Social Spending in Mexico: Needs, Priorities and Reforms

Swarnali Hannan, Juan Pablo Cuesta Aguirre and David Bartolini

No 2021/244, IMF Working Papers from International Monetary Fund

Abstract: Poverty in Mexico was high before the COVID-19 pandemic and has been exacerbated by the pandemic, with significant variation across states. Education losses from the pandemic are likely to be large and worsen pre-existing disparities; unless mitigated soon, they could contribute to heightened scarring over the medium term. Using state-level and cross-country comparisons, this paper reviews key social programs as well as priorities in education and health. It finds that higher spending and improved design of social programs (e.g., better targeting) would reduce socioeconomic gaps, mitigate scarring risks, and foster inclusive growth.

Keywords: social programs; health; education; sustainable development goals; scarring effect; losses from the pandemic; pre-existing disparity; government program; scarring risk; COVID-19; Income; Caribbean (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 38
Date: 2021-10-18
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hea
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