Inequality, Poverty and Social Policy in Mexico

Yihe Shen
Prof. Sal
History
Nov 5th, 2020
Article: Aguila, Emma et al. "Inequality, Poverty and Social Policy in Mexico."
Emma Aguila et al. explore Mexico's poverty, social policy, and inequality between 1980 and 1994. Their study focused on education, rural poverty, inequality, crop production, and life expectancy to record their results and conclusion. For a long time, social injustices prevailed in Mexico, while most people lived in deep poverty in rural areas. Aguila et al. argue that inequality of different types, including gender and race, has existed in Mexico since colonial times. People were divided into rural and urban dwellers. The rural dwellers never received much attention from the government, and infrastructure remained unattended compared to the metropolitan area population that received better treatment. Firstly, the government does not provide substantial help to the agricultural sector, making the indigenous people live in deep poverty. Notably, most people living in rural parts of Mexico are indigenous, and they live in abject poverty.
Mexico grows corn, rice, wheat, cereals like beans, and other agricultural products. However, crop production still faced several challenges in the 1950s. In order to solve these agricultural challenges, agricultural reforms are needed. The OECD sugg...