3 - The evolution and shape of development

Summary

Economic growth since the Second World War may be divided into two periods. During the first stage, from the recovery of the Great Depression in the 1930s to the end of the oil boom and the crash of 1982, Mexico experienced a very rapid rate of growth. GDP growth averaged 5.8 per cent a year in real terms and 3.3 per cent per capita. It was a long period characterized by swift population growth and urbanization, that permitted the creation of a middle class and a more cultured citizenship. Growth rates were not evenly distributed across the country and regional polarization was coupled with high but decreasing social inequality.

The second period stretches from the debt crisis of 1982 to the present and is characterized by sluggish economic performance. GDP only augmented at a rate of 2.2 per cent a year, and only 0.6 per cent in per capita terms. The first part of the period was marked by the transition from a close to an open economy, which lasted until the end of the 1980s, with almost zero growth from 1982 to 1989. As the economy became increasingly open and liberalized during the 1990s, its economic performance improved but never reached the pre-crisis levels. Mexico’s economy has gradually converged to the (lower) growth of the US economy and has yet to develop a proper platform for more rapid growth that would close the gap with the more developed and emerging nations.

PRODUCTION AND PRODUCTIVITY

Like in most nations, the primary sector’s share of GDP declined gradually but uninterruptedly throughout the twentieth century. Agriculture, cattle, and forestry showed higher rates of growth than population and Mexico supplied most of its foodstuffs needs from domestic production until the 1960s. With the growing urban population, approximately 3.1 per cent in the 1960s, domestic production became insufficient, and some staple goods began to be imported. At the same time, industrial growth and urban infrastructure transformed the nature of GDP. Industry became the engine of economic growth through most of the rapid expansion stage, along with the development of energy supply, roads, ports, urban public works, and transport.