Mexico Report Wolfgang Muno, Jörg Faust, Martin Thunert (Coordinator)
Mexico Report Wolfgang Muno, Jörg Faust, Martin Thunert (Coordinator) Sustainable Governance Indicators 2019 © vege - stock.adobe.com Sustainable Governance SGI Indicators SGI 2019 | 2 Mexico Report Executive Summary Considering Mexico’s experience with military and corporatist autocratic rule, the country has made significant progress over the last two decades with regard to electoral competition and its overall regulatory environment, including market-oriented reforms. Economic and political elites, as well as an increasing share of the middle-class, are technically well qualified, and have gained knowledge on how best to organize the country’s political, economic and social frameworks. Mexican policymakers at both the national and regional levels are well trained, internationally experienced and often equipped with high-level qualifications from Western universities. Mexico’s tertiary education system is increasingly competitive internationally as are several major firms, including an increasing number in the manufacturing sector. At the same time, Mexico suffers from structural problems that are uncommon among other OECD countries. These challenges mainly relate to the extremely unequal distribution of social benefits and services among the population, such as security and social opportunities. The resulting cleavages between geographic regions, rural and urban areas, and social classes are among the most pressing barriers to further socioeconomic progress. In addition, uneven state capacity, both geographically and across policy sectors, often undermines the effective and coherent implementation of policies. In comparison to most other OECD countries, Mexico’s GDP growth over the last decade was rather slow, the socioeconomic situation was marked by considerable inflation, the lowest tax-to-GDP ratio of any OECD country, and persistently high levels of poverty and inequality.
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