Ending Corruption and Improving Accountability: A Survey of Public Finance Teaching in Mexico

ABSTRACT

Are public policy programs in Mexico ensuring students receive the correct public finance and budgeting training to cut corruption, corporatism, clientelism, and other plaguing patronage elements? Are these programs also teaching public financial management to ensure accountability, results, and responsiveness for our future government officials? Are we creating more integrative and ethical public financial managers with the appropriate knowledge of public financial systems? In order to address these questions, this study compiled general and curricular information of 68 masters’s programs in public administration across the 32 states in Mexico, covering a total of 1,138 courses. To conduct the analysis, this article identifies five complementary lenses for evaluating and teaching public finance and budgeting. The authors argue that, although nearly all Masters in Public Policy and Public Administration programs in Mexico teach public finance, there is a wide variation in the lenses, tools, and techniques used across these programs. Furthermore, the scope of this curricular component is not sufficient to face the challenges of the country and its regions, nor to address the diverse social needs, local contexts, and government institutions, and labor market for public employees.

KEYWORDS:

• Public finance and budgeting
• teaching public administration
• corruption
• corporatism
• transparency
• higher education curriculum

Notes

1. The field of economics commonly uses the terms Public Finance and Public Economics as synonyms (see, for instance, Hewett, 1987; Rosen, 2004).