Mexico

This work leverages globally consistent data on parks from Google Maps, in combination with the computational power of Google Maps Directions API to quantify accessibility to parks across nearly 500 metropolitan areas in six countries: Estonia, France, Greece, Mexico, Sweden, and the United States. We combined high resolution population data from Worldpop with parks data and navigation estimates to measure: (1) Fraction of the population with access to parks within a 10-minute walk; and (2) the median walking time to the closest park. We find large differences in access to parks between countries, as well as large variability across cities and their respective commuting zones. To demonstrate how this framework can support cross country comparisons and efforts to track progress towards SDG11, we assessed access to parks by income group in selected countries, finding that the median walking time to a park is shorter for residents of low income neighbourhoods both in French and American metropolitan areas.

The review examines how higher education institutions are supporting innovation and entrepreneurship in their surrounding communities. The study focuses on eleven universities located in six countries in Latin America: Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay. The study finds that selected institutions are actively supporting entrepreneurs (university students, but also local entrepreneurs) through courses, incubation and acceleration activities. It also shows that universities are actively engaging with external stakeholders in their surrounding communities, to spur innovation through joint-research, organisation of events (such as festivals, competition). It finds that that while COVID-19 pandemic brought about some challenges, universities managed to stay afloat and keep a steady stream of support to entrepreneurs and partners. The review also illustrates the challenges that universities face when developing these activities (lack of funding, unclear regulation for intellectual property development, etc.) and highlights some opportunities that universities should leverage, particularly in the current context.

The COVID-19 crisis has had a profound impact on SME access to finance. In particular, the sudden drop in revenues created acute liquidity shortages, threatening the survival of many viable businesses. The report documents an increase in demand for bank lending in the first half of 2020, and a steady supply of credit thanks to government interventions. On the other hand, other sources of finance declined, in particular early-stage equity. This paper, a special edition of Financing SMEs and Entrepreneurs, focuses on the impacts of COVID-19 on SME access to finance, along with government policy responses. It reveals that the pre-crisis financing environment was broadly favourable for SMEs and entrepreneurs, who benefited from low interest rates, loose credit standards and an increasingly diverse offer of financing instruments. It documents the unprecedented scope and scale of the policy responses undertaken by governments world-wide, and details their key characteristics, and outlines the principal issues and policy challenges for the next phases of the pandemic, such as the over-indebtedness of SMEs and the need to continue to foster a diverse range of financing instruments for SMEs.

The design of intergovernmental fiscal relations can help to ensure that tax and spending powers are assigned in a way to promote sustainable and inclusive economic growth. Decentralisation can enable sub-central governments to provide better public services for households and firms, while it can also make intergovernmental frameworks more complex, harming equity. The challenges of fiscal federalism are multi-faceted and involve difficult trade-offs. This synthesis paper consolidates much of the OECD’s work on fiscal federalism over the past 15 years, with a particular focus on OECD Economic Surveys. The paper identifies a range of good practices on the design of country policies and institutions related strengthening fiscal capacity delineating responsibilities across evels of government and improving intergovernmental co-ordination.

Hidalgo is one of the smallest states in Mexico. It benefits from its close proximity to Mexico City and contains a number of economic and environmental assets in its territory. After a long period of economic stagnation, the state is now closing up the gap with national standards. Yet, productivity and income levels remain low with respect to national levels, and there exist high socio-economic disparities between the south of the state and the municipalities in the northern and mountainous area. This review looks at how the state of Hidalgo is seeking to boost its economy, particularly through a series of institutional reforms and policies to improve the business environment. It highlights opportunities to accelerate the economic convergence and transit towards high-value added economic sectors. The review also identifies a number of recommendations to promote inclusive growth and reduce its north-south divide and offers suggestions to address governance challenges in the territory.

This report assesses the extent to which the state of Morelos, Mexico has implemented the OECD recommendations set in the Territorial Review of Morelos, published in 2017. The recommendations addressed matters of human capital, education, skills, innovation, territorial development, sustainable development, governance and public finances. For each of them, the monitoring toolkit indicates areas of change, identifies bottlenecks and proposes ways forward. The timeframe of implementation is also considered. The report further analyses the impacts of the earthquake of 19 September 2017 and the policy responses adopted in its aftermath. It offers advice on how to lead a reconstruction process that delivers a better state of affairs than the previous one, especially concerning territorial development and infrastructure investments. It advances a new topic, on connectivity and accessibility, in view of recent investments in rail and road infrastructure.

Morelos is one of the smallest states in Mexico, and close to Mexico City. It contains a number of economic and environmental assets in its territory, but has weak productivity levels. This review looks at how Morelos is seeking to boost its economy, particularly through inclusive growth policies such as enhancing human capital and promoting innovation. It also highlights areas of untapped potential for economic growth across rural areas and the tourism and environmental sectors, and offers suggestions for how Morelos could address governance challenges.

The Mexico Tourism Policy Review provides an assessment of tourism-related policies, programmes and plans to support sustainable tourism development in Mexico. Policy recommendations focus on priority areas to help strengthen Mexico's tourism sector and take advantage of opportunities with strong potential for economic growth, investment and development, notably in the following areas: policy-making environment and governance arrangements; transport, mobility and connectivity for visitor travel; inclusive tourism growth, destination development and product and regional diversification; and investment and SME financing.

The report provides a comprehensive picture on the territorial differences in many well-being dimensions across the 31 Mexican states and the Federal District. It represents a sound base for state and local policy makers, political leaders and citizens to better understand people’s living conditions, gauge progress in various aspects of economy and society and use these indicators to improve the design and implementation of policies. It is a part of the 'How’s Life in Your Region?' work produced by the OECD Public Governance and Territorial Development Directorate at the behest of the Regional Development Policy Committee.