Regional Development Policy in Yucatan: Administrative Decentralization and Business

Abstract

The henequén agribusiness suffered a long crisis in Yucatan, which led to a deep change of economic structures, means for social mobility and the regional culture. This had a greater impact on the capital city, Merida, and the nearby henequén area. Merida has been the biggest and most important urban center in the peninsula of Yucatan during the 20th century. The economy of henequén plantations structured society around agriculture, specialized the industrial plant during some years in riggind and disfibration, and directly or indirectly employed most urban workes. Starting in 1970 Merida's urban dynamic began to move away from the pattern imposed by the nehequen crisis. The analysis concentrates on the background of an urban change in a society that inherited a plantation culture. It studies the search for urban employment alternatives in and industry moving away from henequén. The paper touches on the relations between the private industrial management and industrial development policies between 1970 and 1992, including the maquiladora industry. Business administration strategies are emphasized and finally, the paper sugests the prospects for urban employment in the industrialization conditions of the nineties.