Divided governments and economic change : the political economy of the 1996 electoral reform in Mexico

The object of study of this research paper is the 1996 Electoral Reform in Mexico, specially regarding the changes made in the composition of the legislative branch. The interest for studying this reform rests on the fact that, due to the changes in the composition of the congress that it enforced, from that moment up to the last congress elected, non of the presidents of the republic has had the support of a legislative majority to put in motion its government agenda. The main hypothesis that the institutional arrangement that arose from the 1996 political reform resulted in a legislative inertia that (intended or unintended) has support a lock-in of the economic reforms done during the 1980’s and 1990’s.