Mexico’s radical president serves up economic mediocrity

MEXICAN PRESIDENTS tend not to get the economy off to a flying start when they first take office. The past six leaders saw the economy shrink by an average of 0.4% during their first year, but went on to enjoy growth of 3.5% in their sixth and final one (see chart). So likely are governments to enrich their allies at the expense of everyone else that each transfer of power causes investors to hang back until they know where they stand. So it may not be a shock that Mexico will barely grow in 2019, the first year of Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s presidency. But economists worry that the malaise might linger this time.