Abstract

SORIA ROMO, Rigoberto  and  LOPEZ PORTILLO TOSTADO, Carlos. Why can a public policy fail? The case of the subsidy program for public safety of municipalities and territorial divisions of the Federal District. Revista Col. San Luis [online]. 2015, vol.5, n.10, pp.38-69. ISSN 2007-8846.

This paper is about the interaction between municipal public finance and intergovernmental relations. The object of study is the Subsidy Program for Public Safety of Municipalities and Territorial Divisions of the Federal District, i.e. Subsemún. The analysis traces the reasons why this public policy has not produced the desired results and runs the risk of failure. To accomplish these objectives, we study the origin of the program, the role of Subsemún in the context of national public security policy, the main features of Subsemún such as goals, expenditure allocation, distribution criteria among beneficiaries, and so on. We depart from a statistical radiography of the program to deduce some causes of its potential failure, and emphasize some municipalities where there are no conditions for the Subsemún to have a positive impact on the crime rate; the limited usefulness of the application of criteria and variables for assignment; the use of inconsistent and inadequate statistical information to allocate resources; the lack of rules on critical aspects of the program and opacity in its day to day operation. We conclude that if the Subsemún is to meet its objectives, a full redesign of the program is needed, in its targets, rules, beneficiaries, orientations and policy guidance.

Keywords : municipality finance; intergovernmental fiscal relations; public policy; public security; crime rate.

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