Análisis del Impacto del Programa Oportunidades en el Ingreso Autónomo de sus Beneficiarios

Abstract

One of the most representative instruments of social policy for fighting poverty in Mexico is the Oportunidades (opportunities in English) Program. Its performance on the demand side has generated positive results; however, the poverty figures have not presented a steady decline. Faced with this limitation, numerous studies held that poverty has to be attacked from the supply side, being the autonomous income generation the most significant anchor for this purpose. For this reason, and in order to determine the impact of the Oportunidades Program, for autonomous income generation, particularly on earnings from work, that is, if the Program promotes the creation of income from productive activities that contribute to overcoming the state of poverty and vulnerability in which millions of families live. Therefore, a Propensity Score Matching model is created on the recipient population of Oportunidades and its equivalent control group. The most significant finding was that membership of the program negatively impacts income for work, which means that being a participant does not promote the generation of earnings from work, thus requiring a change in strategy.