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SILVER PRODUCTION AND ENTRE-PRENEURIAL STRUCTURE IN 18th-CENTURY MEXICO

During the colonial period Mexico's mines yielded 300,000,000 marks or about 2.S billion ounces of silver. Half or more of this total was registered in the last century of rule by Spain. Between 1700 and 1810 colonial output increased fivefold, a remarkable accomplishment in light of many financial, technological and organizational problems to be solved by the industry. Modem studies have dealt primarily with the 18th-century silver boom as an outgrowth of the visita of José de Gálvez and the mining reforms which followed. But the silver boom had its roots in the first half of the 18th century when production rose between two and three hundred percent. Even before the reduction in mercury prices, the organization of the Miners' Guild and Tribunal and the policy of exempting selected miners from paying royal taxes, the boom was well underway. Miners in the first half of the 18th century faced the same problems, although perhaps on a somewhat smaller scale, as miners in the second half: deeper shafts, longer tunnels, underground flooding, inadequate drainage systems, antiquated refining mills, just to mention a few. The solutions, in the absence of any major technological breakthroughs, usually entailed ever increasing capital investments combined with new organizational patterns such as the clustering of mines and the consolidating of operations. This can be clearly seen in old, badly flooded but potentially rich mining camps like Zacatecas. As a consequence of these changes the silver enterprises grew in size and complexity and the silver producers, to be successful, had to demonstrate competence as both miner and manager. Entrepreneurship (as defined by the 19th-century French economist, Jean Baptiste Say) was an essential ingredient in building and maintaining a profitable company. But success was elusive because with the higher costs came the greater risks. The turnover in mining personnel, especially among the owners, could lead, although not necessarily with adverse result, to discontinuity and instability. On the positive side such turnover meant the newcomers, who might possess much needed capital and