Economic Crisis, Poverty and Social Policy in Mexico

Bibliographic Data

ID2370177
AuthorsDídimo Castillo Fernández (0000-0001-6955-6814, Autonomous University of the State of Mexico, Mexico, corresponding author), Jorge Arzate Salgado (0000-0002-2459-9578, Autonomous University of the State of Mexico, Mexico)
Year2016
Volume42
Issue1
Pages87-104
Publication date2016-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueCritical Sociology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0896-9205 • E-ISSN: 1569-1632
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/0896920513501352
OpenAlexW2002684205
LanguageEN
Citations received6

This article describes the structural characteristics and socioeconomic effects of the neoliberal model that was implemented in Mexico at the beginning of the 1980s. Employment conditions, informal and precarious labor, and poverty generated by neoliberalism are analyzed. The article examines how the economic crisis has been dealt with through macroeconomic policies and social development by the Mexican Government. The characteristics of the public welfare system and the social policies that have been used during this neoliberal period are scrutinized. The program Oportunidades (Opportunities) as the primary national effort made by the government to combat extreme poverty is examined in detail. It has a social policy focus and is assistance-based which has yielded public financing at a high cost with limited poverty reduction. It is proposed that there are intrinsic limitations to these kinds of policy, leading to an increase in fragmented and ineffectual programs

Basic needs · Culture of poverty · Development economics · Economic growth · Economics · Political economy · Political science · Population · Poverty · Public policy · Social policy · Social Welfare · Socioeconomic status · Sociology · Structural adjustment · Economic Theory and Policy

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