Fragmented policymaking in Mexico: the design of social programs in a subnational case

Abstract

Subnational governments in Mexico have significantly increased their role as policymakers. As a result, they have contributed to the creation of a wide variety of social programs earmarked to different target populations. Although the effects of these interventions on poverty reduction or on other development indicators are uncertain, analyzing their design can provide valuable insights about how social policy is conceived. In this article, I use the case of Jalisco, one of the states in Mexico that has taken the lead in the development of evaluation and monitoring mechanism to manage policymaking, to analyze the internal consistency design of social programs (the logic between problem definition, pertinence of goals and instrument selection) and their degree of horizontal articulation (to what extent programs duplicate or complement with each other). Drawing on an original dataset with more than 100 variables for 339 social programs, I find that policy interventions have a poor level of internal consistency, particularly regarding the formulation of policy problems. In addition, programs are highly atomized, which means that too many interventions aim at particularized interests, not at broader social groups. I argue that, notwithstanding that they operate in context where the formulation and evaluation of public policy are highly institutionalized, social programs are considerably inconsistent and fragmented, suggesting that they are not a deliberative response to social problems demanding solutions.