Books in the Social Science History series

This comprehensive history of the population and economy of the state of Sao Paulo in its century of rapid growth examines how the state transformed from a frontier province of little importance to one of the most important agricultural and industrial regions of the world.

Challenging the standard view of the Porfirian state as dominated by personalist politics, foreign financial interests, and a disadvantageous export economy, this book argues that beginning in the 1890s, the Mexican government adopted a coherent set of economic policies explicitly designed to foster Mexican industry, notably manufacturing.