Measuring Development-A Review

1. Measuring Development-A Review Mexico-A Developing Country

2. Mexico in Transition • Mexico characterized by economic and political transition • Authoritarianism under the PRI has been replaced by competitive elections, although political hostilities still exist • Economic dependency and underdevelopment slowly being transformed as public policies have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

3. 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

4. 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.