Abstract

KOPINAK, Kathryn. Globalization in Tijuana maquiladoras: using historical antecedents and migration to test globalization models. Pap. poblac [online]. 2003, vol.9, n.37, pp.219-242. ISSN 2448-7147.

This paper looks at the historical background of export led development on the Baja California peninsula to find that the transregional economy which has emerged there via maquiladora industrialization has discernible historical antecedents, and also characteristics unique to the current era. This latest form of export led development has been responsible for greater economic growth than ever before, and required the building of a labor force via migration. The migrants employed in this area's maquiladoras are more numerous, come greater distances than those in other maquiladora centers, and have caused very rapid growth in Tijuana. They also tend to absorb the social costs of industrial expansion in this area, in terms of lack of housing, environmental protection, and health care, making it difficult for them to invest in their own human capital to make this area more competitive on a world scale. Globalization here supports the transformational model better than the hyperglobalist or skeptical models.

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