Mexico: Value added in exports of manufactures

In the last few decades, Mexico’s export sector has seen extraordinarily robust growth and has undergone sweeping changes, with exports of manufactures, especially intermediate- and high-technology products, leading the way. At the same time, however, the gap between exports and gdp has been widening, which indicates that the export sector is underperforming as a driver of economic growth. This study is based on the idea that the ability of exports to galvanize the economy will be heightened if export activity leads to an expansion of the domestic market. Whether or not it will do so depends on the amount of national income that is incorporated into exports. The authors estimate how much national value added is contained in exports of manufactures, by sector and by category (direct income, i.e., income generated directly by export activity, and indirect income, i.e., income incorporated into the inputs used to produce export goods). This information is provided for total exports of manufactures, exports of the maquila industry and non-maquila exports.