Mexico: from Revolution to ‘Perfect Dictatorship’

Abstract

As it prepared to become the first Third World country to host the 1968 Olympic Games, Mexico was widely considered to be a ‘miracle’ economy. That assessment is now often forgotten because of its more recent poor economic performance. But, in fact, the intensity and duration of economic growth in Mexico was remarkable. Between 1940 and 1980, it recorded an annual average growth of gross domestic product (GDP) of over 6%; an achievement matched by very few advanced or developing countries over that period. Moreover, this high rate of growth took place in apparently sustainable circumstances; until the 1970s, inflation remained below 5%.