Growth and disparities in the Mexican regions

Mexico moved from an almost closed-to-trade economy to a very open economy and one of the least guided by public sector forces. However, the presence of wide disparities in social development and economic growth across the Mexican states may be an obstacle to the further integration of the national economy to the global economy. In this context, the main focus of Mexican public policies has been growth at the national level, while regional policies are merely national policies with territorial implications. This book studies factors that may affect the regional pattern of growth and contribute to the debate around the need for regional polices in Mexico. The aim of this book is to examine for Mexico the regional distribution of, and effects on regional growth of, three of the main factors that have been highlighted in the standard economic literature on growth: public investment, human capital, and science and technology, and how they can be fit into a regional policy to foster development.