Semester in Review

Carlos Perez-Verdia from the Central Bank in Mexico City talks about Mexican monetary policy

By: Grady Christopherson

My semester here in Mexico was very insightful as far as the way I see the world. I look at and analyze things differently after this semester—it forces me to think about everyday things that I see as a result of globalization. For example, I don’t go past Wal-Mart without thinking what went into getting that store there on many different levels, as well as how it operates now as a business. It was interesting to learn so many things about international trade, marketing, and business but at the same time it was even more interesting to learn about them through the cultural lens that we did. Learning about what NAFTA was and what it did to Mexico was great, but even better was walking down the street and seeing what NAFTA had done.

Also, I thoroughly enjoyed visits to people affected by NAFTA, the corn farmer we visited in Amátlan sticks in mind because of how she told us and showed first hand how NAFTA had changed her life. Learning about Mexican cultural values in a business context was also a very valuable part of my time here. And I think the order in which we learned the material in our business class was very helpful, particularly the fact that we learned about Mexican history first and then business. This allowed us understand a little bit of why things work they work and not just how they work in Mexico. My favorite part of my stay here was going to Mexico City, particularly when we visited the Central Bank. Our talk there was very informational and afterwards it was really cool to see the three people in the back that enforce the entire monetary policy of Mexico with a big calculator and a couple of computers. My stay here was great, and again it has made me look at things differently, and perhaps that is why I’m staying here another semester.