Economists generally agree that trade will benefit a country’s economy. However, trade also affects the
location of economic activity (Behrens et al. 2007, Krugman 1991, Hanson 1998a). Particularly for a
country with great geographic disparity, such as Mexico, the distributional effects of trade are at least
as important as the overall effect. Benefits of trade were expected to be concentrated mainly in the
northern states of Mexico - due to their proximity to the U.S. market - but empirical evidence is mixed
(Aroca et al. 2005, Krugman & Lizas-Elizondo 1996, Hanson 2001,