Search

This paper examines the clashes among leftist Mexican intellectuals at the beginning of the 1970s as a consequence of the Cuban Revolution. The correspondence of Laurette Séjourné, an archeologist of Italian origin based in Mexico, provides a source for identifying the tensions generated between those who had maintained an unconditional loyalty toward die Cuban regime and those who had distanced themselves following its Sovietization. This confrontation shows that the New Left was not an ideologically homogenous group and leads to questioning the use of this category. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores some of the main technological and financing gaps faced by SMEs in Mexico, and discusses the implications of such gaps for the design of a new industrial policy. The paper first discusses the economic importance of SMEs in Mexico as the main supporters of employment, and that of the manufacturing industry as the main driver of productivity growth and technological innovation. With regard to technological gaps, the paper emphasizes the scarce participation of Mexicans SMEs in the production of capital goods and the dependency on foreign suppliers that this implies. With regard to financing gaps, the paper presents evidence of the increasing proportion of SMEs that do not access bank loans (over three quarters of the total in recent years). Taking this into account, the paper argues for the need to incorporate, as part of a new industrial policy in Mexico, measures to strengthen the national productive-finance ecosystem. In order to do this, the paper argues for the need to characterize SMEs not only in terms of their sectoral distribution but also in terms of their position in the value chain. Furthermore, the paper argues for the need of an alternative struc-ture and functioning of the country's development banking system, con-sidering the feasibility of a dual monetary policy and the selective credit mechanisms commonly referred to as "Cajones especiales de crédito". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]