Beyond Border Control
Gringo Capitalism
Over the long term, the only way to reduce illegal immigration along the southern border is prosperity—in Mexico. To that end a group of venture capitalists is attempting to jump-start the Mexican economy's job-creating engine. Investors and entrepreneurs working with economists from Claremont Graduate University want to create a $100 million venture capital fund for Mexico's risk-taking class. They take encouragement from the fact that the Mexican economy has grown at an annual rate of about 4 percent in recent years. And it is clear that a steady supply of jobs does keep some workers from heading north. Resort areas, for example, do not see the local population packing up for a border crossing. But there are many hurdles. The rules for doing business in Mexico are remarkably, shall we say, informal. Mix gray-market transactions with Mexico's steady rumble of political instability, add a dollop of very risky venture capital plays, and the odds for success are not good. Still, it is precisely that kind of risk taking that Mexico needs to foster a class of sophisticated small business owners. If the Mexico Opportunity Fund manages to at least identify the roadblocks to Mexico's capital formation, it will have been much more successful than most attempts at border control.
Editor's Note: As of February 29, 2024, commenting privileges on reason.com posts are limited to Reason Plus subscribers. Past commenters are grandfathered in for a temporary period. Subscribe here to preserve your ability to comment. Your Reason Plus subscription also gives you an ad-free version of reason.com, along with full access to the digital edition and archives of Reason magazine. We request that comments be civil and on-topic. We do not moderate or assume any responsibility for comments, which are owned by the readers who post them. Comments do not represent the views of reason.com or Reason Foundation. We reserve the right to delete any comment and ban commenters for any reason at any time. Comments may only be edited within 5 minutes of posting. Report abuses.
Please
to post comments
rfh