EJIDO REFORMS IN MEXICO - CONCEPTUAL ISSUES AND POTENTIAL OUTCOMES

The evolving privatization of the ejido system in Mexico represents a challenge to standard economic models of common property regimes. Thes e models tend to emphasize human interrelations while discounting the ecological conditions which form the environment for human interaction s. A risk-spreading, safety-first model capturing interrelationships b etween nature and humans is developed to analyze the potential implica tions of Mexico's privatization efforts. Recognizing that the majority of ejido lands are communal, not parcelized, located primarily in ari d areas, the model supports the prediction that privatization will occ ur and be most successful on irrigated, ejido lands with modern social and economic infrastructure.