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Industrial development under institutional frailty: the development of the Mexican textile industry in the nineteenth century

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 April 2010

Aurora Gómez-Galvarriato
Affiliation:
CIDE-MEXICO

Abstract

Modern textile manufacture appeared early in Mexico and grew continuously through the 19th century. Yet, it did not translate into a successful industrialization process as a result of naturally endowed high transportation costs and institutional frailty: a concept that encompasses institutional uncertainty, weakness and fragmentation. Institutional frailty generated a captured tariff policy that gave low effective protection to the industry, a backward financial market that limited resources available for industrial growth, and increased transportation costs through inter-state tariff barriers. High transportation costs fragmented the national market and as a result, the textile industry grew geographically dispersed.

Resumen

La industria textil moderna apareció en México tempranamente y creció de forma continua a lo largo del siglo XIX. Sin embargo, esto no se tradujo en un proceso de industrialización exitoso como resultado de altos costos de transporte y fragilidad institucional: concepto que incluye la incertidumbre, la debilidad y la fragmentación institucionales. La fragilidad institucional generó una política arancelaria capturada que otorgaba bajos niveles de protección efectiva a la industria, un mercado financiero atrasado que limitó los recursos disponibles al crecimiento industrial, y un crecimiento en los costos de transporte debido a las alcabalas. Los altos costos de transporte fragmentaron el mercado nacional y como resultado generaron una industria geográficamente dispersa.

Information

Type
Segunda parte: Estudios de historia económica latinoamericana
Copyright
Copyright © Instituto Figuerola de Historia y Ciencias Sociales, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid 1999

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