Cancun — some thoughts about the economy.

A week in Cancun and I am an expert, right?

Been visiting here periodically for years.

The local economy is booming. Close to 100% tourist connected. Massive building structure capital, but the services are very labour and time intensive (cheap labour). Much improved customer service efficiency but still a long way to go. When we checked in, the clerk had to figure out a lot of stuff using pencil and paper. Check in/check out, is tortuously slow.

Same old problems with the sewer system - delicacy prohibits elaboration.

Taxis and buses are still cheap and reliable but not that comfortable for us old folks. Taxis are plentiful though not cheap. Uber was here but was run out by the taxi lobby. Even so, I wonder if they could improve matters by setting up a computer taxi network that would allow passengers to pay by credit card using their cell phones. Uber and Lyft would, of course, make things a lot more convenient. The taxis would suffer, but many potential ride-share drivers would benefit. It might cause a mini-civil-war however.

You can pay in dollars but will almost always get change in pesos. Dollarisation is partial. And they won't accept partial payment in dollars - their cash systems can't handle it. The front desk at our resort will not change dollars, though they do change Euros and Sterling. Not sure why.

My inner economist tells me that given the political and human-capital constraints, economic activities are probably optimally performed and we should not expect any improvements in the issues I noted anytime soon.