Abstract

SANCHEZ-JUAREZ, Isaac. Public Spending, the Competitiveness Index, and Social Policy in Mexico. Prob. Des [online]. 2018, vol.49, n.192, pp.109-138. ISSN 0301-7036.

This paper was drafted using the Social Competitiveness Index (SCI) compiled by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP-Mexico) to analyze progress and/or backsliding in the areas of healthcare, education, and job income in the Mexican Republic’s 32 states over the time period 2005-2014. The aim was also to use panel data techniques to evaluate the relationship between the SCI and public spending, finding that public spending on social issues was negatively related to the SCI (elasticity was -0.5764%). In conjunction with that, it was demonstrated that a lack of social competitiveness existed alongside growth in public spending, leading to the conclusion that the social policy was ineffective, on top of an economic policy that only drove scant growth in production.

Keywords : Social Competitiveness Index; Human Development Index; social public spending; econometric model.

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