The Spatial Fragmentation of Discriminatory Development: The Case of Mexico

Abstract

This spatial analysis of census statistics, carried out through Sigef, a Geographical Information System (GIS), seeks to locate, measure and compare three expressions of social and economic development: economic activity of established business, economic situation of individuals and households, and social development of regional populations. Each index resumes an array of basic indicators, such as capital assets, production per sector, schooling, death rates, income, and household non mercantile activities, among other phenomena captured by the economic, population, and household censuses carried out during 1990.

The comparison between the spatial representations of each component of development brings into evidence the socio-economic fragmentation produced by high polarization of productive investment, by the similarities and (or) differences between the prosperity of a region and the well-being of its population, and by the location of informal activity. In this way we can appreciate the local effect of the social policies that try to correct the disparities of an economic development based on financial resources or increasing debts, while enhancing the web-like expansion of the part of the economic activity which is directed and stimulated by communication routes.

The comparison between this detailed geography of socio-economic underdevelopment and that of migration reveals the efforts of individuals to make up for the extreme injustice evident in space.