Successful economic networks of French migration to Mexico in the period that has been wrongly named as Export Led Growth in Latin America

• In Event: Temas sobre historia económica

Abstract

This paper tells the story of a poor French community that managed to generate a current of mass migration to Mexico after 1821. This wave of migration, which came from the Valley of Barcelonnette, increased in a period that showed favorable conditions for it to succeed economically. The combination of local and international conditions, in conjunction with the specific characteristics of the social networks created by these businessmen, which included politicians, allowed an important percentage of them to become wealthy. By the beginning of the twentieth century, they could count among their assets almost all the departmental stores established in Mexico, approximately 55% of the whole manufacturing industry established in this country, and they had also become the major shareholders of the Mexican banks. Here, I will explain the events and key aspects that enabled this great economic flourishing, which, for some of them, was only weakened by the triple effect of the Mexican Revolution, First World War and Great Depression. Others still remain as powerful members of Mexico's economic elite until these days. To contextualize this story, in this paper I will also describe other waves of French migration and the places where they became established within the Mexican territory, as well as other economic activities they carried out throughout the nineteenth century. Additionally, I question the persistent myth regarding the success of all the members of the Barcelonnette community in Mexico.

Author

• José Galindo, Universidad Veracruzana