Economics during Porfiriato in Mexico
The continuous wars, political conflicts and foreign interventions had an impact on the economy of Mexico of the nineteenth century. During the Porfiriato, Mexico became aware of the importance of the opening of its economy, thus attracting foreign investments. For foreign investments, the Americans, English and French had under their control the field, industry, mining, railways, electricity, banking, commerce and oil. The growth of a country is directly related to the economic policies and decisions made by a government.
Before Porfiriato the economy of the United Mexican States was in ruins and the only feasible solution was to modernize the economy. Mexico’s economy in the mid -nineteenth century had a limited vision towards the changes that were happening in the rest of the world. This task was huge causing the creation of economic projects. One of the economic projects was the liberal economic project. It was imposed in the mid -nineteenth century and from 1857 until the end of the 19th century, a series of constitutional changes that promoted the liberalization and implementation of capitalism were implemented. Liberals were based on several of the principles of economic liberalism. This ideology proposed to limit the intervention of the State in economic life. Like the liberals, conservatives thought that capitalist modernization was necessary to establish the stability and development of Mexico, but they differ in the way in which the liberals wanted to implement it. Despite the war between the liberalists and the conservatives, the French intervention and the establishment of the second empire, the liberalist economic project was consolidated in the second half of the nineteenth century and developed fully during the Porfiriato.
The economy of the United Mexican States had a boom in the years that President Porfirio Díaz took charge. This economic boom begins from 1855, when the Ayutla revolution invites the liberal project. This project was gaining land in Mexico and its representatives began to apply a series of constitutional reforms to transform the legal, economic and social structures that until that moment blocked the implementation of industrial capitalism of free competition in Mexico. The ideas of the liberals were based on the economic growth of the country and therefore, their projects took action in different fields. Some of these fields are:
State, where the role of the State is proposed to be reduced to the impulse of government projects with minimal intervention in the economy.
Campo, where the implementation of private property of land, foreign investment and market production is proposed. Monopolies abolition is proposed.
Industry, where national capital and especially foreign capital are proposed through concessions.
Commerce, where it is proposed.
Transport and Communications, where it is proposed that roads, rail and telegraph.
Fiscal System, where the reduction of the tax system is proposed to encourage economic growth and national and international investment.
Mostly the economy in the United Mexican States had a positive impact for the country. The biggest problem in this aspect was how it was achieved and everything that was sacrificed to achieve this economic health. Mining was the element that most helped the economy of Mexico, however it caused many other things that were not positive at all. By making mining grow exploited to many indigenous communities. By taking almost all or all their territory some indigenous people who opposed. When doing this, its consequence was that they were enslaved and exploited in mining. Mining not only caused slavery and exploitation, but also caused many citizens, indigenous people and people belonging to the Church to lose a lot of territory. This is a total violation of people’s rights.
The Porfiriato was one of the times with less economic crises, however there was a very important one in the 1907 and 1908. This crisis arose thanks to the inequality in wealth mentioned above. The opponents of the regime were suppressed and locked in jail. Both citizens, as the people of the press, were imprisoned. The Liberal Party deepened the country’s crisis, exposing the actions of Porfirio Díaz to the Mexican people. Entrepreneurs being forced to reduce production, reduced salary and demand for works. All these reasons are conflictive, economically and politically.
The governments of the United Mexican States have always been corrupt and all have put black hand to try to favor the country. Porfirio Díaz was one of these presidents who abused his power in the presidential mandate and caused a lot of controversy for the Mexican people. Porfirio Díaz took advantage of his power to grow the economy of Mexico, although he had to sacrifice his reputation. Díaz, for the most part, was able to favor the country by implementing laws and projects that favored the trade of industries, the fiscal system of Mexico and abroad exports.
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