Industry, the State, and Public Policy in Mexico

Industry, the State, and Public Policy in Mexico
Author: Dale Story
Publisher: University of Texas Press
Total Pages: 288
Release: 2014-08-19
Genre: History
ISBN: 0292766475

The industrialization process in Mexico began before that of any other nation in Latin America except Argentina, with the most rapid expansion of new industrial firms occurring in the 1930s and 1940s, and import substitution in capital goods evident as early as the late 1930s. Though Mexico’s trade relations have always been dependent on the United States, successive Mexican presidents in the postwar period attempted to control the penetration of foreign capital into Mexican markets. In Industry, the State, and Public Policy in Mexico, Dale Story, recognizing the significance of the Mexican industrial sector, analyzes the political and economic role of industrial entrepreneurs in postwar Mexico. He uses two original data sets—industrial production data for 1929–1983 and a survey of the political attitudes of leaders of the two most important industrial organizations in Mexico—to address two major theoretical arguments relating to Latin American development: the meaning of late and dependent development and the nature of the authoritarian state. Story accepts the general relevance of these themes to Mexico but asserts that the country is an important variant of both. With regard to the authoritarian thesis, the Mexican authoritarian state has demonstrated some crucial distinctions, especially between popular and elite sectors. The incorporation of the popular sector groups has closely fit the characteristics of authoritarianism, but the elite sectors have operated fairly independently of state controls, and the government has employed incentives or inducements to try to win their cooperation. In short, industrialists have performed important functions, not only in accumulating capital and organizing economic enterprises but also by bringing together the forces of social change. Industrial entrepreneurs have emerged as a major force influencing the politics of growth, and the public policy arena has become a primary focus of attention for industrialists since the end of World War II.

The impact of globalization on the United Mexican States

The impact of globalization on the United Mexican States
Author: Cyril Alias
Publisher: GRIN Verlag
Total Pages: 15
Release: 2008-07-01
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 3638071383

Essay from the year 2005 in the subject Business economics - Miscellaneous, grade: 1,0, Hogeschool Rotterdam (Rotterdam Business School), course: Cross-Cultural Management, language: English, abstract: Mexico has gained increasing significance in both regional and international business, due to the phenomenon generally known as globalization or mundialización, as Mexicans prefer to name. Globalization is explained as an increase of international economic and socio-cultural relations, especially in terms of supra-regional trade , , driven particularly by technology and media. In 1982, Latin America has started executing a wide opening of its markets and a “quick liberalization of the latter” , as a reaction to “a severe balance of payments crisis” . Over the years, its geo-strategic position between North and South America as well as the globalization “have made Mexico the darling of the international business community” , at least one of the many beneficiaries in Latin America, Asia and Eastern Europe. Most recently, “The Economist” certified Mexico’s economy to be “in good shape” with “no serious macroeconomic problems at the horizon.” , So, generally and superficially speaking, Mexico is seemingly looking at a bright future in economic terms. Having this said, one has also to consider that integration and globalization are based on quickly developed and implemented trade developments, slowly followed by socio-political and cultural effects. Yet, the economic rise following the measures mentioned above has had several drawbacks, such as “three currency crises, [...] the most recent of which occurred in 1995 following a large devaluation of the peso”. Effects of the integration development of the previous two decades were presented as mainly positive in the public, especially by lobbyists and groups favouring the current trends. However, there has been a large group of losers, which has not participated in the economic upswing of the country yet and probably will not for quite a long period of time. As a proof, one can consult different statistics about poverty increase in the country. , So, finally I want to analyse and, by weighing pro and contra arguments, possibly prove the thesis that there have been many advantages created and put into action by globalization, but that many Mexicans have not yet been included into the advantages of it yet. In order to carry this out, I am going to look closer at different forces of globalization acting upon Mexico as well as the different stakeholder groups representing the various interests involved nowadays in the overall development of the country.