisms of cooperation in water issues in the river basil and the reasons that prevent this process. Nevertheless, we know about the existence of factors of conflicts that limit the cooperation. This article describes the factor of conflicts and their bonds with the cooperation around die water. The construction of the analysis was based in the grounded theory, with the use of the semi-structured interviews and the participant observation as tools of data collection. The data obtained was analyzed by a codification of information based on: the anthropic conflicts, their relation with the cooperation and the institutional paper as part of die factors of conflict. For the location of key stakeholders and the elaboration of interviews, it was necessary to take advantage of a hemerographic analysis and the existing relations as a result of a previous work in 2003, besides applying the technique of "snow ball" to identify new key stakeholders. The paper tries to highlight how existing potential anthropic conflicts in the river basin may affect processes and attempts for cooperation in water issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For the prestigious Mexican historian, Miguel León-Portilla, the Yumans of Baja California were not Indians of warfare, but rather Indians of peace. In the opinion of this researcher, it was because lived in the fossilized-paleolithic stage that these Indigenous groups did not present any kind of resistance against the European colonization, making possible their easy domination and posterior diminishment or assimilation. This paper questions these advancements not only because of their lack of technical precision, but also because they obscure the role of agency that these Indians played during the missionary period. On the contrary, this paper endorses Edward Spicer's (1962) assertion that resistance was present even among those groups that were not seriously engaged in significant fights against the Spanish conquerors. In the particular case of the Yuman people, this is a resistance challenging the Pueblo Indio project and its related implications in terms of sedentary lifestyle, agricultural economy and the adoption of a scheme of central authority. As we know, these patterns were opposed to those observed among the Yumans as nomads, hunters and gatherers, organized into a segmentary lineage system. Moreover, the kind of resistance described in this paper constitutes what James C. Scott (1990) refers to as the hidden and daily life transcripts, such as ingenuity, intelligence simulating ignorance, and irony, as well as, those economic and social practices studied by Jan Rus (1995), which include mobility and appropriation of the missionary site, all with the intention of perpetuating the presence of these Indigenous people and make possible their social reproduction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On the basis of indexes taken from easily measurable variables, this paper takes a look at both the gains and setbacks of Mexican society in its fight for gender equality and its relation to human development. The object of this paper is to show the possible future tendencies in this context, insofar as opportunities arise for both men and women to both fully develop their capacities and to take advantage of the same within their surroundings. The case study focuses on the municipalities of the northeast region of Mexico, formed by the states of Nuevo Leon and Tamaulipas, for the years 1995, 2000 and 2005. A reduction in the inequality gap in health, education and income is observed, although the condition of women is still far from being on a par with that of men, especially where resources for a dignified life are concerned. The most noticeable gap between men and women is related precisely to the limited access and control of resources that allow women to make their own decisions regarding their lives and consequently, their empowerment is marginal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the relationship between economic development and the entrance of women into the labor market. In particular, it reviews the links between female labor force participation [FLFP] and several variables associated with development —economic structure, income level, poverty, inequality, marginalization, human development and other specific gender indicators. This essay analyses the case of municipalities in the northern Mexican state of Chihuahua. Based on empirical study, a causal relationship framework between FLFP and the development of regions is proposed. This paper concludes that women's participation in the economy has a significant impact on development; therefore, regions must formulate public policies that create more opportunities for the incorporation of women into the labor market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this work is to analyze, from a comparative perspective, the political views and guidelines adopted by the Southern Common Market (Mercosur), the Andean Community of Nations (can), and the Union of South American Nations (Unasur) in relation to the proposals put forward to construct citizenship in the South American region between 2002 and 2016. A qualitative research methodology is used, and it is focused on the analysis of official public documents issued by the above mentioned organizations of regional integration, which follow a set of guidelines in terms of regional citizenship. The importance of the paper lies in the reflection upon the kind of citizen and the concept of citizenship that derives from the guidelines promoted by can, Mercosur, and Unasur. In this sense, it shows that a multiplicity of legal status hides under the category of citizenship, and that they serve as selection, hierarchization and differential inclusion mechanisms for regional migrants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this paper is to estimate the effect that innovative capacity exerts on the economic growth of the states in Mexico, highlighting the differences in their locative context and degree of international integration. The estimation method consists of a dynamic panel econometric model for the period 1998-2013 with annual data. To avoid technical and statistical discrepancies of the patents, an aggregate indicator of technological activities is constructed with a factorial model. The results show positive effects of the innovative capacity in the growth only for the entities with greater integration to the international market and those located in the northern border. In the case of patents, no specification was found that has significant effects. Among the implications for public policies of economic growth based on science and technology is that differentiation by context optimizes its functionality and efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to analyze the economic circuits that make up the cross-border urban complex Arica-Tacna (Chile-Perú). It relies on a qualitative research carried out in the area involving interviews, observations and documentary reviews. Its findings indicate that it is a very intense cross-border region, but limited to local arrangements. Its most significant exchanges of goods occur in the informal economy and is channeled through million crossings of people in both directions. It's an unequal exchange favorable to the Chilean city. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is an analysis of the commercial policy implemented by the colonial bureaucracy on the Guarani Reductions, also the adaptations, responses and conflicts this process originated. The historical sources are analyzed from an anthropological perspective. First, the colonial commercial policies applied on the Guarani missions are put in context. Second, the controversies within the colonial administration are interpreted. Finally, indications of indigenous participation in this trade is described. The bias found in the official documents is a limitation of this study. Its value, however, lies in an analysis which brings together regulations, conflicts and indigenous agency. It is concluded that the political mediation designed to hinder the missionary population's free access to the new commercial system had the opposite effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies how the Human Resources Management Systems (HRMS) influence the performance of water utilities in Mexico. The differentiated performance of the water utilities of the cities of Hermosillo and Mexicali were compared to their hrms characteristics through the analysis of four categories: 1) Hiring policies, 2) Development and training, 3) Salaries, benefits and incentives, and 4) Sanctions systems. The main differences between these utilities are on categories 2 and 3, where Mexicali shows greater levels. The study provides a vision of water utilities from the point of view of hrmg, which has not been taken into account in previous research. Although Mexicali provides its workers with better training and incentives, it is observed that the influence of local governments and the excessive power of unions have led to weak hrms that affect the performance of water utilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper presents an application to the case of the European cross-border cooperation policy (CBC). Specifically, the CBC carried out at the Spanish-Portuguese border is reviewed from a functional perspective. To do this, a descriptive overview of the implementation process of Portuguese-Spanish cbc is made, showing the agents and institutions that have carried it out, in particular the working communities, and the results achieved throughout the process. Understanding by results: 1) what progress or recoils have been made in the deactivation of this secular border --that is, the border effect has been eliminated--, 2) what obstacles remain outstanding and 3) what are the future challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We offer an ethnographic description of the circulation of vegetables on the border between Mexico and Guatemala. These goods move from one country to the other through ant-style piecemeal trafficking on misdirected paths: they enter constantly as contraband in small quantities, using tolerated border crossings. The objective is to show how the interactions between the border actors involved construct a local order that is different from that of the State's normative parameters. An order is founded on a series of unwritten rules that govern the practices of crossing, thereby creating an "interpretive community." This paper clarifies why the operating personnel from different levels of the Mexican government charged with overseeing trade are not outside of this community but rather compose an important part of it and how the State is empirically constructed within it, starting from the idea that the State is not an all-encompassing and coherent entity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The economic integration between the United States and Mexico has affected the economic, political and social relations in the border region. The paper seeks to relate the increasing economic integration and business cycles of the economies of San Diego and Tijuana to the development of both national and binational economic organizations in the border region. The methodology of analysis uses both statistical estimations of the economic integration of San Diego and Tijuana and semi-structured interviews of economic organizations to analyze the increasing economic integration and the role and achievements of the cross-border economic organizations. The results showed that cross-border cooperation is predominately controlled by federal and state governments on both sides of the border. However, the main achievements of cross-border economic cooperation have been accomplished by local private organizations. The perspective of further local economic development greatly depends on both the possibility of increased involvement of federal governments and the growing encouragement of regional organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper deals with bilateral relations between Argentina and Chile in recent decades, highlighting the potential of their new border relations. It assumes that the wide range of governmental actors, subnational and local entities linking each other have given this a unique dynamic border and are considered spaces of cooperation. The article is descriptive-reflective and is organized around a series of questions about the continued search for Argentine-Chilean border integration since the nineties and the construction of top-down and bottom-up institutional agreements. Within the variety of links, some remarkable examples are selected for the article like the ?Integration Committees?, the settlement of the Central West of South America Integration Zone (Zicosur) and the Argentine-Chilean cooperation in Antarctica. It stresses the integrationist Maipú Treaty (2009) and institutions that charge different instances of bilateral dialogue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the results-based management (rbm) proposal promoted by the Mexican federal government and how this proposal has been applied. This article presents the theory of management according to its results and its effects on competitiveness and well-being. This article analyzes the conceptual elements of the model and the manners in which this model has been instituted both conceptually and operationally in Brazil, Mexico, and the Mexican state of Baja California. Principal findings include the need to strengthen institutional capacities for rbm to enhance competitiveness and well-being at the government level, internalize a vision of strategic change, and prioritize cultural change to generate efficient transparency, accountability and anti-corruption controls by a transversal focus based on the elements of management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, Mexican farming has shifted from a process of extensive ranching and exportation of live cattle to highly technical processes for exporting a higher quality of fresh and frozen meat. This production dynamic is reflected in the greater stake of livestock in the agri-food industry and the gross domestic product (GDP) of Mexico and its share of the United States (U.S.) market. This paper quantifies the effect of production dynamics in the domestic market and the competitiveness of fresh beef in the U.S. using the constant market share (CMS) and relative export advantage (REA) techniques. We identified a stable growth path without presenting a comparative advantage. Similarly, this dynamic has generated a substantial increase in the U.S. market share, which is generated by a growth in the target market and increased competition within the meat sector in Mexico. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we examine the heuristic utility of Weber's notion of meaning to explain the perception of immigrants in the United States, particularly undocumented immigrants. The methodological rule implying that the understanding of the meaning of such perceptions can only be achieved through the notion of structure and the theory of socialization, as presented by Jorge Bustamante, is contested. We argue that with the notion of meaning comes into play the conception of an individual motivated by subjective reasons when perceiving immigrants as X or Y, and that those reasons, far from being justifications, have a real, objective basis. We advance a comprehensive framework of law SB 1070 to attempt to elucidate some of the reasons that motivate involved actors' approval or disapproval of this law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes processes of interaction, tension, conflict and economic interests in one of the major border areas between Mexico and Guatemala. Informal transborder trade involves several actors who have been building these processes pursuant to agency initiatives. From a conceptual perspective, supported by the dialectical relationship between the notions of a border the behavior of transborder actors, it is concluded that in the study area, an informal border-trade integration process has developed and its actors transcend the border, rendering that border permissive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the insertion of the Mexican population in the job market in San Antonio, Texas. In particular, it responds to the question of what determines employment in individual, formally incorporated businesses. The methodology analyzes microdata from the American Community Survey (acs) using a logistic statistical estimation tool. The main results indicate that attributes such as command of the English language or an individual's origin could contribute to an understanding of job market insertion for the Mexican population living in the U.S. and do not necessarily constitute barriers for labor market insertion in the self-employment category in cities with traditional migration such as San Antonio, Texas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study examines a category of migrant children named "circuit minors." This category includes unaccompanied migrant children and adolescents who cross the border continuously for various reasons and are typically associated with criminal gangs and human and drug traffickers. The aim of this paper is to highlight the problem and consider the risks and the state of social vulnerability in which this population lives. These categories of children and adolescent migrants are identified through a review of the literature, newspaper archives, and official statistics. The study draws on interviews with key informants to characterize this population. We conclude that there is a need to review existing frameworks for the protection of migrant children and to create an action protocol for officials who have contact with these children to ensure their best interests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the economic impact of Peronism in the Nahuel Huapi region and reviews the material and symbolic aspects of this district, which borders Chile and is associated with both the existing national park in the region and the city of Bariloche. To this end, and in dialogue with the material processes of the period, self-recognition and links to other regions were analyzed. The contribution of this manuscript is its recognition that despite Peronism having been experienced as one of the most significant development shifts in the Nahuel Huapi region, and especially in the town of San Carlos de Bariloche, documents both provide evidence of continuity processes and discuss the existing account of a break. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The existence of cross-border urban areas is a sociological phenomenon that concerns Latin American borders. These settlements are the result of the activation of the flows of capital, goods and people through them and the formation of transborders corridors and regions. Based on a review of several previous theoretical positions, this paper discusses the validity of the conceptual definition of Transborder Urban Complex. Futhermore, it proposes a debate on a number of study variables that account for the nature of the systemic relationships between cities, including demographics, economics, politics, and social relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper shows a limited impact of the Oportunidades program in reducing poverty in Mexico and Baja California during the study period (2002-2006), which is due to insufficient resources and the exclusion of poor households. In the country the three types of poverty had a modest reduction and in Baja California capabilities poverty declined slightly, but the food and heritage poverty increased despite the program. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous studies about the demand of productive factors of the Maquiladora Industry have focused in the labor demand. Such literature has advanced in two directions: specifying dynamic models of labor demand; or deriving the demand of productive factors from production functions that assume constant returns to scale, functional separability or certain substitution patterns among them. In this paper we estimate a translog production function without imposing a priori these restrictions. Our objective is to determine whether there is evidence supporting those assumptions. In particular, we analyze the hypotheses of constant returns to scale, and the different forms of functional separability in a three inputs production function. We use data that combines annual time series (1990-2006) with cross section of nine economic sectors of the Mexican maquiladora. We find no evidence supporting the assumptions that have been used in previous studies of factor demand. Specifically, we find evidence of decreasing returns to scale, and that the elasticities of substitution between the productive factors are all different. The estimated elasticity of substitution between labor and capital is below one; between labor and materials fluctuates between 1 and 1.5; whereas the elasticity of substitution between capital and materials is above 2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the conceptual frontlines of a theory of the deepening of democracy. First, the contributions and limitations of the literature on the quality of democracy are discussed. Then, it is argued the necessity of reconstructing the principles related to the idea of democracy in order to discern the regulative ideals that should be subjects of empirical scrutiny. The challenge is to open new research agendas centered on those elements that constitute a lively and robust democracy. This will imply the task of rethinking the concepts of participation, political competition, and popular control of public action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper Hypothesis Biased Technological Change is applied for Mexican workers services sector, belonging several Mexican regions. Economics Census microdata, 1998, 2003 and 2008 are used. Hypothesis is proved with technological gaps, under consideration of different index and result statistics consistency by taking account panel analysis. Mayor wages differences at 2008 year were find out between Capital region and South one, about five hundred percent on 1998 year; but it was lower on 2008, two hundred percent. This result is in correspondence with diminishing technological gap, perhaps caused by economic crisis impact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to develop an analysis of mitigation and adaptation strategies in the transport sector in the city of Mexicali, Baja California, Mexico. Based on the methodology of the Programs of Action on Climate Change (PACC), we analyzed the Mexicali emissions inventory and generated a diagnosis. Once we analyzed the current situation, we studied mitigation strategies such as Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), the smog check, new importation legislation for used cars, biofuel production, the promotion of loweremission vehicles and urban planning. On adaptation strategies vehicle recycling and the use of non-moto-rized transport were studied as an alternative of sustainable mobility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Migration of foreign retirees in Mexico has increased, especially in Los Cabos, where settlements trailer type are increasing and are moving into rural coastal areas of high ecological value, without the knowledge of impacts that may result. Thus the aim of this paper is to contribute to the understanding of this type of settlement, by documenting a case study, the characteristics of their community, their environmental impacts and implications for the provision of public services. We conclude that the town will become a short-term retreat site, because while it does not have high densities, its environmental implications are significant and broad coverage. Its current demand for services is minimal, but may cause conflicts in the future, especially with the water. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Technological change has meant that organizations require workers with higher qualifications, development, implementation and adaptation of technology looking to stay at the forefront in international competitiveness. The aim of this paper is to analyze the changes that have occurred in regional labor markets in Mexico on occupational and wage and identify to what extent these changes may have resulted from technological change and if this behavior is spatially homogeneous. The information source is made up of microdata from the National Survey of Urban Employment (Employment Survey) 2000-2004. The empirical analysis -considering workers officiating at high and low technological intensity and applying a Mincerian income function with different classification criteria: education, sex, age groups and regions during the period indicate that there have been significant changes in the Mexican labor market as a result of biased technological change, as it provides statistical evidence indicating the existence of a higher wage premium for subordinates in the technological area, and different effects at the regional level, encouraging more to the border. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper evaluates the importance of infrastructure on economic growth for the Mexican northern border municipalities. From the growth literature, we know that infrastructure, besides other factors, has been pointed out as a key factor in the long run perspectives of regional growth. Nevertheless, and within this thematic context, works that use a disaggregated analysis down to the level of the municipality are still scarce, which in the case of the northern border constitutes a scenario of much relevance given the development model adopted by the Mexican economy in recent decades. Empirical models results indicate that the municipalities of Piedras Negras, Nogales and Torreon maintain a positive relationship between physical infrastructure and growth. In the case of other municipalities like Tijuana, its elevated population growth inhibits a proper infrastructure allocation, although the positive effect induced by infrastructure on growth remains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the prospect of economic recovery and the comovement of regional and national economy with a focus on business cycles theory in 1997-2010. We estimate the trend and cycle of composition of growth in each entity with the Hodrick-Prescott filter and an autoregressive model, using employment data. The evidence shows that Nuevo Leon has the capacity to return to its trend growth, but Baja California and Chihuahua has less possibility. Finally, short-term dynamics of these economies shows that the degree of synchronization with the national economy seems to play for the recovery of growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From the 29th of June to the 4 of July of 2009, along with researchers Everardo Garduño y Eva Caccavari Garza, we participated in the recollection of quantitative and qualitative data for the project "Sacred sites of the kumiai Indians", of the National Comission for the Development of the Indian People. Active members of this Indian community gave us qualitative information. In this paper we present some social representations that the kumiai indians made from its natural resources, correlating the quantitative data available from sciences like Biology and Geography with the qualitative information offered by the social actors interviewed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Between July of 1891 and May 1892, the Mexican Land and Colonization Company, a British enterprise with a concession over the major part of Baja California's wastelands, laid 27 kilometers of rail of what was to be known as the Peninsular Railway with the expectation of opening up lands to cultivation and settlement, and attracting investment. But the train's starting point was San Quintin, a shallow bay ill-suited to becoming an important shipping port and, as far as the tracks had been built, led to nowhere. However, the objective of this paper is not to analyze the reasons for which the railway project did not come to a happy termination. Rather, it focuses on the controversies and conspiracies which surrounded its construction, arising from the struggle between the United States and Great Britain for predominance in Mexico's far northwest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyzes the importance of an approach on local environmental management regarding the quality of air in the Mexicali and Imperial Valley region. The paper discusses that the absence of a strategic approach in the environmental local policy will enhance the air pollution in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Modernity has been creating spaces, new boundaries and borders, as metaphysical, mythological and symbolic marks of physical and imaginary territories. Modern space and its borders are metaphors, boundaries that are created, walls that rise to identify with some and categorize others. In this short paper we want to approach the problem of the transformation of the idea of border (geographical, cultural, symbolic, etc.), for a reflection on the transformations of that civilized obsession called border. The border has always been a reference in facing the identities, names, symbols, different imaginary: it is more confrontational line between two otherness. From the previous framework, we reflect on Turnerian mythology, as we believe that behind the creation of the imagination of the northern border is the mythical vision of the American frontier as ideological canon that explains and confirms the presence of the white race in a border re-made in the image and likeness of the "American Dream". Frederick Turner's reflection on the role of the frontier in American history is not only the study of the importance of progress towards the West but -even more so, is the analysis of meaning that had the American frontier as a historical process that ended in 1893, as Turner said, but rather extended into the twentieth century and continues to constantly shaping the process of territorialization of the border. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mexico's business structure has been characterized by the presence of microenterprises, particularly those averaging two workers, representing 65% of establishments in 2008 and 18% of employment. This makes them important for equity and welfare improvement of their members. This paper analyzes the performance of a group of 227 microenterprises in the state of Baja California, by the use of a practical application of the concept of learning curve arranged to incorporate returns to scale. The results indicate that in 48% of cases there is evidence of learning processes and 58% exhibited increasing returns to scale. This allows evaluating the development potential of these microenterprises and the design and implementation of proactive programs that encourage their learning and consolidation in the market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper explores the role a regional Mexican television channel has in the maintenance of cultural identity and cultural links with their home city of former Monterrey, Mexico, between inhabitants who migrated to Houston, Texas. Through interviews it was possible to identify some strategies for TV viewers to reinforce their sense of belonging to their former local community and avoid their emotional distancing from it and deal with the border. The cases described here show how some people search their identity as Mexican-Americans and the role this TV signal can play, along with the dynamics the border impose on them. The study concludes that in addition to the initial social and familiar networks that facilitated the arrival of newcomers, the availability of "Canal 12" helps to understand a community in a transnational setting as a manifestation of the conditions of border relations and the continuity that this bi-national space provide to maintain strong cultural and symbolic ties with their home region in Northeast Mexico. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article contributes to the understanding of one the links of the global economy through a historical peculiarity: the "Pulga del Puente del Papa", or flea market in the city of Monterrey, Mexico. This market is a case of "popular globalization". merchandise manufactured in distant countries and utilized in others, is sold in the "Pulga del Puente del Papa", to be reused by local consumers. The aim of this paper is to reconstruct the historical process of consolidation of this market, and to demonstrate that it is a "commercial device" that persists precisely because it is inserted into the "global chain of merchandise". Within this framework, we ponder the interaction between local and global process across the Mexico-U.S. border. Not only do we trace the market's history, we describe its principal characteristics and provide examples of the commercial dynamics and international circuits through which the "Pulga del Puente del Papa" is supplied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]