To construct the panel of poverty maps, we used available micro data from the following sources: (i) General Population Censuses of 1990, 2000 and 2010; (ii) the Population Count of 2005; and (iii) the National Survey on Household Income and Expenditure (ENIGH) 1992, 2000, 2005, and 2010. Following Elbers et al. 2003, to produce income measures at the municipal level, we paired the ENIGH of 1992 with the 1990 Population Census; the ENIGH of 2000 with the 2000 Population Census; the ENIGH of 2005 with the 2005 Population Count; and, the ENIGH 2010 with the 2010 Census. With the exception of the 1992 ENIGH and the 2000 Population Census, the remaining matches between ENIGHs and Censuses were collected at the same time of year—which ensures that every match represents the same socioeconomic context. As of 2014 there were 2,438 municipalities in Mexico, however, for the rest of this paper we consider 2,372 municipalities for which there is comparable income, poverty and inequality data from the 1990-2010 panel of poverty maps (the 66 municipalities left out were created over the last twenty years).

# Summary Statistics – Subnational Mean Income, Inequality and Poverty

As presented in Table 1, the summary statistics for the 2,372 municipalities followed over time show that mean real per capita income in Mexico in 2010 was lower than in 1990. This partly captures the effect of both the 1994-95 ‘Tequila Crisis’, the ‘dot-com bubble’ of 1999-2001, and the most recent 2008-09 global financial crisis. Alternative measures of social welfare such as the food poverty<sup>7</sup> head count rate, the Gini coefficient, and literacy rates show marked improvements in 2010 (if compared to 1990). However, these positive trends are not as marked in magnitude with respect to the period that goes from 2005 to 2010.

# Crime Indicators

Data on total number of homicides at the municipal level comes from official figures made public by Mexico's Technical Secretary for the National Security Council (SNPS). The SNSP compiles information through an extensive collaborative taskforce involving several state and federal enforcement agencies.<sup>8</sup> Data on total homicides at the municipal level is available for the whole period under study; while monthly figures on drug and non-drug related crimes have been publicly released since 2006. In the analysis that follows, for each municipality, we have collapsed each of the

> chosen, including geographical and socioeconomic variables derived from various sources (e.g., the Territorial Integration System, ITER; the National Population Council, CONAPO; and the Ministry of Social Development, SEDESOL).

> 7 The food poverty line is defined by the National Council for the Evaluation of Social Development Policy ( _Consejo Nacional de Evaluación de la Política de Desarrollo Social_ , CONEVAL), as lacking sufficient income to acquire a basic food basket. The Council presents income poverty estimations at the national level and in the rural and urban sectors using information generated by the National Statistics and Geography Institute (INEGI).

> 8 As described by Molzahn et al. 2012, the Center for Investigation and National Security (CISEN), the National Center for Information, Analysis and Planning to Fight Crime (CENAPI) within the Office of the Federal Attorney General (PGR), the Public Security Secretariat (SSP), Secretary of National Defense (SEDENA), the Secretary of the Navy (SEMAR), and the Secretary of the Interior (Gobernacion) are the institutions that participate in this collaborative effort.

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