Managing Mexico

Economists from Nationalism to Neoliberalism

Sarah Babb

• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN:
  9780691117935
  9780691074832
• eBook ISBN:
  9780691187600
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Sociology
• Index: Social Sciences

Just one generation ago, lawyers dominated Mexico's political elite, and Mexican economists were a relatively powerless group of mostly leftist nationalists. Today, in contrast, the country is famous, or perhaps infamous, for being run by American-trained neoclassical economists. In 1993, the Economist suggested that Mexico had the most economically literate government in the world--a trend that has continued since Mexico's transition to multi-party democracy. To the accompanying fanfare of U.S. politicians and foreign investors, these technocrats embarked on the ambitious program of privatization, deregulation, budget-cutting, and opening to free trade--all in keeping with the prescriptions of mainstream American economics.


This book chronicles the evolution of economic expertise in Mexico over the course of the twentieth century, showing how internationally credentialed experts came to set the agenda for the Mexican economics profession and to dominate Mexican economic policymaking. It also reveals how the familiar language of Mexico's new experts overlays a professional structure that is still alien to most American economists. Sarah Babb mines diverse sources--including Mexican undergraduate theses, historical documents, and personal interviews--to address issues relevant not only to Latin American studies, but also to the sociology of professions, political sociology, economic sociology, and neoinstitutionalist sociology. She demonstrates with skill how peculiarly national circumstances shape what economic experts think and do. At the same time, Babb shows how globalization can erode national systems of economic expertise in developing countries, creating a new class of ''global experts.''

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• CONTENTS
• List of Abbreviations
• List of Tables and Figures
• Preface
• CHAPTER ONE: Neoliberalism and the Globalization of Economic Expertise
• CHAPTER TWO: The Origins of Mexican Economics
• CHAPTER THREE: Marxism , Populism, and Private-Sector Reaction: The Splitting of Mexican Economics
• CHAPTER FOUR: The Mexican Miracle and Its Policy Paradigm: 1940-1970
• CHAPTER FIVE: The Breakdown of Developmentalism and the Polarization of Mexican Economics
• CHAPTER SIX: The UNAM and the ITAM after 1970
• CHAPTER SEVEN: Neoliberalism and the Rise of the New Technocrats
• CHAPTER EIGHT: The Globalization of Economic Expertise
• Appendix A: Study of UNAM and ITM/ITAM Theses
• Appendix B: Study of Database of Sociedad de Ex-Alumnos of the ITAM
• Notes
• References
• Personal Interviews
• Index