멕시코의 구조조정과 사회복지 개혁: 신사회정책(NSP)의 실험

Abstract

This study aims to introduce recent social welfare reforms in Mexico in the context of structural adjustment, with particular attention to pension, health, and public assistance programs. In the 1980s, the Mexican government sought a minimalist welfare state as a necessary condition for stabilization and structural adjustment in the wake of the 1982 debt crisis. The neoliberal economic reforms have, however, resulted in growing poverty and income inequality. Realizing the negative impact of rising poverty and inequality on the growth potential of the Mexican economy, the government began to carry out social welfare reforms in 1990s. First, social insurance systems for organized labor were rationalized in line with the market mechanism, notably in the pension system. Second, targeted public assistances were offered to the needy in underdeveloped areas so as to protect and maintain human capital of the poor. Although the reformed Mexican welfare systems still remain residual, it should be noted that the role of the state is strengthened as both regulator and financier, even in a country where comprehensive neoliberal economic reforms are underway. The Mexican case strongly suggests that the neoliberal idea of a minimalist welfare state has a weak empirical basis.