The slow miracle: a modernizing Mexico

For many U.S. citizens, Mexico is that most unusual of places: a nation that seems familiar, but remains truly unknown.

Superficial knowledge of certain elements of Mexican culture -- food, holidays, bits of language -- are in many cases more accurate representations of the heritage of Mexican-Americans, or areas frequented by U.S. tourists, rather than Mexico more generally and accurately. Public opinion polling of U.S. attitudes toward Mexico tends to be negative, with a strong focus on illegal aliens, violent criminal activity by Mexican drug cartels, and of Mexico as a land of pervasive corruption and poverty.

Some of these perceptions are accurate, at least in part. Of the approximately 11 million undocumented foreigners in the United States, close to 60 percent are of Mexican origin. Mexico is in the midst of a bloody war against and within organized criminal gangs over lucrative drug markets in the U.S. and elsewhere. Objective organizations such as Transparency International and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development consistently rate Mexico among the 50 most corrupt countries -- data supported by polling within Mexico, which shows the population mistrusts government officials and business executives.

Many Mexicans pay bribes just to receive normal government services, such as water, electricity and policing. Violent crime rates, while declining, remain stubbornly high in certain cities and districts plagued by drug gangs.

However, there is a great deal more to the story of Mexico, and the relationship with the United States, than these negative perceptions, even those based on some reality. Over the past two decades, Mexico has emerged as a functioning democracy, a manufacturing powerhouse, a state in which both major political parties have embraced free markets, and a nation that, because of increased opportunities in its own economy, is seeing fewer workers leaving for the United States.

The overall Mexican economy has grown slowly, but over time this has brought Mexico from the status of a poor, developing state to one considered "middle income."

By most definitions, Mexico now has the 10th or 11th largest economy in the world, with a standard of living among the highest in Latin America, and rising much faster than average. Both in absolute terms and as percentage of totals, the overall number of Mexicans coming to the U.S. illegally has been falling for several years. While some of this tracked the Great Recession in the U.S., more important has been increased opportunities in Mexico.

With highly-skilled manufacturing jobs increasingly available in Mexico, and the need for an educated work force increasing, the fastest growing population of Mexicans in the United States is actually college students -- with legitimate student visas and full scholarships from the Mexican government.

From just a few thousand prior to a major initiative launched in 2013, progress was rapid, with now over 25,000 Mexican university students enrolled. The government of Mexico aims to send 100,000 by 2018 of its citizens to receive university and technical educations in the U.S., thereafter returning to high-paying jobs at home.

These are not the unskilled laborers of the past, furtively crossing the U.S. border in desperate hopes of a better life, but well-educated scions of the middle and upper classes of Mexico, in demand by high-technology companies and manufacturers on both sides of the border. These future entrepreneurs, engineers, scientists, medical professionals, and business leaders, returning to a nation freer and more open to the world than at any time in the history of Mexico, will accelerate the transformation of their country. Indeed, one of the fastest growing demographics in Mexico is a real middle class, a group emblematic of a modern, prosperous economy.

It's a mark of the diversification of the Mexican economy into manufacturing and services that the recent collapse in the price of oil, which Mexico exports, has only slowed growth, rather than ending it. Compare this to the massive inflation, widespread riots, and violent state crackdown in Venezuela, an economy that has continued to embrace the socialism and dependence on oil exports that recently also characterized Mexico. Unlike Venezuela, which blames the U.S. for its problems, Mexico has freed its own economy from the shackles of centralized control and now competes globally.

Political corruption does continue to be endemic, but both the ruling PRI (Institutional Revolutionary Party) and the opposition PAN (National Action Party) have embraced legal reforms, while opening the Mexican economy to foreign investment, free trade and stronger partnerships with the U.S. and Canada through the North American Free Trade Agreement. Mexican consumers and businesses reliably purchase U.S. products -- at far greater rates than seen in Western Europe or China, for example -- and both U.S. exports to and imports from Mexico consistently rise in tandem, benefiting both countries.

Mexico continues to face serious development and political challenges. However, the progress toward greater prosperity and freedom for its citizens seems to be on track to continue, which will also improve the bond with the United States.

It's possible that Mexico will in a decade or so cease to be a significant exporter of illegal emigrants to the United States. This reflection of the power of the free market might even precede completion by the U.S. of the border fences and barriers long demanded by the American people, yet incompletely and indifferently deployed by successive U.S. administrations.