The purpose of Professor King’s work is to present a general panorama of Mexican industry since World War II. To explain what he considers an outstanding economic performance, he focuses the attention of the reader on the economic policies of the public sector. The style of the author is clear and direct, devoid of the technical jargon of the economist, and he succeeds in synthesizing the main findings of the most important recent studies on Mexico’s economic development.
The examination of the growth of the industrial complex in Mexico is made according to presidential terms. While all administrations after President Cárdenas have followed the same basic economic strategy- rapid industrialization through the active use of the State’s political and economic resources plus a rapid accumulation of capital through foreign investment and a very regressive system of income distribution—each president has emphasized certain aspects neglected by his predecessor (one result of this policy has been the absence of long-term planning). Only after 1946 did the government make explicit its commitment to industralization, although this policy had been put into operation six years before.
The author is highly sympathetic towards the policies and actions of the Mexican government—he never questions the main assumptions of these policies—but he underlines certain problems neglected by policy makers and previous students: for example, the limits of presidential power in the economic field, imposed by bureaucratic rigidities or the necessity of avoiding policies unpopular among foreign investors.
The central part of the book is devoted to the examination of the main institutions and policies created by the public sector to foster industrialization through import substitution. According to King, credit control and the maintenance of a high tariff barrier—not direct public investment—have been the main instruments in this process. He concludes that these policies, plus an adequate agrarian policy, plus good luck, have enabled Mexico to grow rapidly and preserve at the same time a low level of inflation.
The picture is not entirely rosy. There are serious problems. Not only has the present strategy built up an extremely unequal system of income distribution; it has also failed to create an industrial sector able to compete in international markets. This fact can produce an important bottleneck for future development because to continue its present rate of growth Mexico requires an expansion of its export sector, yet it seems that the traditional exports have almost reached their limit. With thousands of young Mexicans entering the labor market every year, the problem is very serious indeed, as the recent political disorders in Mexico have shown.
