Da Crise da Dívida ao Efeito Tequila

A Triangulação entre Crises, Neoliberalismo e Financeirização no México no Final do Século XX

Abstract

The article discusses the transformations of the Mexican economy between the 1982 foreign debt crisis and the unfolding of the 1994 Tequila effect. It defends a triangulation between these crises, neoliberalism, and financialization, arguing that these factors are mutually reinforcing. Thus, crises provide a social “shock” and facilitate the adoption of neoliberal measures, thus expanding the channels for the valorization of financial capital, which gains centrality in the articulation of the main sectors of the economy and, therefore, in the gestation of new systemic crises. This dynamic triangular relationship, it is argued, summarizes the concrete evolution of the Mexican economy during the De la Madrid (1982-1988), Salinas (1988-1994) and Zedillo (1994-2000) governments, which constitute the first cycle of neoliberal reforms in the country.