Globalisation and Economic Growth in the Third World: Some Evidence from Eighteenth-Century Mexico
This article studies the connection between globalisation and economic growth in eighteenth-century Mexico. This was a period of globalisation in Mexico, characterised by market integration and growth in international trade. I estimate economic growth at that time and explore its relationship with the dominant export of the epoch, silver. The results show that Mexico experienced rapid economic growth in the eighteenth century and, furthermore, that exports caused that growth. During the period of Bourbon reforms economic growth improved, but not dramatically. Mining ceased to be the engine of growth by the end of the century.