Youth poverty and social inequalities in Mexico

• Main Author: Catalán, Héctor E. Nájera
• Published: University of Bristol 2016
• Subjects: 362.7
• Online Access: http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.687684

This thesis aims at providing an estimate of the extent of youth poverty and advances in the understanding of its existence in Mexico. It raises the following four main research questions: (1) What is the extent of youth poverty in Mexico? (2) What are the associations between different material deprivations? (3) What is the relationship between different socio-economic factors and the likelihood of experiencing poverty during youth? (4) What is the spatial association between material deprivation and public provision for youth at the municipal level? The findings suggest that official poverty measure is not reliable and does not offer a valid poverty index. The thesis produces an adjusted measure and according to this index, poverty affects around half of young Mexicans, and only a small minority fully enjoys their social rights. The results indicate that the theoretical structure of the poverty index holds and that different deprivations are positively associated. Multiple deprivation can be tackled by improving public provision, including increases in access to social security and health. Youth poverty in Mexico seems to be rather structured, in that the likelihood of being poor varies considerably across different population groups. Ethnicity, family composition, economic independence and rurality all affect the chances of remaining in poverty. The results suggest that human capital is a good framework for predicting the worst forms of poverty among young people, but it is not a theory that can be applied to less severe types of poverty and deprivation. Further theoretical developments are therefore required, in order to explain fully poverty experienced by youth in Mexico. Finally, area-level material deprivation is highly clustered, and it is spatially associated with poor standards of public provision.