Transcript Measuring Development

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• Authoritarianism under the PRI has been replaced by competitive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.