Economic history of Mexico
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Since the colonial era, the economic history of Mexico has been characterized by resource extraction, agriculture, and a relatively underdeveloped industrial sector. Historically, Mexico has been characterized by high levels of inequality, with one of key conflicts being about land reforms, pitting large landowners against peasants.
New Spain was envisioned by the Spanish crown as a supplier of wealth to Iberia, which was accomplished through large silver mines and indigenous labor. The Independence of Mexico in 1821 was initially difficult for the country, with the loss of its supply of mercury from Spain in silver mines.
The mid-nineteenth-century Liberal Reforma (ca. 1850–1861; 1867–76) attempted to curtail the economic power of the Catholic Church and to modernize and industrialize the Mexican economy. Following the Reform War and the Second French intervention, the late nineteenth century found political stability and economic prosperity during the Porfiriato (1876–1911). Mexico was opened to foreign investment and, to a lesser extent, foreign workers. Foreign capital built railway networks that linked regions of Mexico to major cities and ports. The mining industry revived in the north of Mexico, and the petroleum industry developed in the north Gulf Coast states with foreign capitals.
Regional civil wars broke out in 1910 and lasted until 1920, collectively known as the Mexican Revolution. The Mexican Constitution of 1917 gave the Mexican government the power to expropriate property, which favored land reform through the creation of ejidos and the Mexican oil expropriation of 1938.
Mexico benefited from its participation in World War II, and the post-war years experienced what has been called the Mexican Miracle (ca. 1946–1970). This growth was fueled by import substitution industrialization (ISI). Large oil reserves discovered in the Gulf of Mexico in the late 1970s led the country to borrow heavily from foreign banks with loans denominated in U.S. dollars. When the price of oil dropped in the 1980s, Mexico experienced a severe financial crisis.
From the 1980s, Mexico implemented neoliberal economic policies and made constitutional changes to promote the private sector.
In the twenty-first century, Mexico has strengthened its trade ties with China, but Chinese investment projects in Mexico have hit roadblocks in 2014–15. Mexico's continued dependence on oil revenues has had a deleterious impact on the economy, as it happened in the 2010s.