Colonial Bureaucrats and the Mexican Economy: Growth of a Patrimonial State, 1763-1821

By the late eighteenth century, the Mexican economy was highly centralized. Bourbon economic reforms succeeded in augmenting the powers of the crown and its vast colonial officialdom. The Mexican economy became largely patrimonial. Colonial officials, with miners and merchants, controlled the evolution of the economy. The bureaucratic state dictated policy and gave Mexico a centralized economy which persists to the present day.