Measuring Development-A Review

Mexico-A Developing Country

Mexico in Transition

• Mexico characterized by economic and political transition

• Authoritarianism under the PRI has been replaced by competitive elections, although political hostilities still exist

• Economic dependency and underdevelopment slowly being transformed as public policies have been supportive of a free market economy, yet a backlash against neoliberalism has continued

• “Developed”, “Developing”, or “Less Developed”, how do we classify Mexico?

• Regime type: from corporatist structure to transitional democracy

How Development is Measured

• GNP per capita – estimate of a country’s total economic output divided by its total population, converting to a single currency, usually the U.S. dollar. Does not take into account what goods & services can actually be purchased with local currency.

• PPP – Purchasing Power Parity – takes into account cost of living in a particular country figuring out what it costs to buy the same goods in different countries (Mexico is $9800 per year)

• HDI – Human Development Index – longevity, knowledge, income (Mexico’s literacy rate is 94% for men & 90.5% for women, life expectancy is 72.4 years for men and 78 years for women

• Economic Dependency – a less developed country is often dependent on developed countries for economic support and trade. Balanced trade is generally the key, a country is said to be “developing” when it begins relying less on the stronger country to keep it afloat financially

• Mexico is in the middle in terms of its development, it is generally considered to be a “developing” country that has shown gradual improvement in all of its indices

Transitional Democracy• Political Accountability

• Political Competition

• Political Freedom

• Political Equality

– Mexico has developed some democratic characteristics in recent years, but still has many distinctions present from its authoritarian history. Longevity of democratic practices is another way of determining whether a country is a stable democracy, usually 40 years or more. Mexico does not yet fit this description.