The Cali-Baja Competitiveness Study examines the economic integration and competitiveness of the cross-border region between Baja California and Southern California, highlighting the importance of long-term strategies for industry integration. It presents key findings on population growth, industry clusters, and economic contributions in terms of trade and employment, revealing the significance of manufacturing and technological sectors. The study also addresses challenges such as border infrastructure and unemployment, emphasizing the need for new strategies to stimulate investment and job creation in this dynamic megaregion.

1. CALI BAJA
Competitiveness STUDY
A cross-border collaborative research effort
involving the Cali-Baja Mega Region
Initiative, the Colegio de la Frontera Norte,
the University of California-San Diego’s
Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies, and the
U.S. and Mexican Consulates of Tijuana and
San Diego.
Professor Alejandro Diaz-Bautista
adiazbau@gmail.com
El Colegio de la Frontera Norte (Colef)
Presentation
November 5, 2013.
La Megaregión Económica y de
Competitividad Binacional de Baja California
y Sur de California.
The Southern California – Baja California
Competitive Mega region.

2. La Megaregión Económica y de
Competitividad Binacional de Baja California
y Sur de California.
The Southern California – Baja California
Competitive Mega region.
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La integración de las economías de Norteamérica
desde la firma del Tratado de Libre Comercio de
América del Norte (TLCAN), la internacionalización
y globalización de la economía, las nuevas
tecnologías, y la velocidad de las comunicaciones,
las inversiones y flujos migratorios, han modificado
el modo en que los ciudadanos y las regiones se
relacionan unos con otros en varios países del
mundo.
The integration of the economies of North America
since the signing of the NAFTA Agreement, the
globalization of the economy, new technologies and
the speed of communication, investment and
migration flows have changed how citizens and
regions relate to each other between countries.

3. Megaregions
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Las iniciativas de las megaregiones son estrategias de
desarrollo económico a largo plazo, para integrar
industrias y sectores para fomentar la competitividad
de una región a nivel mundial.
Por lo que la ubicación geográfica y los factores
económicos dentro de las regiones juegan
actualmente un papel destacado si quieren ser
competitivas a nivel internacional. El conocimiento
atrae mas conocimiento y aglutina a las regiones que
desean captar cerebros, inversiones y generar
empleos e innovación, como la región de Baja
California con el Sur de California.
Megaregions initiatives are long-term economic
development strategies focused to integrate industries
and sectors to promote the competitiveness of a region
worldwide.
Geographic location and economic factors within
regions now play a leading role to be competitive
internationally. The knowledge based economy attracts
investments and generates jobs and innovation, such
as the region of Baja California to Southern California (
San Diego and Imperial Counties).

4. Megaregions in North America are
clustered networks of cities and counties
whose population ranges or is projected to
range from about 7 to 63 million by the
year 2025.

5. Megaregiones Emergentes
Emerging Megaregions
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El análisis económico y de políticas publicas son
que las regiones del oeste de la Frontera México
Estados Unidos, como son Baja California y
California deben mirar más allá de sus límites
políticos tradicionales y desarrollar nuevas
estrategias para fomentar la competencia y el
crecimiento económico de sus economías.
Se ha mencionado que existen por lo menos 40
megaregiones de todo el mundo y 10 nuevas
megaregiones dentro de los Estados Unidos, por lo
que es importante el fomento de la megaregion
oeste de la Frontera México Estados Unidos.
The economic and public policy analysis shows us
that the western regions of the United States
Mexico border, such as Baja California and
California must look beyond traditional political
boundaries and develop new strategies to promote
competition and economic growth along the
regional bi national economies.
It has been mentioned that there are at least 40
megaregions worldwide and 10 new megaregions
within the United States, so it is important to
promote the western megaregion loctaed in the
U.S. Mexico Border.

7. Crecimiento Poblacional en las megaregiones de los Estados Unidos.

8. Baja California Population
Baja California presenta una de las tasas promedio de crecimiento de
población más altas del país con 2.3 puntos anuales.
Baja California has one of the highest average rates of population
growth in the country with 2.3% annually.

9. Cali Baja Megaregion
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Home to over 6.5 million residents, nearly half the population of the border region,
CaliBaja has a gross regional product of more than $200 billion and accounts for over
70,000 northbound commercial and vehicular border crossings every day.
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The economic analysis indicates that Baja California and California are the border
area between Mexico and the United States with more border crossings, reaching
nearly 451 million vehicles and more than 260 million pedestrians, during the last 15
years.
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El análisis económico nos indica que Baja California y California son la frontera entre
México y Estados Unidos con más cruces fronterizos, llegando a casi 451 millones
de vehículos y más de 260 millones de peatones, en los últimos 15 años.

10. Cross Border Trade Flows
As the United States and Mexico work to expand cross-border trade flows— now
valued at over $500 billion— to enhance competitiveness in North America.
The economic integration between Mexico and the United States has increased in
recent years and proof of this are the American jobs that depend on trade with
Mexico. We also need to mention the Mexican economic contribution to the
U.S. economy.
We observe that there are more than 1,250 million dollars in trade crossing the
Mexico-US border every day, so that the United States is the largest trading
partner of Mexico, and Mexico is the third largest trading partner of the United
States.
La integración económica entre México y los Estados Unidos se ha incrementado
en los últimos años y muestra de ello son los empleos en Estados Unidos que
dependen del comercio con México al igual que la contribución económica de
los mexicanos a la economía de los Estados Unidos.
Podemos mencionar que hay más de 1,250 millones de dólares en comercio que
cruzan la frontera México-Estados Unidos diariamente, por lo que Estados
Unidos es el socio comercial más importante de México, y México es el tercer
socio comercial de Estados Unidos.

11. Input Output model
• This first-ever study to develop an input-output model for
the cross-border region helps to measure trade flows to
and from the CaliBaja economy, and identifies the key
industry clusters that have a competitive advantage in
the global economy.
• The study will help to inform policy and industry
decisions about investment in public infrastructure and
workforce development, and to dispel outdated
perceptions that do not reflect the reality of the CaliBaja
region’s dynamic economy.

12. Manufacturing Clusters
• Among its preliminary findings, the study
shows that manufacturing is far more
important to the Cali-Baja region than is
commonly recognized.
• Manufacturing clusters in the crossborder
region are heavily concentrated, with
dozens of tightly knit industrial sectors
spanning the border.

13. Los clusters económicos en las megaregiones de los Estados Unidos.
Economic clusters in the United States.

14. Comparative and Competitive Advantages
Ventajas comparativas y competitivas
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Como nos muestra la evidencia empírica, cada región de la
mega-región Baja California- Sur de California ofrece algo
especial debido a sus ventajas comparativas y competitivas. Se
ha mencionado que el Condado de San Diego aporta el capital
humano e intelectual en forma de una fuerza laboral educada, y
centros de investigación aplicada y académicos, mientras que el
Condado de Imperial ofrece la tierra, el agua y el desarrollo de
energías renovables y la generación.
Por su parte, Baja California ofrece una sofisticada base de
bajos costos de fabricación, la mano de obra, los nuevos
desarrollos de energías renovables como la planta eólica de la
Rumorosa, y universidades como la UABC y centros de
investigación como el Colegio de la Frontera Norte.
As empirical evidence shows, each part of the mega-region
offers something special because of its comparative and
competitive advantages. San Diego's main economic engines
are military and defense-related activities, tourism, international
trade, and manufacturing. It has been mentioned that the County
of San Diego provides intellectual and human capital in the form
of an educated workforce, applied research centers and
academics, while Imperial County offers land, water and
renewable energy development and generation.
Meanwhile, Baja California offers a sophisticated base of
manufacturing with low labor costs, new developments in
renewable energies like the wind power plant Rumorosa and
universities and research centers such as the Colegio de la
Frontera Norte.

15. CaliBaja String Industry
Clusters
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CaliBaja manufacturing also has a leading edge in high tech production, with the
region’s top three industries—semi-conductor, telecommunications, and audio-visual
equipment—bringing tens of billions of dollars and over 100,000 jobs to the region.
TOP FIVE CALIBAJA INDUSTRY CLUSTERS
(measured by total output in U.S. dollars)
1. Semiconductor and electronic component manufacturing ($10.1 billion).
2. Wireless telecommunications carriers ($9.9 billion).
3. Audio and video equipment manufacturing ($9 billion).
4. Pharmaceutical and medicine manufacturing ($5.2 billion).
5. Medical equipment and supplies manufacturing ($4.3 billion).

16. AUDIO-VISUAL
MANUFACTURING
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One industry that stands out in terms of industry concentration is the audiovisual manufacturing sector, which has an estimated $9 billion in total
output. The 31,000+ audio-visual industry employees in the CaliBaja region
account for roughly 40% of all employment in this sector in both Mexico and
the United States. Such an intense concentration is rare in most industries,
and illustrates that the special advantages that CaliBaja offers by combining
knowledge and manufacturing capabilities across the U.S.-Mexico border to
benefit companies like Sony, Samsung, Panasonic, Tyco, JVC, Sanyo,
Bose, Kyocera, Plantronics, LG, and Sharp.

17. CaliBaja String Industry
Clusters

18. Topics to Discuss
• We need to consider the following topics:
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• 1.- Identification of the number of clusters.
• 2.- Size of the Clusters ( we consider that
3 digits is better than 4 digits).
• 3.- Remarks to drafting the report.
• 4.- CaliBaja’s gross regional
• Product. More than $200 billion USD.

19. Baja California’s Regional
Product

20. San Diego and Imperial
Regional Product
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San Diego is the wealthiest county on the U.S. Mexico
border.
In 2006 its GDP amounted to 159.6 billion U.S. dollars.
Imperial County GDP.
The unemployment rate in Imperial County was 27.20%
in 2012, with job growth of -1.58%.
The economy of Imperial County is dominated by the
government, agriculture, and retail trade sectors. These
three industries comprised 70% of the total employment
in 2000.

21. Cluster Map

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El análisis económico y de política publica nos
indica que uno de los retos importantes para el
éxito de la Mega región Económica y de
Competitividad Binacional de Baja California y el
Sur de California debe ser el mejorar la
infraestructura de puertos terrestres en la frontera
México Estados Unidos, ya que los elevados
tiempos de cruce de la frontera equivalen a
perdidas económicas y de competitividad para la
mega región.
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Economic Public policy analysis indicates that one
of the major economic challenges to the success
of the Binational Mega region of Baja California
and Southern California will be the improvement of
infrastructure in the border land ports of Mexico
and the United States.
Also the economic losses of border wait times,
equivalent to losing competitiveness for the mega
region .
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Finalmente, el impacto en el mercado laboral
de Baja California con una tasa de desempleo
de 6.42%, y la de California con tasas de
desempleo por arriba del 8.9 y hasta mas de
20%, debido a la crisis económica de 2009,
hace necesario nuevos esquemas para
fomentar la creación de empleos y atraer las
inversiones nacionales y la inversión extranjera
directa (IED) en la Mega región Económica y
de Competitividad Binacional de Baja
California y el Sur de California.
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Finally, the labor market impact of Baja
California with an unemployment rate of 6.42%,
and California with unemployment rates above
8.9% and up to 20% due to the economic crisis
of 2009, requires new schemes to encourage
job creation and attracting domestic investment
and foreign direct investment (FDI) in the
Binational Megaregion of Baja California, San
Diego and Imperial Counties.
The federal government shutdown delayed the
release of California’s unemployment numbers
for September 2013.
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24. CALI BAJA
Competitiveness STUDY
A cross-border collaborative research effort
involving the Cali-Baja Mega Region
Initiative, the Colegio de la Frontera Norte,
the University of California-San Diego’s
Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies, and the
U.S. and Mexican Consulates of Tijuana and
San Diego.
Professor Alejandro Diaz-Bautista
adiazbau@gmail.com
El Colegio de la Frontera Norte (Colef)
Presentation
November 5, 2013.
La Megaregión Económica y de
Competitividad Binacional de Baja California
y Sur de California.
The Southern California – Baja California
Competitive Mega region.