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Mexican Exceptionalism: Globalization and De-Industrialization, 1750–1877

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 September 2008

RAFAEL DOBADO GONZÁLEZ ,
AURORA GÓMEZ GALVARRIATO  and
JEFFREY G. WILLIAMSON
RAFAEL DOBADO GONZÁLEZ
Affiliation:
Professor of Economic History, Department of Economic History, Universidad Complutense Madrid, Somosaguas Campus, Madrid 28223Spain. E-mail: rdobado@ccee.ucm.es.
AURORA GÓMEZ GALVARRIATO
Affiliation:
Professor, Division of Economics, CIDE, Lomas de Sta. Fé 12010, México D. F. Mexico. E-mail: aurora.gomez@cide.edu.
JEFFREY G. WILLIAMSON
Affiliation:
Laird Bell Professor of Economics, Department of Economics, Harvard University, Cambridge MA 02138; Research Fellow, CEPR; and Research Associate, NBER. E-mail: jwilliam@fas.harvard.edu.
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Abstract

Like the rest of the poor periphery, Mexico fought with de-industrialization in the century before the 1870s. Yet, Mexican manufacturing defended itself better than did the rest of the poor periphery. Why Mexican exceptionalism? This article decomposes the sources of de-industrialization into productivity events abroad, globalization forces connecting Mexico to those markets, and domestic forces. It uses a neo-Ricardian model to implement the decomposition, advocates a price dual approach, and develops a new price and wage data base. Mexican exceptionalism was due to weaker Dutch disease effects, better wage competitiveness, and the policy autonomy to foster industry.

Type
ARTICLES
Information
The Journal of Economic History , Volume 68 , Issue 3 , September 2008 , pp. 758 - 811
Copyright
Copyright © The Economic History Association 2008

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