HIST 12B Lecture Notes - Lecture 13: Pemex, Neoliberalism, North American Free Trade Agreement
Document Summary
Neoliberalism depends on the state, an expansive and very strong state, actually. The state maintains order, disciplines labor, opens markets, disciplines the poor. Article 123 that created a labor code, provided for the 8-hour day, abolished the company store, guaranteed the rights of workers to organize and to strike. State provided cheap credit for small landholders; protected communally held lands (edijo lands) from mortgages and foreclosures. 1930s, under cardenas, the government continued to nationalize sectors of the economy; railroads, and then oil in 1937 (forming the state-owned company pemex). (but this caused business to become increasingly adversarial. Social movements forced public spending (education, infrastructure, social welfare, agricultural subsidies) Oil prices rose; oil boom ensured cheap credit. Mexico borrowed against future oil revenues. (ensured that credit would be cheap because you have this boom in petro dollars. Oil prices rise, credit is cheap, and they are able to spend even more. )
