Understanding the linkages and possible causal relationships between the provision of basic public services, government performance and subjective wellbeing: the case of Mexico at the subnational level
Based on empirical information, in this paper I discuss whether there is and what kind of
correlation and possible causal relationship may exist between the provision of basic public
services and people’s subjective wellbeing (SWB) in México. The main focus is on two
basic public services, public basic education and public health provision, both in terms of
its presence (provision) or absence and the perception of its quality. The empirical analysis
will be based on the results of a National Values Survey of México of 2010, which offers,
for the first time, detailed information regarding SWB (happiness and life satisfaction) and
the people’s perception of the quality of basic education and public health at the
subnational (state) level (i.e. for the 32 states of México). The results of the empirical
analysis indicate that there is a strong association between the perceived quality of public
services and life satisfaction, but a weak relationship between the perceived quality of the
services and their actual results or impact in terms of students’ educational performance
and life expectancy. Corruption (actual, not perceived) is another variable that plays an
influential key role in the perceived quality satisfaction of basic education and health
services.