중남미

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 DP 2 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.