Visiones del futuro: la reorientación de la política económica en México, 1867-1893

Abstract

Between 1890 and 1910 many Mexicans and foreigners invested millions of pesos, dollars, marks, and pounds in domestic manufacturing industries for the first time in the nation's history. One part of the explanation for this behavior lies in policy initiatives adopted by the Mexican state between 1887 and 1893. These altered incentives facing potential investors and induced some portion to bet on domestic manufacturing instead of the export sector. Why did the Porfirian regime adopt pro-industrial policies? What explains the direction and timing of this policy shift? First, protectionist ideas run through 194 century Mexico but — paradoxically— became part of the dominant liberal discourse only in the 1880s when governing elites increasingly conceived industry and not exports as the best path to economic progress. Second, a changing set of economic contexts and interests increasingly favored protectionism in the I880s. Finally, the Mexican state had neither the capacity nor autonomy to craft and administer effective protectionist policies until the late 1880s. Between 1887 and 1893 all three factors carne together for the first time; the result was a shift towards industrial promotion.