Banca central en un entorno incierto: Banco de México, 1970-1983

This article analyzes the history of the Banco de México, the Mexican central bank, between 1970 and 1983, a period of severe macroeconomic instability that led to the Latin American debt crisis. From a historical and institutional perspective, the article examines the central bank’s actions, monetary policy tools, and tensions with the president. It reconstructs the national and international economic environment of the time. The growing inflation of this period was largely the result of expanding seigniorage; thus, the central bank was forced to address a problem it was itself helping to create. Understanding its actions during these years requires close attention to its operational tools, institutional and political constraints, and the legal limitations it faced. The article also incorporates simple quantitative textual analytics of a selection of the Banco de México’s Annual Reports to identify discursive emphases, narrative shifts, and thematic concerns. The findings reveal a transition from a developmentalist outlook to growing concern over economic instability. This article thus contributes to a better understanding of the central bank’s transformations during a critical period in Mexico’s economic history.