The Politics of Silver and Gold in an Age of Globalization: the Origins of Mexico's Monetary Reform of 1905

Abstract

This essay explores the hidden history of the origin and gestation of Mexico's Monetary Reform of 1905. It argues that two symmetrical forces pushed the Mexican government toward the reform: foreign financiers (and their domestic allies), whose capital investments (and expatriated profits) suffered under a depreciating currency and the Mexican government, which wished to maintain its export model while seeking to avoid inflation and deteriorating terms of trade. Furthermore, the essay reconstructs the internal political climate, closely following the nuanced conflict between rival domestic power groups, and the ways in which external actors, especially U.S. bankers exacerbated those conflicts.