of important contributions that will be presented and discussed at this event. overall, banco de mexico is very happy to continue to be part of this effort to bring together some of the best international economics researchers, and glad that this event can again be held in a face - to - face format. moreover, we would like to thank specially to mark wynn from the dallas fed and to kei - mu yi from the university of houston for their ongoing effort in this endeavor. we welcome you all to these two days of intense and fruitful intellectual exchange. thank you and welcome again. 4 / 4 bis - central bankers'speeches

2 the role of deep structural reforms the previous conjectures provide examples of possible factors that might have some bearing on mexico ’ s aggregate labor productivity deterioration. of course, not even at this speculative level does the questioning end. one must uncover the root causes of the aforementioned factors. a key example is the prevailing informality in the previously mentioned sectors with weakening labor productivity. in any country, the origin of such a phenomenon is typically associated with excessive regulation and taxation, making it optimal for relatively unproductive firms to enter the informal sector, which, in turn, could be a cause of lower for example, as late as 2004, mexico ’ s average import tariff was 14 percent. for the role that competition might have on manufacturing firms ’ adoption of new technologies, see salgado, h. and l. bernal ( 2011 ), “ multifactor productivity and its determinants : an empirical analysis for mexican manufacturing ”, journal of productivity analysis vol. 36 ( 3 ), december. bis central bankers ’ speeches investment in human capital, inducing dynamic inefficiency. 3 another example is low credit penetration, which is frequently connected to poor contract enforcement, and the size of informality itself. there is wide consensus that mexico needs structural reforms to enhance productivity growth. in order for any initiative to be promising in terms of its envisioned results, it is essential to better understand the structural impediments to the expansion of productivity. in my opinion, the first challenge lies in measurement. many good studies on mexico ’ s discouraging long - term economic performance fail to subject their hypotheses to statistical verification. in some cases, arguments for one - off effects on productivity are confused with those more suitable for explaining dynamic consequences. to explain low productivity growth, one needs to identify factors that not only affect levels but also rates, through channels such as the accumulation of human capital and the adoption of new technologies. also, because of relatively richer data in terms of detail, time, reliability and industry - specific price indices, among others, much research has been devoted to scrutinizing manufacturing, while the rest of the economy has faced less examination in spite of the fact that major productivity problems lie outside manufacturing. in addition to measuring the possible barriers to productivity, it is necessary to quantify the intended benefits of specific structural reforms to the extent this is possible. empirical studies on mexico ’ s previous structural reforms are surprisingly scant. yet, estimating the expected effects is indis