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Social Policy and Inequality in Latin America: A Review of Recent Trends
Author(s) -
LloydSherlock Peter
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
social policy and administration
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.972
H-Index - 63
eISSN - 1467-9515
pISSN - 0144-5596
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-9515.2009.00667.x
Subject(s) - latin americans , inequality , social security , social policy , welfare , economics , income distribution , distribution (mathematics) , welfare state , development economics , social welfare , public economics , economic inequality , resource distribution , resource allocation , political science , politics , mathematical analysis , mathematics , law , market economy
Most Latin American countries have extensive social policies which absorb high levels of state spending. Despite this, Latin America continues to suffer from high levels of inequality in terms of income and access to basic services. This article explores this apparent paradox. It focuses on three aspects of social policy in the region: patterns of resource allocation, the distribution of welfare entitlements and differing capacities to take advantage of these entitlements. It applies this framework to study the distributional effects of education, health and social security policies, paying particular attention to recent changes and developments. The article shows that these three factors combine in various ways to benefit higher‐income groups and exclude the poor. Recent changes have marginally improved provision for low‐income groups, but the fundamentally inegalitarian nature of social policy in the region remains largely unchanged and unchallenged.