Description
This book addresses two questions that are crucial to understanding Mexico's current economic and political challenges. Why did the opening up of the economy to foreign trade and investment not result in sustained economic growth? Why has electoral democracy not produced rule of law? The answer to those questions lies in the ways in which Mexico's long history with authoritarian government shaped its judicial, taxation, and property rights institutions. These institutions, the authors argue, cannot be reformed with the stroke of a pen. Moreover, they represent powerful constraints on the ability of the Mexican government to fund welfare-enhancing reforms, on the ability of firms and households to write contracts, and on the ability of citizens to enforce their basic rights.
Chapter
Liberal Democracy as a Solution to the Commitment Problem
Authoritarian Rent-Seeking as a Solution to the Commitment Problem
Understanding Mexico's Political Economy
2 Mexico Before 1982: The Political Economy of Authoritarian Rule
Mexico from Independence to the Revolution of 1910
The Revolution of 1910…1920
The Origins and Hegemony of Mexico's "Official" Party
The Political Hegemony of the PRI
The PRI as a Patronage Machine
The Paradox of Low Taxation
The Politics of Trade Protection
Foreign Direct Investment and "Mexicanization"
The Economic Impact of Mexico's "Alliance for Profits"
The Beginning of the End: Deficits, Inflation, Bank Expropriation, and the Debt Crisis
3 The Causes and Consequences of Free Trade
The Economic Effects of the NAFTA
The NAFTA and Mexico’s Manufacturing Sector
The NAFTA and Mexican Agriculture
Explaining the NAFTA's Limited Impact on Growth in Mexico
Investment Opening without Liberalization
The Tax System and Public Investment
4 The Mexican Banking System: The Politics and Economics of Financial Underdevelopment
The Legacy of the 1982 Bank Expropriation
Authoritarian Institutions and the Privatization of Mexico's Banks
The 1995 Banking Collapse and Bailout
Mexico's Financial Liberalization Experiment Since 1997
Property Rights and Bank Strategies
Challenges for the Mexican Banking System
5 The Transformation of Mexican Politics
Maintaining the Fac¸ade of Democracy
Economic Collapse, Political Crises, and Electoral Opening
The Mass Media and Democratization
The Consolidation of a Competitive Electoral Democracy
The Fox Administration: Mexico's First Opposition Government
The Controversial 2006 Elections
6 Health, Education, and Welfare in Mexico Since 1980
The Demographic Parameters of Social Policy
Changes in Educational Spending
Mexico’s Pre-1997 Social Security System
The Performance of the New Pension System
Inequality, Poverty, and Government Policy
7 Democracy and Development in Mexico: Future Challenges and the Legacies of Authoritarian Rule
What It Takes to Establish the Rule of Law
Mexico on the Road to the Rule of Law
The Enforcement of Property Rights
Mexico since 1980
( The World Since 1980 )
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