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Indispensable Railroads in a Backward Economy: The Case of Mexico

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  • Coatsworth, John H.

Abstract

The contribution of railroads to economic growth in the nineteenth century depended on two critical variables: unit savings in transport costs the railroads made possible and the quantity of passengers and freight the railroads attracted. Unit savings depended mainly on geography; either cheap water transport existed before the railroads or it did not. Unit savings depended secondarily on the value of the time the railroads saved and on the flexibility in selection of routes made possible by the new technology. The quantities of passengers and freight actually transported depended on two interrelated factors: the prior development of the economy and its responsiveness to cheaper transport.

Suggested Citation

  • Coatsworth, John H., 1979. "Indispensable Railroads in a Backward Economy: The Case of Mexico," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 39(4), pages 939-960, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:jechis:v:39:y:1979:i:04:p:939-960_09
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    Cited by:

    1. Matthew McCartney, 2018. "The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC): Considering Contemporary Pakistan through Old-Fashioned Economics and Historical Case Studies," Lahore Journal of Economics, Department of Economics, The Lahore School of Economics, vol. 23(2), pages 19-48, July-Dec.
    2. Andrea Forero & Francisco Gallego & Felipe González & Matías Tapia, 2020. "Railroads, specialization, and population growth in small open economies: Evidence from the First Globalization," Documentos de Trabajo 548, Instituto de Economia. Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile..
    3. Lee Alston & Shannan Mattiace & Tomas Nonnenmacher, 2008. "Coercion, Culture and Debt Contracts: The Henequen Industry in Yucatan, Mexico, 1870-1915," NBER Working Papers 13852, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Berger, Thor, 2019. "Railroads and Rural Industrialization: evidence from a Historical Policy Experiment," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    5. Isaías N. Chaves & Stanley L. Engerman & James A. Robinson, 2013. "Reinventing the Wheel: The Economic Benefits of Wheeled Transportation in Early British Colonial West Africa," NBER Working Papers 19673, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Vincent Bignon & Rui Esteves & Alfonso Herranz-Loncán, 2015. "Big push or big grab? Railways, government activism, and export growth in Latin America, 1865–1913," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 68(4), pages 1277-1305, November.
    7. Tim Leunig, 2010. "Social Savings," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(5), pages 775-800, December.
    8. Herranz-Loncan, Alfonso, 2011. "The contribution of railways to economic growth in Latin America before 1914: a growth accounting approach," MPRA Paper 33578, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Pushkar Maitra & William Yu, 2021. "The Long Shadow of Infrastructure Development: Long Run Effects of Railway Construction in Colonial India," Monash Economics Working Papers 2021-01, Monash University, Department of Economics.
    10. de Jesús Fonseca, Felipe & Gómez-Zaldívar, Manuel & Ventosa-Santaulària, Daniel, 2020. "Public investment and economic activity in Mexico, 1925-1981," Economics - The Open-Access, Open-Assessment E-Journal (2007-2020), Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel), vol. 14, pages 1-24.
    11. Dobado, Rafael & Marrero, Gustavo A., 2005. "Corn Market Integration in Porfirian Mexico," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 65(1), pages 103-128, March.
    12. Carson, Scott Alan, 2005. "The biological standard of living in 19th century Mexico and in the American West," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 3(3), pages 405-419, December.
    13. Tim Leunig & Joachim Voth, 2011. "Spinning Welfare: the Gains from Process Innovation in Cotton and Car Production," CEP Discussion Papers dp1050, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    14. Laura Maravall Buckwalter, 2018. "Build it and they will come? Secondary railways and population density in French Algeria," Working Papers 18008, Economic History Society.
    15. Raymundo M. Campos-Vázquez & Roberto Vélez-Grajales, 2010. "Did population well-being improve during Porfirian Mexico? An approximation using a Quasi-Index of human development," Serie documentos de trabajo del Centro de Estudios Económicos 2010-13, El Colegio de México, Centro de Estudios Económicos.
    16. Alfonso Herranz-Loncán & Johan Fourie, 2018. "“For the public benefit”? Railways in the British Cape Colony," European Review of Economic History, European Historical Economics Society, vol. 22(1), pages 73-100.
    17. Elizalde, Aldo & Hidalgo, Eduardo & Salgado, Nayeli, 2023. "Public good or public bad? Indigenous institutions and the demand for public goods," QUCEH Working Paper Series 23-01, Queen's University Belfast, Queen's University Centre for Economic History.
    18. Andrés Forero & Francisco A. Gallego & Felipe González & Matías Tapia, 2021. "Railroads, specialization, and population growth: evidence from the first globalization," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 34(3), pages 1027-1072, July.
    19. Carson, Scott Alan, 2007. "Mexican body mass index values in the late-19th-century American West," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 5(1), pages 37-47, March.
    20. Barakatou Atte-Oudeyi & Bruno Kestemont & Jean Luc De Meulemeester, 2016. "Road Transport, Economic Growth and Carbon Dioxide Emissions in the BRIICS: Conditions For a Low Carbon Economic Development," Working Papers CEB 16-023, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.

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