mexican peso crisis

Mexican Peso Crisis

2008

Introduction to Mexico and its Economic Basics

Mexico gained its independence from Spain in 1821 . Mexican society was composed through a process of "racial mixing " of Spanish and indigenous Indian communities during the colonial period . For the first fifty years of its independence , the Mexican economy was stagnant and politics were unstable as forty-five administrations came and went . During the mid-1840 's Mexico lost about half of its territories to the United States . Mexican history marked another period with Porfirio Diaz 's dictatorship known as Porfiriato

(1875-1911 . During this period although a considerable industrial development was achieved , the majority of the population did not benefit much from this economic development , and they were excluded from political participation . This "Unfair " political and economic system generated a series of grievances among workers and peasants , and incited the "first great social revolution of the twentieth century " in 1910 (Centeno 1997 :6 . The revolution had multiple actors with different goals . As a result , the revolution was followed by a civil war , which lasted until 1919 theless , the revolution and the subsequent civil war gave birth to the contemporary Mexican state

In the late 1980s , the political legitimacy of the regime was historically low , mostly due to economic decline and widespread corruption . By 1988 , the PRI 's hegemony was crumbling . In the July 6 1988 presidential elections , the PRI had its worst performance , and won the elections with barely over 50 percent of the vote . The PRI 's presidential candidate Carlos...