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Doing a Bit more for the Poor? Social Assistance in Latin America

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 October 2008

PETER LLOYD-SHERLOCK
PETER LLOYD-SHERLOCK*
Affiliation:
Reader in Social Development, School of Development Studies, University of East Anglia, Norwich NR4 7TJ email: p.lloyd-sherlock@uea.ac.uk
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Abstract

Social assistance programmes involving cash transfers to poor and vulnerable households have become a major focus of development policy in recent years. This article compares the experiences of three such programmes in Latin America: Oportunidades in Mexico, Jefes y Jefas de Hogares in Argentina, and Brazil's social pension. Particular attention is given to each programme's administrative effectiveness, as well as their impacts on poverty, human capital, and household and gender dynamics. More broadly, the article assesses whether these schemes live up to their billing as ‘best practice’ for developing countries, and how they relate to wider shifts in the political economy of welfare provision. It concludes that experiences have been mixed, that claims about positive outcomes are sometimes exaggerated, and that the potential of these programmes to substantially re-orientate welfare systems and promote equitable public policies remains limited.

Type
Article
Information
Journal of Social Policy , Volume 37 , Issue 4 , October 2008 , pp. 621 - 639
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2008

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