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Coercion, Culture, and Contracts: Labor and Debt on Henequen Haciendas in Yucatán, Mexico, 1870-1915

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Author(s)
Alston, Lee J.
Mattiace, Shannan
Nonnenmacher, Tomas
Date Issued
March 2009
Abstract
The henequen boom coincided with the rule of Porfirio Diaz (1876-1911). During the boom, many Maya in Yucatan lost their rights to land and moved to henequen haciendas. As part of the implicit contract with hacendados, peons accumulated large debts at the time of marriage, most of which were never repaid. We argue that the debts bound workers to the hacienda as part of a system of paternalism and that more productive workers incurred more debt. We examine the institutional setting in which debt operated and stress the formal and informal institutional contexts within which hacendados and workers negotiated contracts.
Journal
Journal of Economic History
Department
Political Science
Citation
Alston, L.J., Mattiace, S., and Nonnenmacher, T. (2009). Coercion, Culture, and Contracts: Labor and Debt on Henequen Haciendas in Yucatán, Mexico, 1870-1915. Journal of Economic History 69(1):
Publisher
The Economic History Association
Version of Article
Published article
ISSN
0022-0507
Rights
This article was selected and published in the Journal of Economic History ©2009 Alston, Mattiace, and Nonnenmacher. All rights reserved.
Subjects

henequen

Agave fourcryodes

paternalism

debt contracts

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