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Social Policy of Our Time? : An Inquiry into Evidence, Assumptions, and Diffusion of Conditional Cash Transfers in Latin America

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Author

Summary, in English

This dissertation presents an inquiry into existing evidence, underlying assumptions, and the rapid diffusion of conditional cash transfers (CCTs) in Latin America. Equally concerned with empirical research on CCTs’ assumed capabilities and the programmes’ political economy and social policy contexts, this inquiry combines systematic analyses and case studies from field work in Uruguay and Guatemala. In essence, it inquires into what the programmes are in terms of social policy, how effective they have been in reducing poverty and enhancing human capital investments, which evidence exist to support long-term impacts and how plausible are their underlying assumptions, and why the programmes have risen to prominence in Latin American social policy development. The empirical case studies specifically analyse CCTs’ capabilities to enable a break in intergenerational transmission of poverty, to simultaneously pursue income maintenance and human capital investments through a hybrid design, and to minimise policy politicisation.

The inquiries into existing evidence reveal that CCTs’ proven impact pertains exclusively to short-term effects whereas their alleged long-term capabilities lack empirical foundations. Such capabilities are further challenged since they turn out to rest on some rather dubious theoretical assumptions. Furthermore, this dissertation finds that CCTs’ diffusion throughout Latin America could be explained by a historical convergence between various domestic and foreign factors, enabled by particularly salient programme characteristics.

Department/s

Publishing year

2014

Language

English

Publication/Series

Lund Dissertations in Sociology

Volume

106

Document type

Dissertation

Publisher

Lund University

Topic

  • Sociology (excluding Social Work, Social Psychology and Social Anthropology)

Keywords

  • Social policy
  • conditional cash transfers
  • policy diffusion
  • poverty
  • human capital
  • Latin America
  • Uruguay
  • Guatemala

Status

Published

Project

  • Johan Sandberg: ”Conditional Cash Transfers in Social Policy Reform & Pursuit of Millennium Development Goals”, finansiär: SIDA/Sarec.

Research group

  • Sustainability and Development Studies
  • Välfärd, Socialförsäkring och Arbetsliv

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISBN: 91-7267-365-6

Defence date

10 April 2014

Defence time

09:00

Defence place

Kulturens hörsal, Tegnérsplatsen, Lund

Opponent

  • Alejandro Portes (Professor)