The Enclave Economy: Foreign Investment and Sustainable Development in Mexico's Silicon Valley

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MIT Press, Jul 20, 2007 - Science - 224 pages
Analyzes the extent to which foreign investment in Mexico's information technology sector brought economic, social, and environmental benefits to Guadalajara.

Foreign investment has been widely perceived as a panacea for developing countries—as a way to reduce poverty and kick-start sustainable modern industries. The Enclave Economy calls this prescription into question, showing that Mexico's post-NAFTA experience of foreign direct investment in its information technology sector, particularly in the Guadalajara region, did not result in the expected benefits. Charting the rise and fall of Mexico's “Silicon Valley,” the authors explore issues that resonate through much of Latin America and the developing world: the social, economic, and environmental effects of market-driven globalization. In the 1990s, Mexico was a poster child for globalization, throwing open its borders to trade and foreign investment, embracing NAFTA, and ending the government's role in strengthening domestic industry. But The Enclave Economy shows that although Mexico was initially successful in attracting multinational corporations, foreign investments waned in the absence of active government support and as China became increasingly competitive. Moreover, the authors find that foreign investment created an “enclave economy” the benefits of which were confined to an international sector not connected to the wider Mexican economy. In fact, foreign investment put many local IT firms out of business and transferred only limited amounts of environmentally sound technology. The authors suggest policies and strategies that will enable Mexico and other developing countries to foster foreign investment for sustainable development in the future.

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Contents

Introduction
1
1 The Promise of FDI for Sustainable Development
13
2 The Emergence of Mexicos Enclave Economy
43
A Profile of the IT Industry
71
4 Wired for Sustainable Development? IT and Late Industrialization
99
5 Mexicos Bid for a Place in the Global IT Industry
121
6 Silicon Dreams Mexican Reality
139
7 Importing Environmentalism?
159
8 Beyond the Enclave Economy
177
Notes
193
Bibliography
197
The Series
209
Index
211
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About the author (2007)

Kevin P. Gallagher is Assistant Professor of International Relations at Boston University and Senior Researcher at the Global Development and Environment Institute at Tufts University. He is the author of Free Trade and the Environment: Mexico, NAFTA, and Beyond and other books.

Lyuba Zarsky is Associate Professor of International Environmental Policy at the Monterey Institute for International Studies and Senior Research Fellow at the Global Development and Environment Institute, Tufts University. She is a contributing editor of Investment for Sustainable Development: Balancing Rights and Rewards.

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