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I used to think that being farther away from the United States would make Mexico a lot more poorer, but would it really??
Do you think it would be much poorer? Being next to the World's largest economy and having the NAFTA treaty, you'd think the wealth would rub off...I'd be thinking the HDI and per capita would be be like Spain, South Korea, Canada or Italy... but nope, not really. I'm not sure what went wrong or what's going wrong.
Also, the remittances really don't make a large percentage of the Mexican economy, if anything, they probably make 5% of the Mexican economy. Though this has greatly benefited some Mexican towns and made people build roads, and even fix up and make their plazas look nicely, the Mexican states that are relatively well off has minimal involvement from the Federal Government and don't recieve that many remittances.
Being close to the US has sure made better lives for the Mexicans who flew to the US and many are greatful for that but has it really bettered the lives of Mexicans back home?
At first I would think Mexico would look like Guatemala, Bolivia or subsaharan african countries... but then again, maybe Mexico in the microeconomic level wouldn't be that much different.
What country would it be most similar to if it weren't next to the USA? Would we be better or worse, and why isn't Mexico like Spain or it's Canadian counterpart?
Although it is an interesting exercise, is just a waste of time.
The causes of poverty in Mexico are a variety of factors where the border with a superpower is just one of them.
If Mexico does not share border with the United States would be a much larger country with more land and wealth, probably at the level of some economy with HDI (Human Development Index) of +.900 today.
Although it is an interesting exercise, is just a waste of time.
The causes of poverty in Mexico are a variety of factors where the border with a superpower is just one of them.
If Mexico does not share border with the United States would be a much larger country with more land and wealth, probably at the level of some economy with HDI (Human Development Index) of +.900 today.
Well thanks. This answered my question. And to the other person, that was an interesting map. Thanks for sharing. I Thought Chiapas would have the same HDI as China or Mongolia...or some of the central asian countries that end in "Stan" or "an"...I thought that Nuevo Leon would be more similar to Germany, New Zealand or Australia.
The map is really not helpful at all if it is used as a way of comparing standards of living rather than as simply a measure of natural resources extracted, divided by population. That is how Campeche with its vast oil wealth ranks equal to Luxembourg. A better measure would be median income per capita, and no part of Mexico compares well with any western European country or any part of the U. S. in that way.
One thing that bothers me about Mexicans (I am one, so shut up) is that we're so quick to blame the US and outsiders for our ailments. Oh, Americans just take advantage of us. Oh the Chinese are undercutting us. Maybe it's time to be introspective and think "Maybe it's us". Every thought about that?
Maybe it's corruption and nepotism that keeps Mexico down? Maybe it's the fact that our mentality is one of self-defeatism and charlatanism. Maybe it's that we worship all that is foreign and hate ourselves. I agree with the other posters... asinine thread.
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