However, the incidence of extreme rural poverty has declined since 1996 but at a slower pace than the decline in urban poverty. Hence, the rural-urban poverty gap increased in recent years and in some places extreme poverty is at least four times higher in rural than urban areas. Moreover, not only is the income gap in urban areas increasing, but also the gap between richer and poorer segments of the population in the rural areas is growing. Finally, the gap between rich and poor regions is still large.
The author addresses the labor markets in rural and semi-urban Mexico. The empirical analyses show that non-farm income shares increase with overall consumption levels and, also, with time. Rural-dwellers in lower quintiles of the consumption distribution tend to earn a larger share of their nonagricultural incomes from wage labor activities. For the poorest, low-productivity wage labor activities are important. The quantile wage regression analysis for rural Mexico shows a rather heterogeneous impact pattern of individual characteristics across the wage distribution on monthly wages. The author's findings reveal that education is key to earning higher wages, and that workers in more dispersed rural areas earn less than their peers in semi-urban rural areas (localities with less than 15,000 inhabitants). The rural non-farm sector is heterogeneous and includes a great variety of activities and productivity levels across non-farm jobs. Moreover it can reduce poverty in a couple of distinct but qualitatively important ways in rural Mexico. The analysis of non-farm employment in rural Mexico suggests that the two key determinants of access to employment and productivity in non-farm activities are education and location.
Mexico's history reaches back 4,000 years, beginning with the Olmecs who lived in the Yucatan Peninsula. That remarkable civilization created those huge stone heads with developments that spearheaded and vitalized every subsequent Mesoamerican civilization that followed. The Olmecs, and the Maya, who succeeded them, created the concept of zero, an incredible development in mathematical computation. This book begins with the Olmecs, tracing successor civilizations to the last Mesoamerican Empire, the Aztecs. I describe Aztec life, ritual, cuisine, and development until, in August 1521, this civilization was conquered by Spanish conquistadors. Much of the Aztecs, their people, and royalty are known today by way of Spanish ethnographers and historians who authored codices writing and describing what they saw even as that civilization was changed. That change was permanent. Aztec ritual and its polytheism were altered by Spanish missionaries and enforced by the Inquisition. From 1521 until 1821, Spanish Colonial authorities imposed forced labor in varying forms. Colonialism was overthrown in 1821, and Mexico now entered a new era. This book describes those changes as well as the challenges the government today faces in addressing many disparities in its policies. Healthcare challenges, with systemic poverty as well as the drug war preoccupies much energy in the government's efforts to address them. Mexico also has a large Jewish population whose history was marked by secrecy and Spanish efforts to eradicate this ancient religion. Today's Zocalo, in the heart of Centro Historico, was the place where Jews were burned to death in public admonition against Jewish practice. Another site for such death was the nearby ex-Convento of San Diego, opposite the Grand Palace de Belles Artes. Today's Jews are thriving, and Mexico-Israel relations are strong. This book would not be complete without describing my visits to the country. In My Visit, I describe the different ports I visited while aboard cruise ships. But many more months in the country were spent in San Miguel de Allende and in Mexico City. I describe these visits, their people, and the many nuances of Mexican life. The Mexican constitution recognizes 69 ethnic languages and speakers who are scattered but who primarily live in its southern states. Many ethnic languages are so diverse, that their dialects are unintelligible to the same language group. Language creates the core bonds of society and such multiplicity provides insight into the huge diversity of identity and of life in Mexico. This book is the 14th in the Journey series and is my first book on the American continent. I hope I have done justice to the vast complexity of this society.
About half of the region's poor live in cities, and policy makers across Latin America are increasingly interested in policy advice on how to design programmes and policies to tackle poverty. This publication argues that the causes of poverty, the nature of deprivation, and the policy levers to fight poverty are, to a large extent, site specific. It therefore focuses on strategies to assist the urban poor in making the most of the opportunities offered by cities, such as larger labour markets and better services, while helping them cope with the negative aspects, such as higher housing costs, pollution, risk of crime and less social capital.
Providing over 200 entries on politics, government, economics, society, culture, and much more, this two-volume work brings modern Mexico to life. Viva Mexico! Border sharer. Major trade partner. Exporter of culture and citizens. Tourist destination. Mexico has always been of the utmost significance to the United States, with the shared 2,000-mile border, historical ties in mutual territory, and history of Mexican labor coming north and American tourists heading south. Fresh, current information on Mexico, the North American hotspot and gateway to Latin America, is always in demand by students and general readers and travelers. This is the best ready-reference on the crucial topics that define Mexico today. More than 200 essay entries provide quick, authoritative insight into the Mexican politics and government, society, institutions, events, culture, economy, people, issues, environment, and states and places. Written mostly by Mexicans and Mexican Americans, this set gives an accurate and wide view of the United States's dynamic southern neighbor. Each entry has further reading suggestions; a chronology, selected bibliography, and photographs complement the text.
This report analyses the effects of Mexico’s ambitious reforms to agricultural and fisheries policies since 1990 and makes recommendations for further reforms.
Mexico is reinventing itself. It is moving toward a more tolerant, global, market oriented, and democratic society. This new edition of "Changing Structure of Mexico" is a comprehensive and up-to-date presentation of Mexico's political, social, and economic issues. All chapters have been rewritten by noted Mexican scholars and practitioners to provide a lucid and informative introductory reader on Mexico. The book covers such topics as Mexico's foreign economic policy and NAFTA; maquiladoras; technology policy; and Asian competition; as well as domestic economics such as banking, tax reform, and oil/energy policy; the environment; population and migration policy; the changing structure of political parties; and values and changes affecting women.
"The idea that developing countries face a trade-off between poverty and inequality has had considerable influence on thinking about development policy. The experience of developing countries in the 1990s does not, however, reveal any sign of a systematic trade-off between measures of absolute poverty and relative inequality. Indeed, falling inequality tends to come with falling poverty incidence. And rising inequality appears more likely to be putting a brake on poverty reduction than to be facilitating it. However, there is evidence of a trade-off for absolute inequality, suggesting that those who want a lower absolute gap between the rich and the poor must in general be willing to see lower absolute levels of living for poor people. "--Cover verso.
This 2002 edition of OECD's periodic review of Mexico's economy examines recent economic developments, policies and prospects and includes special features on structural reform and on the financial system.
Examines poverty in North America, especially in Mexico and the United States. Shows that poverty has different roots and different manifestations, and requires different responses. After setting the context of poverty and place, focuses on three areas of policy response: macroeconomic policy, education policy, and safety nets.
