Mexico ¿Cómo Vamos?

by Shannon K. O'Neil
September 26, 2012

 

Two of Mexico’s leading think tanks—Mexico Evalúa and IMCO—launched a new website this week, titled Mexico ¿cómo vamos? It lays out a perhaps surprising vision for Mexico: as a leading global economy. The website brings together some sixty economic and public policy experts from varying backgrounds to focus on where Mexico’s economy stands today and what it needs to do to achieve this ambitious future. Providing both raw data and expert analysis, the website identifies attainable goals in six critical areas (investment, competition, competitiveness, well-being, productivity, and exports), with the aim of expanding the middle class, reducing inequality, and promoting social inclusion.

While much of the information is available through different sources around the internet, Mexico cómo vamos brings it all together in one place, and uses effective easy-to-read graphics to illustrate its goals. My current favorite is its “Economic Stoplight,” which will be updated every three months.

In this graphic, Mexico cómo vamos explains where Mexico should be on various measure to reach a better future, and then compares these numbers to where it currently stands—color coding by just how close Mexico is to its target. As seen above (translated to English), Mexico is right on track for private investment and exports, but far below where it needs to be regarding productivity and competition.

To move from red and yellow toward green will require a collective push from many different sectors of Mexican society and especially from the incoming government (whose transition team was invited to México cómo vamos’s launch). There are real challenges that will require significant political capital to overcome. But by breaking down the information and factors into this set of indicators, Mexico cómo vamos is helping provide a means for monitoring Mexico’s successes and failures, and hopefully influencing policy. While still in its website infancy, Mexico cómo vamos looks to be a valuable resource for Mexico watchers, informing citizens and hopefully provoking the broader discussions necessary to move the country forward.