the contribution of exports to the mexican economy during the first

THE CENTER FOR LATIN AMERICAN STUDIES PRESENTS:
THE CONTRIBUTION OF
EXPORTS TO THE MEXICAN
ECONOMY DURING THE FIRST
GLOBALISATION (1870-1929)
SANDRA KUNTZ FICKER, PROFESSOR OF ECONOMIC HISTORY AT EL COLEGIO DE
MÉXICO AND W. GLENN CAMPBELL AND RITA-RICARDO CAMPBELL NATIONAL
FELLOW, HOOVER INSTITUTION, STANFORD UNIVERSITY
From the last decades of the 19th century and until the 1929 Great Depression, the Latin American economies
specialized in the production of primary products for export, in what came to be called the first era of export-led
growth. Later on, structuralism and dependency theory generated a very negative view of this period that, in the case
of Mexico, was reinforced by the nationalist ideology stemming from the Mexican revolution. In this talk, my purpose is
to provide some elements to reevaluate the first export era in Mexico in a more positive way, considering some of its
positive contributions to economic growth.
Sandra Kuntz Ficker is a professor of economic history at El Colegio de México.
She has been a visiting research fellow at the University of Chicago (1989 - 90)
and the University of California, San Diego (1997 - 98) and the Tinker Visiting
Professor at Stanford University (1999) and at the University of Texas at Austin
(2008). She is general secretary of the Mexican Economic History Association. Her
research deals with the economic history of Mexico from the mid-nineteenth to the
mid-twentieth century, particularly the economic impact of railroads, Mexico’s
foreign trade and commercial policy, and Mexico’s economic development during
the first globalization (1870 - 1930). Her recent publications include El comercio
exterior de México en la era del capitalismo liberal, 1870 - 1929 (El Colegio de
México, 2007); Las exportaciones mexicanas durante la primera globalización,
1870 - 1929 (El Colegio de México, 2010); and (as editor) Historia económica
general de México. De la colonia a nuestros días (El Colegio de México, 2010).
Her articles in English include “From Structuralism to New Institutional Economics:
The Impact of Theory on the Study of Foreign Trade in Latin America,” Latin
American Research Review 40, no. 3 (2005).
MAY 3, 2013, 1:15 - 2:05 P.M.
BOLIVAR HOUSE, 582 ALVARADO ROW
LAS.STANFORD.EDU