COMPETITIVENESS AND WELFARE LEVELS OF THE POPULATION IN MUNICIPALITIES OF THE BORDER REGION IN SONORA

Beyond the competitive approaches focused either on production cost reduction or favorable trade balances, recent literature argues that competitiveness should be defined as the ability to create welfare. Thus, this study to analyze whether competitiveness levels are reflected in the welfare of the population living in the municipalities of the Border region in the State of Sonora; for this purpose, a municipal competitiveness index is estimated by using the principal component analysis and welfare levels are analyzed according to welfare lines calculated by the Coneval (2016). The results show that the Border region observed a high competitiveness index - such as the State of Sonora; however, the region has a higher proportion of population whose income is insufficient to achieve its economic welfare and also, the region has the highest proportion of people with an income that does not allow to acquire the food basket to achieve its minimum welfare, even if all income is allocated for that purpose. In conclusion, like the State of Sonora the Border region has a high competitiveness index, but the welfare of the regional population is lower than the welfare recorded by the population in the State.