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Regional GDP in Mexico, 1895–2010

In: Time and Space

Author

Listed:
  • José Aguilar Retureta

    (Independent Scholar)

  • Marc Badia-Miró

    (Universitat de Barcelona)

  • Alfonso Herranz-Loncán

    (Universitat de Barcelona)

Abstract

This chapter aims at contributing to the international literature on the long-term evolution of regional inequality by analysing the case of Mexico from 1895 to 2010. Economic differences among Mexican regions are substantial and have been increasing for a long time. The study of the Mexican case confirms that regional inequality in low- and middle-income economies may have different trends and determinants from those of the industrialized economies. In the case of Mexico, regional inequality has followed a W-form in the long term, which largely reflects the alternation of different development models in the country since the late nineteenth century. Thus, between 1910 and 1940, or in the most recent period of economic openness (from the 1980s to the present), regional inequality has tended to increase. Divergence among Mexican regions was especially intense during the last period of the First Globalization (the 1920s). It was also in this period when the regional structure that has characterized the Mexican economy during the twentieth century was established, with a strong concentration of activity in Mexico City and a clear division between the rich North and the poor South. By contrast, the period from 1940 to 1980 was characterized by regional convergence, although it was accompanied by a strong persistence in the geographical concentration of industry. The main determinants of regional inequality changes have been different in each period. During the early twentieth century, a spatially uneven process of structural change explains the increase in regional inequality. By contrast, regional convergence during the state-led Industrialization period was led by an intense process of factor mobility (and, particularly, labour flows) across the Mexican states and the concentration of economic activity around the main market (Mexico City), pushed by agglomeration economies in industry. Finally, since the mid-1980s divergence has been mainly driven by labour productivity differentials within each sector.

Suggested Citation

  • José Aguilar Retureta & Marc Badia-Miró & Alfonso Herranz-Loncán, 2020. "Regional GDP in Mexico, 1895–2010," Palgrave Studies in Economic History, in: Daniel A. Tirado-Fabregat & Marc Badia-Miró & Henry Willebald (ed.), Time and Space, chapter 0, pages 211-239, Palgrave Macmillan.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:palscp:978-3-030-47553-6_9
    DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-47553-6_9
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