Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 October 2022
This is a response to the recent critique of my book The Mexican Revolution: Federal Expenditure and Social Change Since 1910, 2nd ed. (Berkeley, 1970) by Felix G. Boni and Mitchell A. Seligson. Their factor analysis of my data on poverty suggests, first, that their methodology is more “sensitive” than mine; second, that they have confirmed the thrust of an earlier analysis by Thomas E. Skidmore and Peter H. Smith; and third, that the task of quantitative history is to reduce data of “unwieldy proportions” so that it is subject to greater understanding.
In the course of developing this paper, I am grateful for critiques from three colleagues at UCLA: Bruce H. Herrick (Economics), J. Ward Keesling (Education), and Raymond J. Jessen (Business Statistics and Public Health).