Vicente Fox's tenure as the President of Mexico began with his Inauguration on December 1, 2000, until his presidency ended on November 30, 2006. His victory in the federal elections in 2000 ended more than 70 years rule of the Institutional Revolutionary Party.

Cabinet In contrast with his predecessors, President Fox chose the members of his cabinet through head hunters.El Gabinete Foxista by Grupo Reforma (In Spanish, Requires Subscription) "Se contrató a cuatro empresas especializadas en la búsqueda de talentos al más alto nivel, que propusieron cerca de 400 candidatos; luego un comité hizo una evaluación previa y finalmente presentaron 120 candidatos con características sobresalientes de acuerdo con sus áreas de especialización y el perfil de solidez ética que había exigido Fox; sobre todo se buscó que tuvieran una gran capacidad de trabajar en equipo para acabar con los feudalismos anteriores. Muchos curricula fueron integrados a una base de datos, con una evaluación previa. Ciertas figuras que eran mencionadas en los diferentes medios tuvieron entrevistas con el comité de selección y algunos llegaron a la recta final, quedando fuera perfiles destacados, como Julio Boltvinik y otros." At the beginning of his term, Fox dubbed his Cabinet as "el gabinetazo" ("the Super Cabinet"), as a way to recognize the capacity of the Cabinet members. Fox had originally stated that the Cabinet chosen at the beginning of his term would last 6 years, throughout his term, however, this did not happen.Los cambios en el gabinetazo by Noticieros Televisa "Contratados por seis años, les dijo el Presidente. Pero varios no pudieron cumplir con este plazo." Felipe Calderón Hinojosa served as Secretary of Energy for eight months, and resigned under pressure relating to his presidential ambitions,'La descalificación fue injusta' – El Universal – México Su aspiración no es un secreto – El Universal – México when competing against Secretary of the Interior, Santiago Creel.Aspiraciones políticas vulneran al gobierno – El Universal – México Admite Creel que impulsan su candidatura – El Universal – México OfficeNameTermPresidentVicente Fox Quesada2000–2006InteriorSantiago Creel Miranda Carlos Abascal2000–2005 2005–2006Foreign AffairsJorge Castañeda Luis Ernesto Derbez2000–2003 2003–2006Public SafetyAlejandro Gertz Manero Ramón Martín Huerta Eduardo Medina-Mora2000–2004 2004–2005 2005–2006Attorney GeneralRafael Macedo de la Concha 2000–2005 2005–2006HealthJulio Frenk2000–2006EducationReyes Tamez2000–2006EconomyLuis Ernesto Derbez Fernando Canales Clariond Sergio García de Alba2000–2003 2003–2005 2005–2006LaborCarlos Abascal Francisco Salazar2000–2005 2005–2006AgricultureJavier Usabiaga Francisco Mayorga2000–2005 2005–2006EnergyErnesto Martens Felipe Calderón Fernando Elizondo Fernando Canales Clariond2000–2003 2003–2004 2004–2005 2005–2006FinanceFrancisco Gil Díaz2000–2006CommunicationsPedro Cerisola2000–2006DefenseGerardo Clemente Vega2000–2006Navy2000–2006Presidential GuardJosé Armando Tamayo García2000–2006Social DevelopmentJosefina Vázquez Mota Ana Teresa Aranda2005–2006 2006Environment Alberto Cárdenas Jiménez José Luis Luege Tamargo2000–2003 2003–2005 2005–2006TourismLeticia Navarro Rodolfo Elizondo Torres2000–2003 2003–2006Civil ServiceFrancisco Barrio 2000–2003 2003–2006

Economy Fox was one of the few presidents to avoid a major economic upheaval, although the economy grew at the slowest pace in history, second only to the de la Madrid administration.Crecimiento del PIB de México

Currency and inflation Mexico experienced some level of currency devaluation at the end of three of the four presidential terms from 1970 to 1994. Ernesto Zedillo floated the peso at the beginning of his term (1994–2000). Zedillo passed the office to Fox without an economic emergency. In 2006, Vicente Fox, like Zedillo in 2000, left office without a significant devaluation.

According to Banco de México (Mexico's Central Bank), inflation rates during Fox's term went from 11%, in January 2000, at the beginning of his term, to 4.05% in December 2006. During most of Fox's term, inflation was consistently below 6%, mostly around 4.5%. According to the Central Bank, inflation hadn't been that low since before 1973 (the lowest inflation between 1973 and 1999 was above 6%, frequently reaching double and even sometimes triple-digits).Indices de Precios al Consumidor published by Banco de México] Mexico created an estimated 1 million new jobs in 2006, a record.MySA.com: Business

Growth GDP growth dropped from an average of 5.1% in the Zedillo administration"Mexico's Domestic Economy", in Mexico's Democracy at Work: Political and Economic Dynamics, Crandall, Paz and Roett (editors) Lynne Reiner Publishers, United States to the lowest in a decade, an average of 2.2% during Fox's administration.El Universal, June 21, 2006. According to Fox's first government report address (equivalent to the state of the union address in the United States),Primer Informe de Gobierno, September 1, 2001. affected sectors were mining (−1.5% growth), manufacturing (−2.28% growth), and construction (−5.36%), while electricity, gas and water (1.76% growth) and services (2.65%) did not decrease.

Fox's cabinet blamed the low growth on the slowdown of the Economy of the United States, but that country started growing again in 2002–2003. Mexico did not grow at the same pace and was surpassed by China as the second-largest trade partner of the United States.CIA Factbook on the United States. Fox had promised growth of 7% during his campaign and blamed Congress for the low economic growth but his administration had foreseen growth of 3.4% even without the approval of structural reforms, especially fiscal reforms.

Tax revenue as a proportion of GDP fell from 10.6% at the beginning of his administration to 9.7% at the end of his term. In contrast with previous administrations, as a proportion of GDP debt did not grow during Fox's term.

Employment and income

Minimum wages during Fox's administration increased at a nominal rate of 34% from $35.12 pesos per day in 2000 to $47.05 in 2006. However, Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) terms, real wages decreased 3.8%, from $80.27 to $77.07. According to Banco de México, this compares favorably to previous administrations, for wages had decreased by 75% from $296.22 PPP pesos per day in January 1976, to $73.91 PPP pesos per day in December 1999. Minimum wages had decreased, in real terms, an average of 38% per Presidential administration from 1976 to 2000.Consulta de Estructura de Información

During Fox's term, the number of registered taxpayers grew by 35%. According to data by the Tributary Administration Service, the main driver behind this increase was salaried workers, starting in 2004, which grew by 217% compared to 2000. The more than 12 million salaried workers who are registered to pay tax constitute 56% of the taxpaying base.

Job creation stalled during Fox's first four years. According to the Economist Intelligence UnitLa Jornada , May 21, 2005 not only were no jobs created from 2000 to 2004 but the number of street vendors increased 40%. This workforce does not pay income or sales tax and significant minority participates in illicit activities such as smuggling and piracy. The latter grew during Fox's term to an 8 billion industry.La Jornada, February 22, 2007. Net sales of the clothing industry in Mexico is calculated at approximately 1,500 million dollars, of which 910 million are from smuggled clothing.ManufacturaWeb .

The number of registered workers affiliated to the Mexican Social Security Institute decreased from 11,026,370 in December 2000 to 10,881,160. Unemployment increased from 2.7% in 2002 to 3.2 in 2003, and the number of non-payroll workers increased to 20 million people or roughly half of the population able to work. Jobs in maquiladoras decreased by 30%United Nations Development Programme, 2000–2003 Mexico report.

In 2002, Mexico reached a GDP per capita of 9,381 dollars per year and thus became a medium-high income country.El Universal, México pasa de beneficiario a aportador del PNUD, May 9, 2007. Five years later, Mexico upgraded from beneficiary to full contributor to the United Nations Development Program.

Finance and investments Housing was among Fox's top priorities. By 2006, the Infonavit, the federal fund for workers' housing, had 60% "market share" in the mortgage business, granting 435,000 credits a year, with an expected yearly growth of 24%.Pramerica Real Estate Investors

During Fox's presidency, the Mexican Stock Exchange reached record highs throughout his term.Alcanza Bolsa Mexicana nuevo máximo histórico by El Universal on December 11, 2005.Alcanza Bolsa Mexicana nuevo máximo histórico by El Universal on January 7, 2006.Alcanza Bolsa Mexicana nuevo máximo histórico, gana 1.25% by El Universal on April 29, 2006. The record highs were caused by a better economic outlook throughout his term, larger foreign currency reserves, and a better debt rating that lowered interest rates.El riesgo país de México se colocó en niveles mínimos by El Universal

Mexico suffered a drop in competitiveness during Fox's administration. In 2006, Mexico ranked 56th of 60 countries in the World Competitiveness Yearbook due to poor infrastructure, ease of doing business and high manufacturing costs such as electricity. Fox's large investment in infrastructure did not translate in lower costs, because of a lack of coordination between government bodies. To address this in 2004, Fox launched an Economic Policy for Competitivity ("Política Económica para la Competitividad" or PEC) however, improvement is not expected until after 2013.

Human development + Human Development Index (HDI) in Mexico Year HDIUnited Nations Development Programme, 2005 Human Development Reports Annual increase (%) 1975 0.689 1.3351985 0.755 0.544 1990 0.764 0.23819950.7820.47120000.8090.206 20030.814

+ Human Development Index (HDI) in Latin America (2003) Country HDIUnited Nations Development Programme, 2005 Human Development Reports 2000–2003 increase (%) Argentina 0.863 0.82Chile 0.854 1.30 Uruguay 0.840 —Costa Rica0.8380.72Cuba0.817—Mexico0.8140.62 Panama0.8041.26Venezuela0.7720

The Human Development Index (HDI) is a comparative measure of life expectancy, literacy, education, and standard of living for countries worldwide. The table on the right shows Mexico's Human Development Index (HDI) from 1975 to 2003 along with yearly percentage increases.

HDI improved in the first three years of the Fox administration 0.206% annually, .62% in total, the lowest increase in almost three decades. During the last year of the Zedillo administration Mexico reached, for the first time in history, a HDI of 0.8 which is considered to represent high development. During that period countries such as Canada, France and Great Britain reported low increases and even some decreases while CubaHDI :Cuba surpassed Mexico at 0.817, Costa Rica reached 0.838,HDI :Costa Rica Argentina scored 0.863 andHDI :Argentina. Brazil increased 1.17%.HDI :Brazil

Relations with Congress In his inaugural speech, Fox said that his presidency marked a new era of relations between the three political branches. "The President will propose, and the Congress will dispose", he said. This implied that Fox would respect the separation of powers and negotiate with Congress."El Congreso Propone y el Congreso Dispone: las nuevas relaciones entre el ejecutivo y el legislativo en México by Benito Nacif of Universidad Iberoamericana

The first major controversy occurred during the discussion of comprehensive tax reform that included a value added tax of 15% on all products, including food and medicine, to replace the complex system of discretionary exceptions that still exists today. Congress rejected Fox's proposal.