Mexico's Social Policy Response to Covid-19: A Path of Minimal Action

Abstract

This report offers an analysis of the Mexican federal government’s social policy response to the Covid-19 pandemic. The report provides an overview of developments in six policy areas where change associated with the pandemic can be observed: healthcare, pensions, family benefits, education, the labour market and housing. This analysis across policy areas shows that the Mexican government’s response does not correspond to the dimensions of the crisis. Apart from healthcare, few new specific measures have been introduced. The government has largely decided to respond to the pandemic with the group of new programmes created during 2019, as a result of an overhaul of the country’s social policy. However, the potential of those programmes to deal with the pandemic’s effects could well be limited, since it is not even clear yet if they represent cases of welfare expansion or retrenchment compared to previous programmes. At the same time, proposals from civil society and opposition parties to introduce comprehensive basic income schemes have been ignored. If the path of minimal action is not rectified, grim social, economic and political consequences await Mexican society in the foreseeable future.