Ferrocarriles y obras publicas (review)

This compilation is intended to highlight the role of railways and public works in Mexican economic development during the age of Porfirio Díaz. It is part of an ongoing series on the development of the Mexican economy undertaken by the Instituto Mora and other equally prestigious Mexican academic institutions. Its purpose is to acquaint students of history and economics with the latest inroads in specific subfields, as well as with its theoretical foundations and academic debates.

The work is divided into two parts, separately discussing railways and public works, each one with its own introduction. The first part, introduced by Sandra Kuntz, gathers chapters on railways by Paolo Riguzzi, Arturo Grunstein, and Kuntz. The second one, after an introduction by Priscilla Connolly, includes three additional chapters on public works by Ariel Rodríguez, Carlos Lira, and Connolly.

Riguzzi examines the financing, organizational structure, and entrepreneurial profile of the founders of three Mexican-owned railways, as well as the role of these companies in the development of the sugar and henequen economies of Yucatán, Hidalgo, and Morelos. Grunstein in turn addresses the process whereby, in the first decade of the twentieth century, Mexico's main railway lines were consolidated into the state-owned "Ferrocarriles Nacionales de México." Finally, Kuntz surveys the role of the main companies in the formation of a national market. With a focus on the development of an institutional model, Rodríguez traces how local authorities met the need for running water and urban lighting services in Porfirian Mexico City. Connolly follows the technical and economic determinants whereby, as of 1900, drainage and sewage systems were built in Mexico City. Finally, Lira studies the role of local inhabitants, the church, and the state and national governments in the urban modernization of Oaxaca during the Porfiriato.

The contents and structure of the book are very solid. For example, the introduction to the section on railways provides the reader an excellent overview of the academic debates over the impact of rail transport on social and economic development. Moreover, here Kuntz discusses the relevance of Robert Fogel's "social savings approach," development economists Albert Hirschman and Walter Rostow, business historian Alfred Chandler, and John Coatsworth's now-classical Growth against Development in Mexico and Latin America.

On the other hand, it may be argued that the historiography of public works, and Connolly's introduction to it, are not so sophisticated. But, as she amply demonstrates, this is quite understandable. Public-works history barely exists as a subfield of economic history. Current studies do not have a sufficient body of previous works against which to be compared. Finally, in the case of Mexico, most studies have been tackled from the viewpoints of social anthropology and urban history.

Given this situation, individual chapters tend to provide a more diversified panorama about railway development. Nevertheless, the chapters in both sections have several characteristics that deserve specific mention. Above all, they provide a balanced discussion of the topics at hand. Second, they also address significant broader issues and specific case studies. Third, they reflect the most recent methodological and empirical inroads in the field and exemplify both its dominant theoretical underpinning and limitations. Finally, without burdening the reader, a very useful list of the most relevant bibliography and sources is included at the end of each section.

The authors' goals are amply achieved, such that this work will be rewarding to more than their intended audience. Clearly written throughout, and especially where theoretical and methodological issues are addressed, this book contributes to current debates and the progress of its fields. The authors corroborate their academic caliber, and once again, readers will have a chance to go through another sample of Mexican economic history at its best.