Mexico: The First Steps toward Basic Income

Abstract

In Mexico, discussion surrounding basic income (BI) is relatively new. It is primarily though far from exclusively situated in academic circles, mainly in the sociopolitical circle, serving as indispensable references when thinking about poverty, inequality, and the transformation of social policy in Mexico. It could be noted that there have been many moments and initiatives that have consolidated this discussion in Mexico: the creation of the universal pension for senior citizens (from 2001 onward), the incorporation of BI as part of the electoral platform of one candidate in 2006, the presentation of two initiatives of law for installing BI nationwide in 2007, and the creation and formal recognition of the Basic Income Earth Network’s Mexican chapter in 2008. In 2007 and 2010, two seminars on BI were held in Mexico City.