A NEW FEATURE OF THE 2000 EHA MEETINGS, THE POSTER SESSION AFFORDED SIX YOUNG SCHOLARS THE OPPORTUNITY TO EXHIBIT AND DISCUSS THEIR DEVELOPING RESEARCH. Arrested Development: Credit, Society, and Growth in a Transitional Economy: Yucatan, Mexico, 1850???1905

Abstract

The dissertation uses evidence from the notarial records between 1850 and 1905 to analyze the economic and social relations in a transitional economy. During the period covered by the project, the Sates of Yucatan changed from an economic backland to an export-oriented producer of benequen (sisal) used for binding twine and ropes in the United States and Europe. With the postcolonial power struggles in government as a backdrop, I use the notarial records to study the development of the credit market, as well as the social, institutional, and economic relations between the local players in an increasingly integrated export-oriented economy.