Social Policy in Latin America

Abstract

Over the past two decades, Latin America has been at the forefront of innovations in social policy in the developing world, and (coincidently or not) in this period inequality and poverty has declined markedly for the first time in recorded history. This panel includes papers that address different aspects of recent social policies in four countries in the region, with a particular focus on how social policies are seen by different publics. Isabella Hermann analyzes the discourse of critics of supporters of social policies implemented in the context of Venezuela's Bolivarian revolution. Cesar Zucco examines how the perceptions of non-beneficiaries of government transfers is affected by different characteristics of social programs, with a particular focus on the existence of conditionality's. Gibrán Cruz-Martinez takes on the perceptions of members of marginalized groups regarding the welfare apparatus of Puerto Rico, and Alejandro Boucabeille examines public opinion's preferences for social policies in Mexico. Together, the papers present an assortment of methods, ranging from in depth interviews to survey experiments, and cover an interesting mix of Latin American countries.