Economist special report on Mexico
As a new president takes office, The Economist published a special report on Mexico.From darkness, dawn
Some awful years are giving way to what, if managed properly, could be a prosperous period for Latin America’s second-largest economy. Big, irreversible trends… are starting to move in Mexico’s favour. At the same time the country’s leaders are at last starting to tackle some of the home-grown problems that have held it back.
Plaza de la Constitucion
Many of the things that the world thinks it knows about Mexico are no longer true. A serially underachieving economy… Out-of-control population growth and an endless exodus to the north… Grinding poverty… A raging drug war…
A vast country with deeply ingrained problems and unreformed corners, Mexico could yet squander the opportunities that are coming its way. But there are signs that it is beginning to realise its potential…
Preparing to lead Mexico into this brightening future is the party most associated with its past. The Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) ran Mexico without interruption for most of the 20th century, silencing opposition through a mixture of co-option, corruption and occasional violence…
Mr Peña says his priority is to make the economy grow faster in order to reduce poverty. Nearly half the population are poor… To achieve more rapid growth he will need to introduce a series of big economic reforms…
Mr Peña has reason to be optimistic. The opposition PAN shares much of Mr Peña’s agenda, and together the two parties have a two-thirds majority in both houses of Congress. A new power to fast-track two bills per congressional session will help. A lot will depend on who ends up leading the PAN…
The government may also face opposition outside Congress. Though a majority of the political class now seems to be convinced of the need for economic reforms along the lines that Mr Peña proposes, the same may not yet be true on the street, in the public universities or in much of the press…
Mexico has form in turning triumph to disaster, and could yet do so again. Its economy remains dependent on the fortunes of the United States, and financial crises in Europe make investors jittery. Promised reforms will depend on persuading entrenched interests to accept them. Corruption and bad government, especially at the local level, may cause good initiatives to fall at the last hurdle. And the drug war is by no means over. But Mexico deserves a fresh look—not least because its economy is revving up…
Other articles in the report:
- Señores, start your engines
- Bureaucrats and backhanders
- A glimmer of hope
- The gain before the pain
- Stretching the safety net
- The ebbing Mexican wave
- The other American dream
Teaching Comparative blog entries are indexed.
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Labels: demography, economics, Mexico, politics, rule of law
posted by Ken Wedding @ 6:00 AM
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