ABSTRACT
This chapter traces the evolution of the economies of the United States and Mexico with the intent of providing a comparative historical framework in which to place the workings of the foundational factors. It begins with a brief explanation the general framework under which the U.S. economy has been shaped before moving on to surveying different historical periods. The colonial United States, otherwise known as the thirteen colonies, comprised an area of about 360,000 square miles and had a population of nearly 3 million in 1780 on the eve of independence from England. Apart from the divisive issue of slavery, Southern resentment over the tariffs became an important contributor to the conflict between North and South that led to the U.S. Civil War in the 1860s. The Mexican landscape is endowed with significant positive attributes. The chapter also explain domestic industrialization s about the economic supremacy of the United States over Mexico.
