The dynamics of social deprivation in Mexico

Abstract

This paper aims to model the dynamics of social deprivation in Mexico using a Markovian approach. First, we establish a scenario where a list of items characterizing social deprivation evolves as a first-order Markov chain under the sample period (2002-2012). Then, we estimate latent states and ergodic vectors of a hidden-Markov model to verify the strength of the conclusions drawn from such a scenario. After collecting results from both kinds of analyses, we find a similar pattern of impoverishment. The paper’s conclusions state that the evolution of Mexico’s deprivation profile may slightly worsen soon.