¿Está desapareciendo la clase media en México? Análisis de la polarización del ingreso

This article presents an innovative methodology that permits analyzing the evolution of the middle-class in a society. It studies income polarization in Mexico and how it has evolved during the period 1984 to 2010, based on the methodological proposal of Esteban, et al (2007). This methodology consists of dividing the society according to income groups or classes. Results show that there was a noticeable increase in polarization; in Mexico, the middle class has persistently declined. Furthermore, the polarization level is higher in Mexico than in other countries, indicating that the Mexican middle class is systematically weaker. The large difference in average income for the social groups analyzed explains this result. The article also presents non-ad hoc definitions for upper, middle and lower classes and shows that households with a monthly per capita family income over $2,536 dollars ($30,432 annually) belonged to upper class in 2010.