We address the role that deep, structural factors may have as determinants of Mexico's economic growth. We argue that Mexico's poor growth performance appears to be associated not only with shorter-run events such as the "lost decade" of the eighties, but also with supply-side features of the...

We review some patterns of Total Factor Productivity (TFP) growth in the Mexican economy during the period 1991-2011 using the KLEMS data set published by INEGI in 2013. The data shows a strong positive correlation between TFP and output growth. As a result, tests were performed in order to...

We analyze the relationship between the economic growth rate and a rule of law indicator in Mexican states during the period 2006-2013. Specifically, we employ information regarding the time it takes to solve commercial disputes in local courts, which we use as a proxy variable to measure the...

How does imperfect law enforcement affect drug trafficking, predation on firms, informality, and aggregate production? To quantify it, a general equilibrium occupational model is developed in which there is room for drug trafficking, crime against businesses, and tax evasion in the presence of...

This paper studies the long-run effects of concertaje, a forced labor system from the Spanish colonial era in Ecuador that coerced indigenous workers in rural estates after indebting them. I collected and digitized historical tax records (1800) and connected them to contemporary ones (2010s) via...