Abstract

MEDRANO, Anahely  and  SMITH, Heidi Jane M.. State Investment in Social Programs after Three Decades of Decentralization and Social Reform in Mexico. Gest. polít. pública [online]. 2017, vol.26, n.spe, pp.157-189. ISSN 1405-1079.

Throughout various decentralization and social reforms in Mexico, state governments have increasingly developed their own social programs. However, there is scant research on the amounts of resources invested in those programs. This article focuses on the participation of state governments in implementing their own social policy, specifically in their investment in social programs. In particular, the main purpose of this research is to identify the most important factors related to the allocation of budgetary resources for social programs by state governments. To do this, this study conducts a quantitative analysis to better understand the allocation of resources to social programs in 32 states of Mexico, according to data reported by the Initiative for Strengthening Institutions of Social Programs (IPRO), from 2009 to 2013. The results of this study suggest that the percentage of extreme state poverty, state per capita gdp, and the occurrence of the electoral year in the state are factors that affect the amount of annual budget allocations of state programs. Although revenue decentralization reported by state governments, among other things, report to have more financial resources to spend, there is no evidence that the availability of these resources translates into a larger budget for social programs, as reported by the information system aforementioned.

Keywords : subnational social policy; political change; Latin America; social spending.