scholarly journals Latin America's Social Policy Challenge: Education, Social Insurance, Redistribution

2013 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 193-218 ◽  
Author(s):  
Santiago Levy ◽  
Norbert Schady
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Social Policy ◽  
Social Insurance ◽  
Social Spending ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Poverty And Inequality ◽  
High Inflation ◽  
Major Transformation ◽  
Policy Challenge ◽  
Challenge Education

Long regarded as a region beset by macroeconomic instability, high inflation, and excessive poverty and inequality, Latin America has undergone a major transformation over the last 20 years. The region has seen improved macroeconomic management and substantial and sustained reductions in poverty and inequality. In this paper, we argue that social policy, including human capital and education, social insurance, and redistribution, need special attention if achievements of the last two decades are to be sustained and amplified. Starting in the mid 1990s, many governments in the region introduced a variety of programs, including noncontributory pensions and health insurance, and cash transfers targeted to the poor. Social spending in Latin America increased sharply. These policies have been widely praised, and we believe they have resulted in substantial improvements in the lives of the poor in the region. However, a more nuanced view shows some worrisome trends. Moving forward, we believe it is necessary to pay much closer attention to the quality of services, particularly in education; to the incentives generated by the interplay of some programs, particularly in the labor market; to a more balanced intertemporal distribution of benefits, particularly between young and old; and to sustainable sources of finance, particularly to the link between contributions and benefits.

scholarly journals Diminished Expectations

2018 ◽  
Vol 70 (4) ◽  
pp. 555-594 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alisha C. Holland
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Social Policy ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Social Inclusion ◽  
Social Insurance ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
Social Spending ◽  
Formal Sector ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Original Survey

In Latin America, the relationship between income and support for redistribution is weak and variable despite the region's extreme income inequality. This article shows that this condition is rooted in the truncated structure of many Latin American welfare states. Heavy spending on contributory social insurance for formal-sector workers, flat or regressive subsidies, and informal access barriers mean that social spending does far less for the poor in Latin America than it does in advanced industrial economies. Using public opinion data from across Latin America and original survey data from Colombia, the author demonstrates that income is less predictive of attitudes in the countries and social policy areas in which the poor gain less from social expenditures. Social policy exclusion leads the poor to doubt that they will benefit from redistribution, thereby dampening their support for it. The article reverses an assumption in political economy models that welfare exclusion unleashes demands for greater redistribution. Instead, truncation reinforces skepticism about social policy helping the poor. Welfare state reforms to promote social inclusion are essential to strengthen redistributive coalitions.

Has Social Policy Expansion in Latin America Reduced Welfare Decommodification and Defamilialisation? Evidence from an Overview of the Mexican Welfare Regime

2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 645-659
Author(s):  
Ricardo Velázquez Leyer
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Social Policy ◽  
Family Support ◽  
Social Insurance ◽  
Policy Design ◽  
Welfare Regime ◽  
Regime Theory ◽  
Policy Reforms ◽  
Policy Changes ◽  
Design And Implementation

Mexican social policy has been transformed in recent years with the introduction and expansion of social assistance programmes, causing a diversion from the trajectory based on social insurance since the first decades of the twentieth century. This article aims to understand the outcomes of that transformation, by applying welfare regime theory to establish how social policy reforms have affected the distribution of welfare responsibilities among the state, markets and families. The research identifies (de)commodification and (de)familialisation outcomes of policy changes in pensions, healthcare, unemployment and family support. Results suggest that the expansion has not produced significant reductions in decommodification or defamilialisation because of: a) the explicit or implicit role assigned to markets in policy design and implementation, and b) the reliance of the process of economic liberalisation on the welfare role performed by families. The case of Mexico may illustrate the current welfare challenges faced by societies across Latin America.

scholarly journals From Fome Zero to Bolsa Família: Social Policies and Poverty Alleviation under Lula

2006 ◽  
Vol 38 (4) ◽  
pp. 689-709 ◽  
Author(s):  
ANTHONY HALL
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Social Policy ◽  
Poverty Alleviation ◽  
Maternal Nutrition ◽  
School Attendance ◽  
Conditional Cash Transfer ◽  
Cash Transfer ◽  
Systematic Evaluation ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Bolsa Familia

Under the administrations of Fernando Henrique Cardoso (1995–2002) and especially President Lula (2003–), conditional cash transfer (CCT) programmes have become adopted as mainstream social policy in Brazil. This follows a marked trend since the 1990s in Latin America towards the setting up of targeted safety nets to alleviate poverty. Lula consolidated and expanded CCTs, firstly under Fome Zero and later Bolsa Família, now the largest such scheme in the world. Its four sub-programmes (educational stipends to boost school attendance, maternal nutrition, food supplements and a domestic gas subsidy) benefit some 30 million of Brazil's poorest people, with a target of 44 million by 2006. Since 2003, spending on Bolsa Família has risen significantly to consume over one-third of the social assistance budget for the poorest sectors and it remained a flagship policy in the run-up to the presidential elections of October 2006. Although coverage of Bolsa Família is impressive, however, systematic evaluation of its social and economic impacts is still lacking. Evidence from other CCT programmes in Latin America suggests that positive results may be achieved in terms of meeting some immediate needs of the poor. However, there have been many implementation problems. These include poor beneficiary targeting, lack of inter-ministerial coordination, inadequate monitoring, clientelism, weak accountability and alleged political bias. Given the heightened profile of cash transfers in Brazil's social policy agenda, key questions need to be asked. These concern, firstly, the extent to which Bolsa Família does indeed contribute to poverty alleviation; and secondly, whether it creates greater dependence of the poor on government hand-outs and political patronage at the expense of long-term social investment for development.

The Political and Economic Vision of Pope Francis: Implications for Philippine Church Mission

2020 ◽  
pp. 239693932092649
Author(s):  
Jerry D. Imbong
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Radical Change ◽  
The Political ◽  
Pope Francis ◽  
New Evangelization ◽  
Church Mission ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Poverty And Inequality ◽  
Production And Consumption ◽  
Integral Development

Pope Francis, whose concern for the poor has earned him the nickname the “slum pope” in Latin America, has made it clear that no society can succeed that marginalizes the poor. Drawing on the concrete conditions of Philippine society, the pope suggests that mission should not be detached from the pastoral programs that seek to address the structural causes of poverty and inequality. Pope Francis’s political and economic vision resonates with the Philippine church’s program of “new evangelization,” which seeks sustainable and integral development and a radical change in lifestyles, modes of production, and consumption.

Can Latin America learn from India’s efforts at fighting poverty? The case of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act

2020 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 159-174
Author(s):  
Augusto De Venanzi
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Policy Transfer ◽  
Social Spending ◽  
Rural Employment ◽  
Employment Conditions ◽  
Rural Workforce ◽  
Poverty And Inequality ◽  
Latin American Region ◽  
Employment Guarantee

AbstractA decade of high economic growth (2003–2013) in Latin America accompanied with high social spending, produced a significant improvement in the living conditions of the region’s population. Household incomes grew, poverty and inequality rates fell, and job opportunities increased. However, beginning in 2013 the economic situation of Latin America experienced a downwards trend. The effects have been felt in reduced income due to the fewer labour opportunities afforded by a decrease in demand and investment, particularly in infrastructure. Moreover, investment in infrastructure has remained stagnant since the late 1990s. The present article is intended as a preliminary study regarding the feasibility of transferring the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act to the Latin American region. The paper contends that such a policy transfer could greatly improve the adverse employment conditions affecting large segments of the Latin American rural workforce and contribute to bridge the area’s rural-urban infrastructure gap.

scholarly journals SOCIAL PARTNERSHIP IN UKRAINE AND ITS LEGAL SUPPORT

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ludmyla Laukhina ◽  
◽  
Olena Rabich ◽  
Nadia Kobzar ◽  
Svetlana Scachedub ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
Social Insurance ◽  
Pension System ◽  
Pension Reform ◽  
The State ◽  
Market Mechanism ◽  
Social Partnership ◽  
The Poor ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Individual

In modern conditions, the social policy of the state acquires special significance, which is a set of socio-economic measures of the state, enterprises, organizations, local authorities aimed at protecting the population from unemployment, rising prices, devaluation of labor savings. This is especially important in the Ukrainian reality, as due to the deep economic crisis and the decline in production, the problem of material security of the population, the creation of new jobs has become acute. Social policy follows from the social functions of the state, which it performs in a competitive market mechanism. It has been concluded that the payers of social insurance contributions are the state and employers (enterprises), and employees allegedly do not participate in social insurance and are provided without any deductions (payments) from wages. Social insurance directly and indirectly affects the interests of employees. Therefore, the participation of employees as insurers is mandatory under Ukrainian law. Due to the fact that this process is objective, beyond the control of the individual, is beyond his control, the state, reducing social tensions, takes care of the poor. It has been considered that a serious problem for Ukraine is the reform of the pension system: in fact, it is planned to build 2 new levels of the pension system. Thus, the pension system of Ukraine in the future should look like this: the first level - solidarity - exists today and provides for mandatory payments to the «common pot»; the second level - personalized - also provides for a «common pot», only now the information system of the Pension Fund will store information on the number and amount of individual payments; the third level provides for the emergence of private pension funds and voluntary contributions of working citizens. Bills on pension reform include, in particular, the removal of restrictions on the maximum amount of pension, the restoration of the dependence of the amount of pension on salary and seniority. It has been concluded that the field of social partnership, social policy and social security are those areas that directly affect the living standards of the population and are priority for Ukraine, wich includes the protection of the poor, the fight against unemployment, the regulation of labor relations.

Austerity may thwart poverty progress in Latin America

2015 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Income Inequality ◽  
Gender Gap ◽  
Annual Report ◽  
Social Spending ◽  
Poor People ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Economic Commission ◽  
Poverty And Inequality ◽  
The Caribbean

Subject Poverty and income inequality. Significance On January 26, the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) released its latest annual report on poverty and income distribution. In a mixed picture marked by important differences between countries, it found that progress in reducing total poverty has stalled, and extreme poverty has increased slightly. However, income inequality appears to be continuing to diminish, although more slowly than before the 2008-09 crisis. Impacts Since 2011, government social spending again appears to have become pro-cyclical, hampering progress on poverty. The gender gap remains the largest stumbling block to reducing poverty and inequality. In the poorest countries, there are not only more poor people but they also suffer more types of deprivation.

scholarly journals Income Redistributive Effects (IREs) on Poverty and Inequality in Latin America: A Cross-Country Analysis

2020 ◽  
pp. 54-60
Author(s):  
Ntogwa N. Bundala
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Income Inequality ◽  
Poverty Rate ◽  
Social Spending ◽  
Exploratory Research ◽  
Nonlinear Regression Models ◽  
Direct Benefits ◽  
Poverty And Inequality ◽  
The Social ◽  
Policy Priority

This paper analysed the effects of taxes and benefits on income inequality and poverty in Latin America. The study used an exploratory research design, with both linear and nonlinear regression models.  The paper found that both direct and indirect taxes have no direct influence on income inequality and poverty in a short-term.  Significantly, the social spending is found to reduce both poverty and inequality. The paper concluded that, taxes –benefits system in Latin America is   effective to eradicate income inequality and poverty, but it is ineffective to reduce the poverty rate and income inequality amongst the countries. The paper recommended that the countries in Latin America should set the policy priority on increasing the social spending in term of direct benefits, in-kind benefits and contributory pensions and subsidies as found to have a linear relationship with   the income inequality and poverty.

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