Industrialization Process, Employment, and Income Distribution in Mexico: Issues and Strategies

This paper evaluates Mexico's past and present development strategies in terms of their equity and employment implications. It concludes that the current neoliberal stabilization efforts are likely to result in increased income concentration, also leading to the dampening of aggregate demand and economic activities. Given the gravity of the current crisis in Mexico, the paper argues for the urgency of an alternative revitalization strategy with a human face. Such a strategy should include three elements as the cornerstones of future development: the structural shift within the modern sector toward more competitive, higher-value added, more labor-intensive, and diversified activities; development of the lagging sectors based on the principle of collective self-reliance; and the articulation of linkages in productive and marketing structures between the leading and lagging sectors.