Living on the Edge : Vulnerability to Poverty and Public Transfers in Mexico
This paper reports that the vulnerable in Mexico—people who left poverty but have not yet gained a place in the middle class—make up 30-40 percent of the population, thanks to a combination of highly unsettled, low-paid employment, living in communities with poor services, and over-exposure to often short-lived and somewhat unpredictable uninsured risks. It seems necessary to distinguish between long-term and short-term sources of vulnerability to poverty, and from a policy perspective, keeping this distinction between quasi-permanent factors and shocks remains relevant as very different measures address each problem. Policy options may include (1) expanding coverage of existing programs to encompass the highly vulnerable in a permanent way or to build mechanisms into existing safety nets so that they can expand support when needed, or (2) pushing for a more radical redesign of existing programs to address simultaneously the differentiated causes (structural and transient) to the threat of future poverty.
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Working Paper biblioteca |
| Language: | en_US |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2013-11-12
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| Subjects: | vulnerability, risk, poverty, social policy, Oportunidades program, conditional cash transfers, Programa de Apoyos Directos al Campo, PROCAMPO, NAFTA, Programa de Apoyo Alimentario, PAL, Programa de Empleo Temporal, PET, Seguro Popular, |
| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/10986/16336 |
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| Summary: | This paper reports that the vulnerable in Mexico—people who left poverty but have not yet gained a place in the middle class—make up 30-40 percent of the population, thanks to a combination of highly unsettled, low-paid employment, living in communities with poor services, and over-exposure to often short-lived and somewhat unpredictable uninsured risks. It seems necessary to distinguish between long-term and short-term sources of vulnerability to poverty, and from a policy perspective, keeping this distinction between quasi-permanent factors and shocks remains relevant as very different measures address each problem. Policy options may include (1) expanding coverage of existing programs to encompass the highly vulnerable in a permanent way or to build mechanisms into existing safety nets so that they can expand support when needed, or (2) pushing for a more radical redesign of existing programs to address simultaneously the differentiated causes (structural and transient) to the threat of future poverty. |
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