retrenchmentexpansion and the transformation of mexicanretrenchmentexpansion和墨西哥的转变.pdfVIP

Retrenchment, expansion, and the transformation of Mexican social protection policies Michelle Dion Assistant Professor Sam Nunn School of International Affairs Georgia Institute of Technology Atlanta, GA 30332-0610 mdion@gatech.edu ABSTRACT: Social protection policies in Mexico have been transformed since 1988 through partial retrenchment of social insurance and significant expansion of targeted or means-tested social assistance. These changes reflect a substantial re-definition of social protection through incremental changes in policy. The changes reflect the abandonment of the goal of developing an employment-based, universal welfare regime, which had been pursued by Mexican governments as late as the 1970s. Instead, recent administrations have moved toward the redefinition of Mexicos welfare regime into a residual, mean-tested model with significant private provision of benefits and services. This shift in social protection is consistent with the change in Mexico’s overall economic development strategy and increasing political competition in the process of democratization. KEYWORDS: social protection, social assistance, social insurance, Mexico Published in Social Policy Administration, 42, 4 (August 2008): 434 – 450. Introduction Throughout Latin America, the more economically advanced countries developed extensive social insurance institutions throughout the twentieth century. Usually, social insurance was an integral part of the import substitution industrialization (ISI) development model pursued by governments. In many countries, including in Mexico, Brazil, and Argentina, social insurance was also used by populist politicians or political parties to secure