Download or read book Social Development in Latin America written by Joseph S. Tulchin and published by Lynne Rienner Publishers. This book was released on 2000 with total page 284 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume provides a wide-ranging analysis of social welfare reform in Latin America, examining in particular the politics involved in implementing difficult and controversial social policies that often pit the middle strata of society, represented by powerful stakeholders, against the poor.

Download or read book Latin American Social Policy Developments in the Twenty First Century written by Natália Sátyro and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2021-02-12 with total page 361 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book explores the scope of reforms and changes in the social protection systems in Latin America that have started at the beginning of the 21st century. It describes how and to what extent changes in social protection systems and social policies have occurred in the region in recent decades. Taking a comparative approach, the volume identifies the triggers for the transformations and how such pressures are received by the welfare regime, or a specific policy sector, to finally yield a given type of reform. The analysis is characterized by the presence of certain factors that explain the development of social protection systems in Latin America, such as economic growth, the consolidation of democratic political regimes, and the region’s Left Turns. The book also examines to what extent common challenges and processes induced by international institutions have led to convergence among countries or welfare regimes, or whether each maintains its own identity.

Download or read book Social Policy Expansion in Latin America written by Candelaria Garay and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2016-12-29 with total page 411 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Throughout the twentieth century, much of the population in Latin America lacked access to social protection. Since the 1990s, however, social policy for millions of outsiders - rural, informal, and unemployed workers and dependents - has been expanded dramatically. Social Policy Expansion in Latin America shows that the critical factors driving expansion are electoral competition for the vote of outsiders and social mobilization for policy change. The balance of partisan power and the involvement of social movements in policy design explain cross-national variation in policy models, in terms of benefit levels, coverage, and civil society participation in implementation. The book draws on in-depth case studies of policy making in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Mexico over several administrations and across three policy areas: health care, pensions, and income support. Secondary case studies illustrate how the theory applies to other developing countries.

Download or read book A Concise Introduction to Latin American Politics and Development written by Howard J. Wiarda and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2018-05-04 with total page 367 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This succinct overview of the political factors that condition social and economic development in Latin America is the perfect core text in courses on politics, government, social change, and transitions to democracy throughout Latin America and the Caribbean.

Download or read book Social Policy Reform and Market Governance in Latin America written by L. Haagh and published by Springer. This book was released on 2002-12-10 with total page 279 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This collection offers a critical analytical perspective and fresh empirical data on recent market-orientated social policy reforms in Latin America. The six case studies presented examine labour, education, health and general social development programmes. A particular focus is placed on the ways in which market-enhancing reforms such as demand-based provision, social policy targeting and privatization respond to issues of equity, coverage and the quality of provision.

Download or read book The State of State Reforms in Latin America written by Eduardo Lora and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2006-10-23 with total page 470 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Latin America suffered a profound state crisis in the 1980s, which prompted not only the wave of macroeconomic and deregulation reforms known as the Washington Consensus, but also a wide variety of institutional or 'second generation' reforms. 'The State of State Reform in Latin America' reviews and assesses the outcomes of these less studied institutional reforms. This book examines four major areas of institutional reform: a. political institutions and the state organization; b. fiscal institutions, such as budget, tax and decentralization institutions; c. public institutions in charge of sectoral economic policies (financial, industrial, and infrastructure); and d. social sector institutions (pensions, social protection, and education). In each of these areas, the authors summarize the reform objectives, describe and measure their scope, assess the main outcomes, and identify the obstacles for implementation, especially those of an institutional nature.

Download or read book Politics And Social Change In Latin America written by Howard J. Wiarda and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2019-07-11 with total page 536 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since the appearance of the first edition of this text in 1974, the book has stimulated an ongoing debate about the nature of the Latin American development process. Although the essays discuss a wide range of historical, economic, political, and social issues, they are unified in arguing that the Latin American experience of development is subject to special imperatives of analysis and interpretation not generally offered in the Western literature on development and social change. Arguing that West ern models are often inappropriate when applied to Latin America, the authors explore alternative approaches to understanding the Latin American pattern of development and change. The third edition retains classic essays from earlier editions but has been extensively revised to take account of the dramatic changes in the region over the last ten years. Looking particularly at the challenges presented by redemocratization and the new pluralism, the book raises the question of whether a "distinct tradition" still remains. New readings discuss the implications of U.S. foreign policy in Latin America, the changing role of the church, the process of democratization, and human rights issues and speculate on the permanence of Latin America's more pluralistic political structures.

Download or read book Latin American Social Policy Developments in the Twenty First Century written by Natália Sátyro and published by . This book was released on 2021 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book explores the scope of reforms and changes in the social protection systems in Latin America that have started at the beginning of the 21st century. It describes how and to what extent changes in social protection systems and social policies have occurred in the region in recent decades. Taking a comparative approach, the volume identifies the triggers for the transformations and how such pressures are received by the welfare regime, or a specific policy sector, to finally yield a given type of reform. The analysis is characterized by the presence of certain factors that explain the development of social protection systems in Latin America, such as economic growth, the consolidation of democratic political regimes, and the region's Left Turns. The book also examines to what extent common challenges and processes induced by international institutions have led to convergence among countries or welfare regimes, or whether each maintains its own identity. Natália Sátyro is Professor of Political Science in the Department of Political Science at the Federal University of Minas Gerais, Brazil. She previously was Visiting Researcher and Fellow at the Latin American Centre, University of Oxford, UK (2016-2017). Eloisa del Pino is Senior Researcher in the Institute of Public Goods and Policies (IPP) at the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC). She is conducting the GoWPER Project 2018-2020 Restructuring the Welfare Governance CSO2017-85598-R PN I+D. Carmen Midaglia is Professor of Political Science at the Universidad de la República, Uruguay. She is Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences and Co-Coordinator of the Working Group on Poverty and Social Policies of the Latin American Council of Social Sciences.

Download or read book Democracies in Development written by J. Mark Payne and published by David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies. This book was released on 2007 with total page 358 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The advance of democracy in Latin America over the past quarter century has helped ensure respect for fundamental political freedoms, civil liberties, and human rights. This book highlights how an effective democracy is also essential for sustainable economic and social development.

Download or read book On the Move written by Henry Veltmeyer and published by University of Toronto Press. This book was released on 2007-01-01 with total page 216 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "With irony, insight, and elegant simplicity, Veltmeyer shows us how the power of money and the power of collective commitment interact in the sweepstakes of social history." - Jan Knippers Black, Monterey Institute for International Studies

Download or read book Crucial Needs Weak Incentives written by Robert R. Kaufman and published by Johns Hopkins University Press. This book was released on 2004-11-16 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Selected by Choice Magazine as an Outstanding Academic Title Crucial Needs, Weak Incentives studies the politics of efforts to reform education and health services in Latin America in the 1990s. Both sectors were common targets of reform—education because of its economic importance, health care because of needs to reduce great inequities of access and opportunities to increase domestic savings presented by reforms. Both sectors also have large numbers of unionized public employees, whose presence affects patronage as well as political power. The book presents case studies that offer a wealth of new information not previously accessible to the English-speaking academic and policy community. For health care, these cover Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, Brazil, Costa Rica, and Peru; for eductaion, Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, Brazil, Nicaragua, and Venezuela. Four chapters by the editors set out for each sector the goals, structure, and outcomes of reform efforts. Contributors are Marta Arretche, Josefina Bruni Celli, Mary A. Clark, Javier Corrales, Sonia M. Draibe, Christina Ewig, Alec Ian Gershberg, Alejandra Gonzalez Rossetti, Merilee S. Grindle, Peter Lloyd-Sherlock, Pamela S. Lowden, and Patricia Ramirez.

Download or read book Patterns of Development in Latin America written by John Sheahan and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2021-04-13 with total page 411 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this major work an economist with long experience as an advisor in developing countries explores the conflict between market forces and political reform that has led straight into Latin America's most serious problems. John Sheahan addresses three central concerns: the persistence of poverty in Latin American countries despite rising national incomes, the connection between economic troubles and political repression, and the relationships between Latin America and the rest of the world in trade and finance, as well as overall dependence. His comprehensive explanation of why many Latin Americans identify open political systems with frustration and economic breakdown will interest not only economists but also a broad range of other social scientists. This is "political economy" in the classical sense of the word, establishing a clear connection between the political and economic realities of Latin America.

Download or read book Politics And Social Change In Latin America written by Howard J. Wiarda and published by Westview Press. This book was released on 1992-10-19 with total page 378 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The articles in this book, by key specialists in the field, discuss a wide range of historical, economic, political and social issues and explore alternative approaches to understanding the Latin American pattern of development and change.

Download or read book The Political Economy of Pension Reform written by Evelyne Huber and published by Conran Octopus. This book was released on 2000 with total page 66 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since pension schemes-along with health care and education-absorb the largest amount of social expenditure in all countries, their reform has a potentially major impact both on the fiscal situation of the state and on the life chances of citizens who stand to win or lose from new arrangements. This makes pension reform a highly controversial issue; and, except for the addition of new programmes and benefits, major restructuring of existing pension systems has been extremely rare in advanced industrial democracies. It was also rare in Latin America before the 1980s and 1990s. But there has been a great deal of experimentation within the region during the past decade. This paper examines the larger economic, social and political context of Latin American pension reform and compares experiences in different countries of the region with options available in Western European societies during the same period. The authors argue that the type of pension reform undertaken in Latin America has been an integral part of the structural adjustment programmes pursued by Latin American governments, under the guidance of international financial institutions (IFIs). Although there was a range of possible remedies to the problems of pension systems in different Latin American countries, neo-liberal reformers and the international financial institutions preferred privatization over all others. They claimed that privatization would be superior to other kinds of reform in ensuring the financial viability of pension systems, making them more efficient, establishing a closer link between contributions and benefits and promoting the development of capital markets-thus increasing savings and investment. And they were able to push through some of their suggestions for reform in spite of considerable opposition from pensioners, trade unions and opposition political parties. Interestingly enough, their pressure proved least effective in the more democratic countries of the region. In Costa Rica, for example, citizens preferred to reform the public system-eliminating the last pockets of privilege for public sector workers and ensuring that new levels of contribution would be adequate to provide minimum benefits for the aged and infirm. In Uruguay, citizens forced a public referendum, through which they rejected a proposal for privatization. At a later stage, they did permit the introduction of private investment accounts, but not at the cost of eliminating the public programme. In Argentina and Peru, after the legislature refused to authorize partial privatization, this was eventually pushed through by presidential decree. Only in Chile and Mexico has there been a complete shift to private pension funds-but, in both cases, influential sectors of the elite, including the military, have been allowed to keep their previous, publicly managed group funds. Looking at the only privatized pension system in existence long enough to allow for some assessment of its consequences-that of Chile-the authors find that many of the claims made by supporters of privatization are not substantiated by the evidence. The first discrepancy between neo-liberal predictions and the reality of Chilean pension reform has to do with efficiency. All previous claims to the contrary, private individual accounts have proven more expensive to manage than collective claims. In fact, according to the Inter-American Development Bank, by the mid-1990s administration of the Chilean system was the most expensive in Latin America. The second disproved claim involves yield. When administrative costs are discounted, privately held and administered pension funds in Chile show an average annual real return of 5.1 per cent between 1982 and 1998. Furthermore high fees and commissions-charged at a flat rate on all accounts-have proven highly regressive. When levied against a relatively modest retirement account, for example, these standard fees reduced the amount available to the account holder by approximately 18 per cent. When applied to the deposit of an individual investing 10 times more, the reduction was slightly less than 1 per cent. The third discrepancy involves competition. Although it was assumed that efficiency within the private pension fund industry would be associated with renewed competitiveness-while the public pension system represented monopoly-the private sector has in fact become highly concentrated. The three largest pension fund administrators in Chile handle 70 per cent of the insured. And to reduce advertising costs, public regulators are limiting the number of transfers among companies that any individual can make. A fourth unfulfilled promise of privatization in Chile has to do with expansion of coverage. It was assumed that the existence of private accounts would increase incentives for people to take part in the pension sc heme, but in fact this has not happened. Coverage and compliance rates have remained virtually constant. A fifth major claim was that the conversion of the public pension system into privately held and administered accounts would strengthen capital markets, savings and investment. But a number of studies have recently concluded that, at best, this effect has been marginal. And finally, the dimension of gender equity within a fully privatized pension scheme is being subjected to increasing scrutiny. Women typically earn less money and work fewer years than men. Therefore, since pension benefits in private systems are strictly determined by the overall amount of money contributed to them, women are likely to receive considerably lower benefits. Public pension systems, in contrast, have the possibility of introducing credits for childcare that reduce this disadvantage. Sweden is an example of countries that have embarked on this course. In the latter part of the paper, Huber and Stephens widen their comparative framework to include recent pension reforms in advanced industrial countries. There, where economic crisis was not as severe and where pressure from international financial institutions was not significant, much broader options for reform were available. In fact, although long-established systems were under stress, no developed country opted for complete privatization. Complex measures were taken to strengthen the funding base of national pension systems, including changes in investment procedures and changes in rules for calculating pension benefits. Reforms also increased retirement age, as well as the number of years required to qualify for a full pension. But even the most thoroughgoing reforms retained a central role for public schemes in ensuring old-age benefits. In conclusion, the authors consider steps that can be taken to craft pension reforms with more desirable results than those obtained to date in Latin America. They recommend measures that address the problem of an aging population by increasing the ability of each generation to pay for its own pensions-rather than relying primarily on the contributions of preceding generations of insured workers. Pension payments should be invested in a variety of financial instruments and benefits must ultimately be related to the yields obtained. Such a strategy does not require introduction of privately managed, individually held, investment funds. On the contrary, risk is lessened by relying instead on collectively managed funds, in which accounts can either be identified with individuals or-more equitably-with generations of contributors. Reformed public pension systems should also contain minimum "citizenship pensions" that guarantee subsistence income in old age to all individuals as a matter of right. Such a measure, financed from general tax revenue rather than from personal contributions, is not beyond the means of medium income countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. In fact, some Nordic countries introduced citizenship pensions when their GNP per capita was lower than that of most Latin American countries today.

Download or read book Leftist Governments in Latin America written by Kurt Weyland and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2010-07-05 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Can Latin America's 'new left' stimulate economic development, enhance social equity, and deepen democracy in spite of the economic and political constraints it faces? This is the first book to systematically examine the policies and performance of the left-wing governments that have risen to power in Latin America during the last decade. Featuring thorough studies of Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, and Venezuela by renowned experts, the volume argues that moderate leftist governments have attained greater, more sustainable success than their more radical, contestatory counterparts. Moderate governments in Brazil and Chile have generated solid economic growth, reduced poverty and inequality, and created innovative and fiscally sound social programs, while respecting the fundamental principles of market economics and liberal democracy. By contrast, more radical governments, exemplified by Hugo Chávez in Venezuela, have expanded state intervention and popular participation and attained some short-term economic and social successes.

Download or read book Bounded Rationality and Policy Diffusion written by Kurt Weyland and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2009-02-09 with total page 313 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Why do very different countries often emulate the same policy model? Two years after Ronald Reagan's income-tax simplification of 1986, Brazil adopted a similar reform even though it threatened to exacerbate income disparity and jeopardize state revenues. And Chile's pension privatization of the early 1980s has spread throughout Latin America and beyond even though many poor countries that have privatized their social security systems, including Bolivia and El Salvador, lack some of the preconditions necessary to do so successfully. In a major step beyond conventional rational-choice accounts of policy decision-making, this book demonstrates that bounded--not full--rationality drives the spread of innovations across countries. When seeking solutions to domestic problems, decision-makers often consider foreign models, sometimes promoted by development institutions like the World Bank. But, as Kurt Weyland argues, policymakers apply inferential shortcuts at the risk of distortions and biases. Through an in-depth analysis of pension and health reform in Bolivia, Brazil, Costa Rica, El Salvador, and Peru, Weyland demonstrates that decision-makers are captivated by neat, bold, cognitively available models. And rather than thoroughly assessing the costs and benefits of external models, they draw excessively firm conclusions from limited data and overextrapolate from spurts of success or failure. Indications of initial success can thus trigger an upsurge of policy diffusion.

Download or read book The Great Gap written by Merike Blofield and published by Penn State Press. This book was released on 2015-08-21 with total page 418 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The relationship between socioeconomic inequality and democratic politics has been one of the central questions in the social sciences from Aristotle on. Recent waves of democratization, combined with deepened global inequalities, have made understanding this relationship ever more crucial. In The Great Gap, Merike Blofield seeks to contribute to this understanding by analyzing inequality and politics in the region with the highest socioeconomic inequalities in the world: Latin America. The chapters, written by prominent scholars in their fields, address the socioeconomic context and inequality of opportunities; elite culture, public opinion, and media framing; capital mobility, campaign financing, representation, and gender equality policies; and taxation and social policies. Aside from the editor, the contributors are Pablo Alegre, Maurício Bugarin, Daniela Campello, Anna Crespo, Francisco H. G. Ferreira, Fernando Filgueira, Liesl Haas, Sallie Hughes, Juan Pablo Luna, James E. Mahon Jr., Juliana Martínez Franzoni, Adriana Cuoco Portugal, Paola Prado, Elisa P. Reis, Luis Reygadas, Sergio Naruhiko Sakurai, and Koen Voorend.