IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/emc/wpaper/dte441.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Redistributive Constraints under High Inequality: The Case of Mexico

Author

Listed:
  • John Scott

    (Division of Economics, CIDE)

Abstract

The paper presents a comprehensive analysis and interpretation of redistributive spending in Mexico. It reviews the evolution over the last two decades of the principal redistributive instruments and the distributive outcomes targeted by these instruments (income, land, education, health, nutrition). Using recent income and expenditure surveys, the paper presents a comparative benefit incidence analysis (BIA) of 25 mayor programs or spending categories covering all public spending on education, health and social security, energy and agricultural subsidies, and the principal targeted anti-poverty programs, globally representing 60% of public spending, 10% of GDP, and 15% of disposable household income. The BIA is extended over the 1992-2008 period for the principal instruments, to evaluate the distributive effects of recent policy reforms. The comparative analysis reveals large contrasts in redistributive performance (concentration coefficients), from the Oportunidades CCT program (-0.53) to agricultural, energy and public sector pension subsidies (0.40-0.80). Overall, the regressive programs cancel out the redistributive effects of the progressive efforts, leading to a regressive absolute distribution of public spending. It identifies the principal factors accounting for these results, focusing on political as well as more general structural constraints on the redistributive capacities of the State under high (pre-transfer) inequality conditions.

Suggested Citation

  • John Scott, 2008. "Redistributive Constraints under High Inequality: The Case of Mexico," Working Papers DTE 441, CIDE, División de Economía.
    • Handle: RePEc:emc:wpaper:dte441
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.economiamexicana.cide.edu/RePEc/emc/pdf/DTE/DTE441.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Eddy van Doorslaer & Owen O'Donnell, 2008. "Measurement and Explanation of Inequality in Health and Health Care in Low-Income Settings," WIDER Working Paper Series DP2008-04, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    2. Indermit S. Gill & Truman G. Packard & Juan Yermo & Todd Pugatch, 2004. "Keeping the Promise of Old Age Income Security in Latin America," World Bank Publications - Reports 10349, The World Bank Group.
    3. Alvarez, Jesus & Moreno, Vicente Garcia & Patrinos, Harry Anthony, 2007. "Institutional effects as determinants of learning outcomes : exploring state variations in Mexico," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4286, The World Bank.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Antonio Yunez-Naude, 2012. "The effects of agricultural domestic and trade liberalization on food security: Lessons from Mexico," Serie documentos de trabajo del Centro de Estudios Económicos 2012-01, El Colegio de México, Centro de Estudios Económicos.
    2. Florencia Torche & Luis F. Lopez-Calva, 2013. "Stability and Vulnerability of the Latin American Middle Class," Oxford Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 41(4), pages 409-435, December.
    3. Florencia Torche & Luis F. Lopez-Calva, 2013. "Stability and Vulnerability of the Latin American Middle Class," Oxford Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 41(4), pages 409-435, December.
    4. Raymundo Campos & Gerardo Esquivel & Nora Lustig, 2012. "The Rise and Fall of Income Inequality in Mexico, 1989–2010," Working Papers 267, ECINEQ, Society for the Study of Economic Inequality.
    5. Vladimir Hlasny, 2019. "Redistributive Impacts of Fiscal Policies in Mexico: Corrections for Top Income Measurement Problems," LIS Working papers 765, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    6. repec:unu:wpaper:wp2012-10 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Charles-Coll, Jorge A., 2010. "The optimal rate of inequality: A framework for the relationship between income inequality and economic growth," MPRA Paper 28921, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. repec:unu:wpaper:wp2012-98 is not listed on IDEAS

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. World Bank, 2010. "A Review of the Bulgaria School Autonomy Reforms," World Bank Publications - Reports 13040, The World Bank Group.
    2. Abdul-Hamid, Husein & Abu-Lebdeh, Khattab M. & Patrinos, Harry Anthony, 2011. "Assessment testing can be used to inform policy decisions : the case of Jordan," Policy Research Working Paper Series 5890, The World Bank.
    3. Ferro, Gustavo, 2008. "Un impulso al mercado de rentas vitalicias en España [Promoting the annuities market in Spain]," MPRA Paper 20211, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised Jul 2008.
    4. Mariana De Santis & Verónica Herrero, 2009. "Equidad en el Acceso, Desigualdad y Utilización de los Servicios de Salud. Una Aplicación al Caso Argentino en 2001," Revista de Economía y Estadística, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Facultad de Ciencias Económicas, Instituto de Economía y Finanzas, vol. 47(1), pages 125-162, Junio.
    5. Patrinos, Harry Anthony & Velez, Eduardo & Wang, Catherine Yan, 2013. "Framework for the reform of education systems and planning for quality," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6701, The World Bank.
    6. Fauzilah Salleh & Puspa Liza Binti Ghazali & Ahmad Syukri Yazid & Wan Norhayate Wan Daud & Roslida Abdul Razak, 2018. "Developing of Micro Health Takaful of Affordable Monthly Payment for Poor Community in Malaysia," International Journal of Asian Social Science, Asian Economic and Social Society, vol. 8(12), pages 1219-1227, December.
    7. Birdsall, Nancy & de la Torre, Augusto & Caicedo, Felipe Valencia, 2010. "The Washington consensus : assessing a damaged brand," Policy Research Working Paper Series 5316, The World Bank.
    8. Juan Pablo Martinez Guzman & Travis St. Clair, 2021. "Pension reform and self‐employment in Latin America," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(4), pages 2230-2254, November.
    9. Barr, Nicholas, 2006. "Pensions: overview of the issues," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 2631, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    10. Kristian Niemietz, 2009. "The Nationalisation Of Retirement Savings Accounts In Argentina," Economic Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(1), pages 49-53, March.
    11. Uthoff, Andras, 2006. "Gaps in the welfare State and reforms to pension systems in Latin America," Revista CEPAL, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL), August.
    12. Sam Hickey & Jeremy Seekings, 2017. "The global politics of social protection," WIDER Working Paper Series 115, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    13. Chicas Romero,Mauricio & Bedoya,Juan & Yanez Pagans,Monica & Silveyra De La Garza,Marcela Lucia & De Hoyos Navarro,Rafael E., 2021. "School Management, Grants, and Test Scores : Experimental Evidence from Mexico," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9535, The World Bank.
    14. Gabrielle Wills & Debra Shepherd & Janeli Kotze, 2016. "Interrogating a Paradox of Performance in the WCED: A Provincial and Regional Comparison of Student Learning," Working Papers 14/2016, Stellenbosch University, Department of Economics.
    15. World Bank, 2005. "Household Risk Management and Social Protection in Chile," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 14839.
    16. Ferro, Gustavo & Castagnolo, Fermando, 2009. "A tango tale: on the closure of the Argentine fully funded system," MPRA Paper 16092, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    17. Abu-Zaineh, Mohammad & Mataria, Awad & Moatti, Jean-Paul & Ventelou, Bruno, 2011. "Measuring and decomposing socioeconomic inequality in healthcare delivery: A microsimulation approach with application to the Palestinian conflict-affected fragile setting," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 72(2), pages 133-141, January.
    18. de la Torre, Augusto & Gozzi, Juan Carlos & Schmukler, Sergio L., 2006. "Financial development in Latin America : big emerging issues, limited policy answers," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3963, The World Bank.
    19. Solange Berstein & Andrea Tokman, 2005. "Brechas de ingreso entre géneros: ¿Perpetuadas o exacerbadas en la vejez?," Working Papers 8, Superintendencia de Pensiones, revised Jul 2005.
    20. Alex Arifianto, 2006. "Public Policy Towards the Elderly in Indonesia : Current Policy and Future Directions," Macroeconomics Working Papers 22528, East Asian Bureau of Economic Research.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    redistributive spending; Mexico; comparative benefit incidence analysis;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H53 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Government Expenditures and Welfare Programs
    • I38 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Government Programs; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs
    • H51 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Government Expenditures and Health

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:emc:wpaper:dte441. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Mateo Hoyos (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cideemx.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.