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Incorporating Public Insecurity Indicators: A New Approach to Measuring Social Welfare in Mexico

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Abstract

This study presents evidence on the utility of including public insecurity indicators when assessing Social Welfare in Mexico. It estimates two multidimensional indices of social welfare using the DP2 method. The two measures (DP 2 a index and DP 2 b index) contain the following categories: (1) material welfare, (2) economic well-being, (3) subjective well-being, and (4) social capital. For the second, we included an additional category, (5) public insecurity, and examined its effect on social welfare. The results show that inclusion of indicators of insecurity, crime victimization, and homicides had a negative effect on social welfare within states. Specifically, trust in people, network membership, satisfaction with life, and happiness where reduced. Our results suggest that public insecurity should be a key consideration in the understanding of social welfare in Mexico.

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Notes

  1. For example, in the case of homicides.

  2. The indicators of subjective welfare and social capital were the only ones not captured with a negative sign.

  3. The ranking created with the DP 2 brings together a series of traits that are priority in synthetic indices: uniqueness, homogeneity, monotony, existence and determination, invariance related to the reference base, transitivity, comprehensiveness, and additivity (Pena-Trapero 2009).

  4. Barricades ocurr when people block streets and sidewalks, not allowing people to walk by or public transportation to drive through.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Universidad Iberoamericana, Mexico City, Mexico

    Oscar A. Martinez-Martinez & Pablo Gaitan-Rossi

  2. Department of Sociopolitical and Legal Studies, Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Occidente, AC, Zapopan, Jalisco, Mexico

    Ana-Maria Vazquez-Rodriguez

  3. Boston College, School of Social Work, Chestnut Hill, MA, USA

    Margaret Lombe

Authors
  1. Oscar A. Martinez-Martinez
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  2. Ana-Maria Vazquez-Rodriguez
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  3. Margaret Lombe
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  4. Pablo Gaitan-Rossi
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Oscar A. Martinez-Martinez.

Appendix

Appendix

See Tables 4, 5 and 6.

Table 4 Indicators per unit of measure
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Table 5 Matrix of indicators weighed without insecurity
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Table 6 Matrix of indicators weighed with insecurity
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Martinez-Martinez, O.A., Vazquez-Rodriguez, AM., Lombe, M. et al. Incorporating Public Insecurity Indicators: A New Approach to Measuring Social Welfare in Mexico. Soc Indic Res 136, 453–475 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-016-1544-6

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