[8][9] 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.

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.

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.

This workforce does not pay income or sales tax and significant minority participates in illicit activities such as smuggling and piracy.

Jobs in maquiladoras decreased by 30%[22] In 2002, Mexico reached a GDP per capita of 9,381 dollars per year and thus became a medium-high income country.

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.

[21] 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.

[21] 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.

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.

Early in the meeting Cuban President Fidel Castro surprisingly stood and said that he was leaving the city because of "a special situation created by my participation in this Summit".

[49] According to the Washington Post, the hopes were complicated by the recent approval of the SBI (Secure Border Initiative), a bill that includes building a 700-mile (1,100 km) triple fence between the U.S. and Mexico.

[50] During Fox's presidency the net migration rate in Mexico increased 152% from −2.84 migrants per 1,000 inhabitants[51] to −4.32;[52] in the same period, population growth decreased 35% from 1.57%[53] to 1.16%.

[41] Finally, José Galán, an editorialist in La Jornada, accused the Fox administration of not doing enough to stop border violence against Mexican nationals.

[58] During the country's tenure as a rotating member of the UN Security Council, Mexico did not support the U.S-led 2003 invasion of Iraq,[59] Fox promoted a regional development initiative called Plan Puebla Panama, later renamed Proyecto Mesoamérica, which focused on infrastructure, economic development and growth, and market connections between Mexico and seven Central American economies.

The pro-business orientation of the plan faced criticism from the Zapatista rebels and some civil society groups in Central America.

[60] Fox's successor Felipe Calderón expressed interest in continuing the plan but gave it no new funding midway through his term in office.

[67] Marco Aurelio Garcia, one of Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's closest advisers, declared that Fox was too hasty in supporting the FTAA.

[68] Fox responded to the press declaring that Kirchner was more concerned with pleasing people in his country than the success of the Summit.

[68] The parliamentary groups of the PAN, PRI, PRD and PVEM in the Senate approved a motion to express their disillusionment about the performance of Fox and Derbez, his Secretary of Foreign Affairs, at the Summit[69] According to René Drucker, coordinator of basic science research for National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), "no other government in recent history has neglected research in the basic sciences as Fox's".

[70] Fox's plan for the Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología, (CONACYT), was that by 2006 this organization would receive 1% of GDP.

[73] The José Vasconcelos Library, labeled by the press as the "Megabiblioteca" ("megalibrary"), was Fox's largest investment in infrastructure.

[78] During the Calderón administration restoration efforts cost another 32 million pesos (roughly 3 million dollars)[79] In 2001, Fox announced the construction of a 2.3 billion dollar international airport in the municipalities of Texcoco and San Salvador Atenco in the State of México to relieve congestion at the overcrowded Mexico City airport, the busiest in Latin America.

The protesters, many of whom wore black ski masks made famous by rebels in Chiapas became instant heroes to poor farmers nationwide.

[83] while journalists, like Sergio Sarmiento called this issue "the biggest failure" of Fox's tenure and declared:The precedent is terrible.

[85] The group refused to leave and asked the assistance of the Community Front in Defense of the Land who confronted the police with machetes.

The use of the slashed eagle (águila mocha, in Spanish), as it was called by critics (the word "mocha" having a negative connotation, mocho meaning both chopped and prudish Catholic), was extended to all the dependencies of the Executive Branch substituting the Seal of the United Mexican States (located at the bottom right corner of the Institutional logo) by the acronym of the dependencies.

Alfonsina Bertha Navarro, minister of the Electoral Tribunal, declared:[92]Let's remember that he made indirect or metaphoric comments that affected the competing political positions in the election, and even made explicit mentions related to the process; an interference that constitutes the greatest irregularity detected during the development of the process In August 2006, El Universal polled 600 people in Mexico City, where López Obrador served as Head of Government from 2000 to 2005.

But 18 months later, I got even when my candidate won.When Fox took office on December 1, 2000, his approval rating neared 80%, being the first president in 71 years who wasn't a member of the PRI.