Economic openness and rural communities in Guatemala

José Nicolás Cabrera‐Schneider

Journal of Enterprising Communities: People and Places in the Global Economy, 2009, vol. 3, issue 1, 84-93

Abstract: Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to describe some effects of the economic policies implemented by the Guatemalan government on rural communities. Design/methodology/approach - A comparison of the trends in corn prices over time between Guatemala and the USA was used to determine which year the impact of economic openness policies began. Then, changes in the area harvested of corn and other agricultural products and diet composition and consumption patterns over this time period were used to assess effects on rural communities. Findings - The trend in Guatemala's corn price and the trend in the US's corn price are similar in the period from 1988 to 2005. There has been a reduction of in the area of corn harvested and an increase in the area harvested of other agricultural products for 1980‐2005. Also, it appears that there has been a change in the food energy consumption, food proteins source and caloric intake Guatemalans. Research limitations/implications - Field interviews are needed to examine in detail the specific adaptations communities have had. Practical implications - Economic opening policies can have an effect on cultural elements, such as corn production and the diet. Originality/value - This paper suggests that the economic openness policies started to show their effects at the end of 1980 affecting agricultural production and the diet of Guatemalans.

Keywords: Economic policy; Government policy; Rural economics; Guatemala (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.110 ... d&utm_campaign=repec (text/html)
https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.110 ... d&utm_campaign=repec (application/pdf)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eme:jecpps:v:3:y:2009:i:1:p:84-93

DOI: 10.1108/17506200910943698

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Enterprising Communities: People and Places in the Global Economy is currently edited by Prof Leo Dana and Andrea Caputo

More articles in Journal of Enterprising Communities: People and Places in the Global Economy from Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Emerald Support ().