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Of mazapanes and financial inclusion.Some notes to re-peak the ambulance and its importance in production chains

Of mazapanes and financial inclusion.Some notes to re-peak the ambulance and its importance in production chains

Jesús Jaaziel Santana Carmona

Participant in the XII Summer School on Social Mobility

An important issue in terms of inequality and social mobility - and that is overlooked - is financial inclusion;The World Bank (2018) defines how: «Have access to useful and affordable financial products that meet their needs».Or, in more flat terms, access to loans, credit, savings banks, insurance, investment funds, pensions, among others.

When used appropriately, financial mechanisms such as credit or loans can be useful for acquiring a heritage or starting a business;which, of course, translates positively in terms of social mobility.Especially in poverty enclaves, in which people are systematically forced to use almost all their income, or even more, to solve the expenses month by month.

In Mexico, where the informal sector is immense, financial inclusion rates are alarmingly low.The 2018 National Financial Inclusion Survey showed that only 68 % of adults between 18 and 70 years old had at least one financial product (INEGI 2018), which refers to the possession of an account (whether payroll, credit, afore, etc..) In a bank or financial institution.

Usually, the reason that many people do not have access to financial services is due to the lack of financial education, work in the informal sector and not have their own assets as collateral (INEGI 2018).Therefore, people often resort to other types of practices such as batches, commitment, trust, and so on.And when they manage to access a loan or loan, they usually have high interest rates.What can be counterproductive in terms of social mobility.

As an illustration, let's think, for example, the sale of mazapanes, those rich peanut sweets.Do you remember the last time you ate one?Do you remember where you bought it?Most likely, you have acquired it from a street vendor on the street, perhaps in a busy corner, in the truck, or perhaps a child on a cruise.Previous investigations show that most people in this turn - of street trade - are indigenous women and children who emigrated to the city and found no place within the formal labor market produced by the industry (Aguirre 2017; Bastos and Camus 1998).Given the absence of formal jobs, indigenous migrants are oriented to insert themselves in activities of occupational prestige, stigmatized and clearly precarious.

De mazapanes e inclusión financiera. Algunos apuntes para re-pensar el ambulantaje y su importancia en las cadenas de producción

Chatterjee (2016) denounced that exploitation becomes invisible with informalization.For her, market deregulation leads to the production process from "fugue" of factories and moves to the informal sector of the economy.There, economically active people are considered independent and non -salaried workers.The difference?Now they do not enjoy a employment contract and, therefore, do not have access to the different financial services that are granted by law.

The street and informal sale of industrial products has an important role in the distribution and marketing of goods, thus being the last link in the production chain.The street vendors of mazapanes, when considered independent workers, do not receive a salary, or social security;So your situation is much more precarious than that of formal workers.

The National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganised Sector (NCEUS) of India points out that many of these "independent" workers are, to tell the truth, disguised wage earners (Disguised Wage Workers) (NCEUS 2007).That is, although its employment seems to be self -employed and its workplace is outside the factory, they play an essential role for companies.

Of course, it is more difficult to glimpse the exploitation in this process because there is not, at least directly, a process of accumulation by the corporate group, which inexorably escapes the most orthodox Marxist schemes.But, as Chatterjee (2016) indicates, to the extent that the work leaves the factory and is informed, capital increases somewhere for some capitalist.

If we consider that the retail sale on a very small scale is the main form of distribution in the cities (Bastos and Camus, 1998), there is no doubt about the central role that street vendors have in the economy of the city.However, they do not have access to financial products.

The question we should ask ourselves is: What kind of public policies are needed to guarantee a successful and lasting financial inclusion of the most vulnerable groups?Is it necessary to attract these people to jobs within the formal sector to ensure their financial inclusion?The questions are there, it's time to see what can be done.

References

Aguirre González, M. (2017).Mixtec girls and boys in the Railroad neighborhood: an approach to the conditions of their life in the city.[MASTER'S THESIS].UDGAvailable at: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12104/82824

World Bank (April 20, 2018).Financial inclusion.General view.World Bank.https://www.bancomundial.org/es/topic/financialIncion/overview

Bastos, S. and Camus, M. (1998).Exclusion and challenge.Studies on ethnic segregation and employment in Guatemala City.Guatemala: FLACSO.

Chatterjee, I. (2016). Beyond the factory: Struggling with class and class struggle in the post-industrial context. Capital & Class 40(2) 263–281.

INEGI (2018).National Survey of Financial Inclusion.Mexico: Inegi.

National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganised Sector (2007).Report on Conditions of Work and Promotion of Livelihouse in the Unorganised Sector.New Delhi: Dolphin Printa Graphics.

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