to have increased access to credit and incentive transfers to start up productive projects. In this regard, during the recent years some studies have questioned whether social programs in Mexico like _Oportunidades_ (one of whose aims is to increase human capital by raising school attendance) should remain faithful to their original mandate or if they should further their objectives by granting its youth “graduates” funds to continue into university-level studies or by connecting them to careertype employment opportunities (Latapí, 2005; Inter-American Development Bank, 2006). In this line, the so-called _Prospera_ takes an important first step towards extending the traditional benefits of _Oportunidades_ by additionally granting scholarships for tertiary or technical education enrollment, as well as to providing job training and access to productive projects for those beneficiaries in search of a job.

The Social Program Module reveals a very low incidence of productive programs from SEDESOL among the vulnerable population—because of their reduced coverage and magnitude. For instance, between 0.1% and 0.3% of the vulnerable population were beneficiaries of _PET_ , _Opciones Productivas_ , and _Crédito a la Palabra_ during 2002-2006 (among the poor the percentage of beneficiaries of PET reached 0.8%, on average, between 2002 and 2006, but only 0.3% in the case of _Opciones Productivas_ and _Crédito a la Palabra_ , and among the middle class, the percentage of beneficiaries of all three programs was roughly 0%). Even for schemes like credits and government subsidies<sup>25</sup> whose coverage has been increasing, their incidence is very low and their impacts and scope are unknown (Table 3).

**Table 3. Incidence and amounts of credits and government subsidies** _Percentage of households and monthly amounts in PPP_

||**Coverage **|**A**|**moun**|**t**|
|---|---|---|---|---|
|**Economic Group**|**Credits**<br>**Subsidies**|**Credits**|**Su**|**bsidies**|
||**2002**<br> <br>||||
|Extremely poor|0.54%<br>0.86%|$ 6.83|$|92.79|
|Poor|0.10%<br>0.09%|$ 79.85|$|6.91|
|Total poor|0.32%<br>0.48%|$ 43.52|$|49.64|
|Extremely vulnerable|0.16%<br>0.11%|$ 18.60|$|13.49|
|Vulnerable|0.02%<br>0.07%|$ 373.87|$|10.00|
|Total vulnerable|0.07%<br>0.09%|$ 250.59|$|11.21|
|Middle Class|0.36%<br>0.16%|$ 799.77|$|1,337.91|
|Upper Class|0.00%<br>0.00%|$-|$|-|
||**2004**||||
|Extremely poor|0.38%<br>1.46%|$ 88.44|$|30.38|
|Poor|0.47%<br>0.46%|$ 43.07|$|54.17|
|Total poor|0.43%<br>0.92%|$ 63.96|$|43.22|
|Extremely vulnerable|0.15%<br>0.43%|$ 162.74|$|27.64|
|Vulnerable|0.06%<br>0.62%|$ 324.60|$|121.86|
|Total vulnerable|0.09%<br>0.55%|$ 269.81|$|89.97|
|Middle Class|0.06%<br>0.37%|$ 206.83|$|70.40|
|Upper Class|0.00%<br>0.12%|$-|$|112.84|
||**2006**||||
|Extremely poor|0.16%<br>1.11%|$ 154.91|$|18.41|
|Poor|0.09%<br>0.79%|$ 92.73|$|49.34|
|Total poor|0.12%<br>0.92%|$ 118.03|$|36.75|
|Extremely vulnerable|0.74%<br>0.70%|$ 35.11|$|25.25|
|Vulnerable|0.08%<br>0.57%|$ 440.06|$|38.45|
|Total vulnerable|0.27%<br>0.61%|$ 319.23|$|34.51|
|Middle Class|0.15%<br>0.49%|$ 135.87|$|58.68|
|Upper Class|0.23%<br>0.79%|$1,276.61|$|259.70|

_Source:_ Author’s estimations based on ENIGH and MPS 2002-2006

> 25 The use of credits and subsidies from government includes, among others, credits to expand the business or improve the dwelling; credits to purchase livestock, fertilizers, insecticides and equipment; subsidies for energy and fuel, livestock feed, and care of livestock, crops and fisheries.

24