Debts unpaid : two centuries of trouble and conflict in Mexico's economy / Louise E. Walker.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Walker, Louise E., 1977- author.

Series:

Cambridge Latin American studies .

Cambridge Latin American studies

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Debt--Mexico--History--19th century.

Debt.

Debt--Mexico--History--20th century.

Debt--Mexico--History--21st century.

Mexico--Economic conditions--19th century.

Mexico.

Mexico--Economic conditions--20th century.

Mexico--Economic conditions--21st century.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xv, 309 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2026.

Summary:

Power struggles between debtors and creditors about unpaid debts have animated the history of economic transformation from the emergence of capitalist relations to the recent global financial crashes. Illuminating how ordinary people fought for economic justice in Mexico from the eve of independence to the early 2000s, this study argues that conflicts over small-scale debts were a stress test for an emerging economic order that took shape against a backdrop of enormous political and social change. Drawing on nearly 1,500 debt conflicts unearthed from Mexican archives, Louise E. Walker explores rapidly changing ideas and practices about property rights, contract law, and economic information. This combination of richly detailed archival research, with big historical and theoretical interpretations, raises provocative new questions about the moral economy of the credit relationship and the shifting line between exploitation and opportunity in the world of everyday exchange.

Contents:

Cover

Half-title

Series information

Title page

Imprints page

Dedication

Table of Contents

List of Figures

List of Tables

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Conflicts Between Debtors and Creditors

Chronological Horizons

Sources and Methods

Structure of the Book

1 Little Debts: Justice and Citizenship in Small Claims, 1810s-1860s

A Contractual Society

The Judicial City

Mediating Debt Disputes in the Juicios Verbales

The Parameters of Economic Justice

Continuity and Change After 1812

The Humdrum as Historic

2 Broken Contracts: Precaution and Risk in Litigation and Law, 1860s-1870s

Debt Litigation on the Rise

Trading Information with Friends and Strangers

Risk, Uncertainty, and the Providencias Precautorias

Property Seizure and the Politics of Property Rights

Avoiding Obligations and Litigating Trust

Law and Economy: Making Rules for Unpaid Debts

Between Two Worlds

3 Unworthy: Economic Information in Credit Reports, 1880s-1920s

Credit Reports and the New Horizon of Bureaucratic Trust

Banamex and Financial Exclusion

Evaluating Creditworthiness

Institutional Lending in a Time of Revolution

Defining the Boundaries of Economic Honour

Economic Information from Gossip to Bureaucracy

4 Bad Cheques: Property Crime and the Moral Economy of Financialisation, 1930s-1980s

The Criminalisation of Uncovered Cheques

Economic Citizenship and Financial Inclusion

Misuse, Malfeasance, and the Growing Pains of Financial Modernity

Social Inertia, Friction, and the Latent Coercion of Financialisation

From Delinquency to Vulnerability

5 Asking for Help: Letters About Fairness and Dispossession, 1990s-2000s

From Citizens to Financial Service Users

Institutional Borrowing in an Era of Crisis

Indebtedness and Dehumanisation.

Economic Storytelling and the Power of the President

Usury and the New Purgatory

The Credit Bureau and the Black List

Villains and Victims

Conclusion

Notes

References

Index.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 14 Nov 2025).

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

1-009-36041-8

1-009-36042-6

OCLC:

1569638513