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Results from studies of the relationship between road infrastructure and regional economic growth have so far been inconclusive. This paper analyzes the effect of the availability of road infrastructure on regional production in Mexican municipalities. At a regional level, the extent of road availability in a municipality was determined using an Geographic Information System (gIS) and ordinary least squares analysis, which identified the existence of a positive relation between road density and production in municipal regions. It was shown that the most significant impact of roads on gross regional production is in the manufacturing and retail sectors, while roads have no significant impact on agriculture, livestock production, fishing, and mining. Toll-free roads in particular afford increased regional benefits in comparison to toll roads. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the link between economic growth and state industrial capital stock accumulation using panel data techniques in the time period 1960-2012. The analysis is done in two moments: the age of national industrialization (1960-1982) and the structural reform era (1983-2012). The results point to a long-term relationship in both periods, but with a sign opposite of the expected sign in the latter, suggesting that the deceleration of industrial capital can explain the slowdown over the past three decades. This result is confirmed with the decline of manufacturing, as well as other economic indicators. The causality tests demonstrate two-way causality between the two variables, evincing a virtuous cycle between growth and accumulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Economic opening and the dearth of federal-sponsored sectoral industrial policies pose a novel challenge for subnational governments at the dawn of the new century. This paper will argue that rather than the Mexican state entirely abandoning industrial policy, what really happened was that developmentalist functions were transferred to or appropriated by the subnational level. To do so, two states in the Mexican Republic whose sectoral industrial policies sharply contrast with the federal government-level backpedaling were examined. The literature of "new developmentalism" will serve as the backdrop to this new subnational role in Mexico, marking a divergence from the neoliberal paradigm at the federal level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent literature has empirically demonstrated that the real exchange rate is essential to explaining the economic evolution of developing countries. It has been empirically proven that the anti-inflation exchange rate policy implemented systematically in Mexico has constituted a major restriction on the country's economic growth, a restriction that has persisted throughout this entire time period, even through different monetary and exchange rate regimes. This paper estimates an svar (1950-2014) that shows how the continuous appreciation of the real exchange rate has curbed Mexico's economic growth capacity and had an impact on other macroeconomic balances. This alone could be considered a highly potent structural macroeconomic reform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This topic should be viewed in the context of a few theoretical considerations on local and territorial development. This work will then look at the conclusions of some recent specialized contributions to the study of instability and disparities in Mexico and apply these to the focus of this paper. Studying Yucatan sheds light on the enormous limits and extreme inequalities of development in Mexico and its winding road to growth. Yucatan reflects how Mexico is lagging in employment and education, as well as the extent to which people are leaving rural areas, leading to greater urban concentration. In addition, it provides evidence of an increase in outsourcing, the decline of the maquiladora industry and the departure of local capital from its weak manufacturing sector. This work concludes with a broad critique of this type of development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]