The Contours of the Post-1810 Depression in Mexico: A Reappraisal from a Regional Perspective

Abstract

Scholars generally agree that after 1810 the Mexican economy, shattered by destruction of property and flight of population and capital during the long wars for independence, entered a severe depression. It has usually been assumed that this depression persisted well beyond mid-century, exacerbated by political instability, banditry, and intermittent civil warfare. This assumption was given shape and substance by John Coatsworth's influential 1978 article, which presented a picture of not merely miserable but deteriorating economic conditions for at least a half-century after 1810. Coatsworth calculated that per capita and total income fell until “sometime after 1860” and that a solid recovery was delayed until after 1880.

The Evolution of Income and Inequality among Mexico City’s Construction Workers during the “Independence Era”: 1783-1853

“…In between the fall of New Spain and the emergence of modern Mexico, the political economy experienced significant changes in terms of the relative power, production, and institutional organization (Cárdenas, 1984;Chowning, 1991;Coatsworth, 1978;Dobado, Gómez-Galvarriato and Williamson, 2008;Salvucci, 1997;Sánchez-Santiró, 2001). With this backdrop of transformation, how did the distribution of income change?…”