Endogenous Skill Acquisition and Export Manufacturing in Mexico

David Atkin

American Economic Review, 2016, vol. 106, issue 8, 2046-85

Abstract: This paper presents empirical evidence that the growth of export manufacturing in Mexico during a period of major trade reforms (the years 1986 to 2000) altered the distribution of education. I use variation in the timing of factory openings across commuting zones to show that school drop-out increased with local expansions in export-manufacturing industries. The magnitudes I find suggest that for every 25 jobs created, one student dropped out of school at grade 9 rather than continuing through to grade 12. These effects are driven by less-skilled export-manufacturing jobs which raised the opportunity cost of schooling for students at the margin.

JEL-codes: F14 F16 J24 L60 O14 O19 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
Note: DOI: 10.1257/aer.20120901
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (180)

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Related works:
Working Paper: Endogenous Skill Acquisition and Export Manufacturing in Mexico (2012)
Working Paper: Endogenous Skill Acquisition and Export Manufacturing in Mexico (2010)
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