>In a discussion about the consequences of trade liberalization a
Dutch
>economist who has worked before for the World Bank claimed that
because of
>increased corn imports in Mexico from the US (NAFTA) prices for
basic food
>(corn) for millions of poor Mexicans have been halved, so that -
although as
>a consequence many Mexican peasants have lost their jobs - this
has been
>good for the poor.
>Suggestions for studies/websites to check/counter this claim are
welcome.
William Greider has an article on The Nation website. Perhaps you could contact him?
http://thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20011231&s=greider
December 31, 2001 A New Giant Sucking Sound by William Greider
"The "giant sucking sound" Ross Perot used to talk about is back, only this time it is not Mexico sucking away American jobs. It is China sucking away Mexico's jobs. And jobs from Taiwan and South Korea, Singapore and Thailand, Central and South America, and even from Japan. Globalization is entering a fateful new stage, in which the competitive perils intensify for the low-wage developing countries much like the continuing pressures on high-wage manufacturing workers in the United States and other advanced economies. In the "race to the bottom," China is defining the new bottom."