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This paper analyzes the determinants of school attendance and labor participation of young people between 15 and 18 years old in Argentina. The empirical analysis is based on bivariate probit models for the period from 2004 to 2009 with data from the Permanent Household Survey (EPH-INDEC). The main results show the positive impact on both school attendance and the economic inactivity of youth when an adult member of the household is employed in a protected job. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper seeks to describe the consolidation of the militarization of public security in Mexico, during the first four years of the administration led by President Felipe Calderon (2006-2012). Although this is not a new state response to the challenge of organized crime, during the second-generation transition government, the involvement of the armed forces has reached a peak, spreading to the sphere of the states through the designation of military men as public security secretariats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At the start of the second decade of the New Millennia, Mexico's Local Governments perspectives are becoming more complex and heterogeneous. The reasons behind this situation are the effects of the emerging capacities developed by local authorities to deal with development problems. These strategies can be correctly regarded as new ways of institutional evolution. This paper attempts to describe the elements that constitute what scholars regard as the new Local Governance for the case of México, as well as some of the recent changes at local economies and societies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the profile of the Argentinean and Mexican middle classes during the most recent crisis in both countries. It combines the perspectives of social vulnerability and class analysis theoretically underlying a "matrix of vulnerability and social classes." The analysis used household surveys in Argentina for 1998 and 2003 and those in Mexico for 1994 and 1996. The results show that whereas the Mexican middle class was primarily affected during the "Tequila crisis" through its physical assets (housing conditions), in Argentina, education and the labor market were the main mechanisms affected by the 2001 crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines two topics related to the review of the public accounts of the administration answerable to the governor of the State of Sonora. One involves the shortcomings and deficiencies found in the revision of public accounts and how observations are made. The second involves seeing whether, in the case of observations, sanctions are applied and the damage is repaired. To this end, we analyze the observations of the report on results for 2004 and 2005 and examine the settlement procedures and the sanctions applied. The findings show that there are important faults in the process and that it is vague and diffuse in solving the deficiencies detected and applying sanctions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is based on the study on "Evaluation of gender-equity knowledge, attitudes and strategies of high-level functionaries in Baja California". The paper evaluated high-level, civil servants' familiarity with the gender paradigm, their attitudes of resistance or receptivity towards gender equity, and the degree of gender mainstreaming present in public policy in Baja California. The hypothesis rests on the need for continuous, progressive, training in gender and gender politics for high-echelon functionaries, in order to effectively deconstruct the complex cultural web of gender inequity that still defines differential access to opportunities and economic, social, and political benefits in Baja California. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The internal structure of cities has been examined through various disciplines such as economic spatial models, ecological structures and land use. This paper seeks to study centrality in urban structure models for medium-sized Mexican cities through the spatial analysis of population density, population age structure and housing in 32 Mexican cities. Quantitative urban structure models use distance to the central business district as a basic aspect for determining the behavior of certain phenomena. This study shows that the historical period to which urban space belongs enables one to identify consistent spatial patterns in the structure of intermediate Mexican cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the south, Mexico borders on Guatemala and Belize. These three countries are linked by natural continuums called river basins. There are six river basins on Mexico's southern border four of which are divided among Mexico and Guatemala (Suchiate, Coatan, Grijalva and Candelaria) while the remaining two (Usumacinta and Hondo) are shared by Mexico, Guatemala and Belize. This paper presents the delimitation of the six transboundary river basins and the problematic issues that explain the lack of transboundary water policies in these territories, which are now essential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to analyze the environment of insecurity and violence associated with drug trafficking on the U.S.-Mexican border, and the actions taken by the federal government to dismantle criminal organizations that fight to control the market and access to border crossing points for the introduction of drugs into the united States. The assumption is that violence and insecurity have existed on the border for a long time, but that the agencies responsible for border control and security are now part of the problem because of their association with criminal gangs, which in turn have strengthened their presence by taking root among sections of border society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Industrial activity in Mexico as a factor in development plays a key role in regional growth. The aim of this paper is to analyze manufacturing in the state of Zacatecas through the 21 Subsectors in NAICS in 1998 and 2003. Coefficients of localization, export and specialization were constructed, revealing high levels of concentration in a few activities as well as a significant trend of regional specialization in a few manufacturing industries. Lastly, decomposing the growth factors with the Shift-share analysis shows that the regional component has contributed most to the growth of manufacturing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to analyze regional wage inequality in Mexico (1994-2003) by identifying the most important factors. The analysis is based on the "second moment" methodology proposed by Blau and Kahn (1996) and adapted by Monastiriotis (2003). The results suggest both a decrease in the total gap after 1995 and a tendency towards the homogenization of remuneration for labor within the regions, while the difference between them increases, due to aspects related to factor endowments, their prices and unobserved factors specific to the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

H-2A visas for temporary agricultural workers are very controversial, with farm-workers supporters claiming that it does not provide sufficient protections for US workers and leaves foreign workers open to abuse and exploitation. Tamaulipas presents a long tradition of rural migration to the United States in search of farm employment. The preference of US employers for Tamaulipas' workers owes to the proximity of this state to the frontier, which lowers transportation costs, and the experience of Tamaulipas' workers in very demanding activities, like orange picking. This paper analyses the level of compliance of labor contracts of Tamaulipas workers employed in the United States in the farming sector with H-2A visas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After assessing Sonora's industrialization, this paper explores whether, during the period from 1993 to 2003, its municipalities have tended towards a greater or lesser differentiation in their added manufacturing value, and whether this pattern has been influenced by the criteria for geographical allocation of state investment in infrastructure. It uses this information to review the policies that in theory, should serve as a counterweight to regional disparities. It concludes that, although the rate of municipal convergence in Sonora is relatively high, it has tended to decline. It also confirms the state's limited capacity to use its resources, to influence the regional pattern of manufacturing development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the growth and development in the municipalities of Sonora. The statistical method of principal components helps estimate an Index of Socioeconomic Development Municipal (IDSEM), which shows the concentration of development in the state; then uses an econometric model and identifies the factors that encourage the development of population in the municipalities. It also applies the methodology of Mankiw, Romer and Weill (1992), who first considered the model of Solow (1956) and then include human capital. We found that poor municipalities do not tend to grow faster than the rich municipalities, meaning that there is no process of convergence in the municipalities of Sonora. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the effects of labor productivity, the actual exchange rate and other variables on the manufacturing industry's international competitiveness (IC) during a twelve-year period: 1996-2008. To this end, we construct an IC index and estimate two generalized VAR models. The empirical evidence suggests that labor productivity influences IC to a greater extent than actual exchange rate depreciation. Furthermore, manufacturing IC increases when unit labor costs decrease; that is, when labor productivity grows faster than wages. In this way, an integral package of policy measures designed to stimulate productivity of workers may be more effective in increasing manufacturing IC than actual currency depreciation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on a series of research results on Moroccan migration to Canada, this paper seeks to prove how focusing on the migration routes of a specific national group of migrants and using a multi-situated methodological approach will not lead to the "ethnisizing", culturalizing or nationalizing of the experienced realities, but rather to the placing of actions within their political cultural, social and economic structuring contexts. By resorting to an inductive approach, this perspective allows us to identify frontiers (in a symbolic sense) other than cultural or national belonging, reminding us of the internal heterogeneity of the studied national group, allowing us to apprehend other decisive factors in the migration route, and favoring our understanding of the plurality of the space practices and integration strategies developed by social actors when facing the concrete opportunities and limitations found during the whole migration process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A BSTR ACT Exclusion underlines the xenophobic edicts of the supposed mandate of the majority-predators of minorities-in daily acts of classism and racist jokes. These actions typically take place where dif ferent historicities enter into dispute as a result of displacement. This is the case in Baja California, where these expressions of exclusion are denied but not absent. This paper reveals how xenophobia and racism have been present throughout the history of this border, and have taken new forms today.

This paper consists of a descriptive analysis that explains how the successful performance of the wine cluster is followed by improvements in local development indicators. To this end, certain local development indicators are proposed to describe and compare the wine clusters of Mendoza (Argentina) and Serra Gaúcha (Brazil). In Argentina, the Mendoza wine cluster has stimulated the local development of the region. For its part, Serra Gaúcha is the most successful wine center in Brazil and regards Mendoza as the benchmark in terms of local development.

The problem of the poor local supply to the maquiladora industry settled in Mexico shows, between other things, the lack of valuation of the opportunity that has had the country to develop a strong supply industry. This paper pretends analyse the problem, in order to understand it better and to explore possible solutions. From the situation review of the six northern border states and a survey on a 30 maquiladora plants in Chihuahua City, it has been identified the main aspects like, the low technological capacity of the local industry, in order to supply the goods needed by the maquiladora plants. It is proposed as an alternative solution, a strategy oriented to attract plants with relative low technological level on the products and high technological on the process, to increase the local supply and the high skilled labour, respectively.

The recent studies that focused on the historical process of national identitys construction in Mexico have not emphasized enough one approach: the social representation of territory. This paper explores this topic in the XIXth century Mexico intending to demonstrate how the sense of belonging and the attachment to motherland reduce the imagined nation to the limits of the central lands, the ancient Mesoamerica, excluding of the national social representations the vast north through symbolic stigmatization contrasting with the core (centre) of the country full of geosymbols and posed as a privileged source for historical memory.

This paper studies the possible impacts of liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects on natural gas prices on both sides of the U. S.-Mexico border in California. In that state gas prices are high and demand is expected to grow. Several projects for LNG facilities have been proposed and have to cope with public opinions against them. In Baja California, four LNG projects are under development given the rising demand forecasted for the next years. After a detailed study of the opportunity for LNG projects, we conclude with an analysis of the fundamentals of the current and future price formation in both sides of the U. S.- Mexico border.

In this paper we analyze the impact of migration and transborder relationships on thetransformation of the religious field at Mexico´s northern border area. Through the useof statistic and ethnographic evidence, we argue that, contact with a more religiouslydiverse environment and migration, confer singular characteristics to the border religiousfield. However, this singularity does not necessarily imply the diversification of religiousaffiliations of the inhabitants of the region.

The principal goal of this paper is to analize the environmental performance related with the industrial upgrading in the in-bond industry. The key questions are: a) what are the levels of environmental performance in maquiladoras? and b) Is the environmental performance according with the industrial upgrading? Our hypothesis suggests that the capacity and necessity of applying environmental activities is associated with the industrial upgrading. The construction of technoproductive levels and the environmental performance index identified the sociotechnical aspects compared with our key variables.