Subnational policy innovation: The birth of social pensions in Mexico

Abstract

AbstractThe re‐emergence of universalistic social policy in Latin America in the 2000s, led to the implementation of non‐contributory and unconditional old‐pensions programmes in the region. Unlike other Latin American countries, these programmes originated at the subnational level in Mexico. In 2001, Mexico City's government implemented the first universal programme of social pensions in the country. This work seeks to explain why and how this policy innovation emerged and became a social right in Mexico City, in spite of the dominance of a neoliberal policy paradigm at the national level. This analysis shows the decisive role of the struggle of key actors over policy ideas in the creation of social pensions in Mexico, as well as its interaction with other economic, political and institutional factors, in a federal context.