The conventional wisdom of economic development in Mexico holds that after decades of economic stagnation and political instability during the Porfiriato, the economy experienced a surge in growth that accelerated in the 1890s and 1900s. Railroad construction, foreign investment, and a growing demand for primary products in the North Atlantic economies have been singled out as key factors in the economic expansion of the Porfiriato. But lack of attention to institutional change has impeded our understanding of the resulting industrial and financial structure, the embedded limits to economic expansion, and the role of economic policy in accelerating or retarding growth. Furthermore, while most analyses of the Mexican Revolution focus on the political gains of the contending parties, few studies have examined the economic dimension of the institutional changes brought about by the revolution.
In The Mexican Economy, 1870–1930, historians and economists reinterpret this crucial period of Mexican history through...
