Mexican economy

The subject of the Mexican economy is one that needs to be approached with both the mind and the feelings. The artist and the poet in oneself need to be engaged as much as the analyst and historian. Much is to be learned from Mexican economic history, starting with Aztec times in the fifteenth century. The observation that spans some 500 years is that Mexico, Inc. has been centrally managed. Today, even after the sale by the Government in the 1990s of some 2,000 state-owned companies, the economy is still centrally managed, especially in the energy sector.

The other broad observation is that Mexican economic activity, especially in the energy and assembly sectors, an extension of the forces of demand and supply of the U.S. economy. For this reason of geographical contiguity, and for one other, Mexico's prosperity is connected to that of the world economy. The second reason is Mexico's status, since 1974, as an exporter of crude oil. And not just an exporter at large, but one which, quite deliberately, is not a member of OPEC.