The welfare state, technological unemployment and social innovation in Mexico

Abstract

The adverse effects of the opening of the economy during the 1980s and 1990s in Latin America brought about a debate about the reform of the welfare state. However, the path to follow is still uncertain. This scenario has forced the emergence of social innovations to tackle problems such as poverty and technological unemployment which neither the market nor the state have been able to solve. The aim of this paper is to review the way in which the Mexican welfare state has impeded the alleviation of poverty and technological unemployment making, in consequence, the creation of an enabling technology-based social innovation environment a priority. For that purpose we carried out a documentary analysis as part of a broader research study which assesses empirically the role of the Mexican state in creating a technology-based social innovation environment as a way to alleviate social illness such as poverty and technological unemployment. We conclude that empirical approaches to the links between social innovation, the labor market and poverty are indispensable to advancing the discussion about the design of the provision of welfare in the twenty-first century.