Abstract

PAVLAKOVICH-KOCHI, Vera. The Arizona-Sonora Region: A Decade of Transborder Region Building. Estud. soc [online]. 2006, vol.14, n.27, pp.25-55. ISSN 0188-4557.

This paper focuses on the 1990-2000 period, a decade of intensified economic integration in the Arizona-Sonora Region. In part, this process represents an anticipated outcome of the implementation of NAFTA, and in part a result of juxtaposition with other regional and global trends. In particular, this has been a time of intensified formal integration through crossborder cooperation in economic development among governments and government-supported public-private partnerships. A major objective of the binational Strategic Economic Development Plan for the Sonora-Arizona region was to enhance the region's competitiveness in the NAFTA and global markets, attract more investment, and through increased exports, enhance overall growth and rise incomes. The findings of this analysis suggest an increasing role of exports in Region's economy. Nevertheless, two major concerns are facing the Region's policy decision makers. First, the selected indicators of market shares suggest that the Region is loosing its relative position within the NAFTA area. Secondly, It appears that the benefits of increased economic integration and resulting expansion of trade within the NAFTA area, have not yet been shown in average indicators of well-being. These new developments call for an urgent reevaluation of regional economic strategies.

Keywords : Transborder integration; formal transborder regions; Arizona-Sonora Region; NAFTA experience; border economy.

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