Question

Compare and contrast stratification in Mexico to the United States. Do U.S. consumers benefit from the buildup of factories along the U.S.-Mexican border? How or how not? How do the borderlands increase social mobility within Mexico? How do they hinder it? (simplified answer please)

Answer 1

ans.....
a comparative analysis of Mexico and The United States of America points towards a large economic stratification in the former country’s economy with a significant proportion of the population living in poverty, and high rates of underemployment. Moreover, compared to the large scale industrial growth of the US economy, the Mexican economy remains largely agrarian and the whatever little is developed of industrial sector often benefits individuals and groups who have financial capital and assets, while not significantly improving the situation of lower classes, particularly those in poverty.
However, the historical and geographical ties between the two countries have facilitated new economic and social trends with the two countries. In the recent time, Mexico has entered into free trade agreements with the United States and other countries that has solidified its position in the world market and aided its national economic growth. These sites called free trade zones or special economic zones (SEZ) denote the borderlands between two neighbouring countries which allow a free access to the manufacturing units, labour force for production and /or markets for the sale of finished goods between countries against no tariffs or excise duty. Goods measured in the Mexican SEZ has thus allowed the Mexican producers to find a market for their products outside the country and this has added to the foreign exchange reserve of the country thereby allowing for some gains in the economy. Additionally, the exemption of customs duty form the commodities and service of the FTZ between U.S.A and Mexico has allowed access to cost effective commodities to the U.S. consumers.
However, a major debate that has emerged over the conversion of the borderlands into SEZs or ‘Macquiladoras’ is that while it increases the benefits for the already advanced developed economies by granting their consumers an upper hand in the market, it has arguably failed to improve standards of living for much of the Mexican population. Moreover, the rapid industrialisation of the areas has brought in severe environment degradation, constrained labour rights of the people, increase ghettoisation of the towns around the factories which become the major source for the supply of the labour force from amongst its inhabitants.