Citizen's Income and Welfare Regimes in Latin America: From Cash Transfers to Rights (Exploring the Basic Income Guarantee)

This book describes the Basic Income (BI) proposal as a model to reform policies of income transfers in Latin America. BI aims at guaranteeing a universal and unconditional income to everyone. Entitlement to BI is decoupled from labor status and questions the welfare state based on the insurance/assistance benefits model, where paid-work continues to play a central role. Latin America is one of the regions where the debate on BI is advanced, but the scenario is quite different than in the developed countries. Lo Vuolo discusses BI foundations under this particular scenario and advance possible ways to reform current policies following the guidelines of the BI proposal. A unique study, it covers many topics and many countries, looking back at both the genesis and support of current focalized and conditional programs and forward (using theoretical and empirical investigation) to see how and whether the BI proposal can be adapted for use in the region. "Social protection systems in Latin America developed in a fragmented manner, offering varying access to benefits and benefit levels to population groups. In the context of widespread informal and precarious work, social insurance institutions could only provide limited coverage. In this context, progress towards a Citizen's Income policy in Latin America depends on the possibility of reappraising its importance for an integrated institutional system, which promotes the empowerment and economic independence of the people. A Citizen's Income policy is not only a cash transfer to alleviate poverty or a basic income for food. It is a basic right to improve democracy and encourage a more autonomous development of people living in profoundly unequal societies"-- "Social protection systems in Latin America developed in a fragmented manner, offering varying access to benefits and benefit levels to population groups. In the context of widespread informal and precarious work, social insurance institutions could only provide limited coverage. In this context, progress towards a Citizen's Income policy in Latin America depends on the possibility of reappraising its importance for an integrated institutional system which promotes the empowerment and economic independence of people. A Citizen's Income policy is not only a cash transfer to alleviate poverty or a basic income for food. It is a basic right to improve democracy and encourage a more autonomous development of people living in profoundly unequal societies"-- Cover......Page 1 Half-Title......Page 2 Title......Page 4 Copyright......Page 5 Contents......Page 8 List of Illustrations......Page 10 Introduction......Page 12 Part I Citizen’s Income and Cash Transfers......Page 38 1 Brazil: The Lost Road to Citizen’s Income......Page 40 2 The Argentine “Universal Child Allowance”: Not the Poor but the Unemployed and Informal Workers......Page 62 3 Targeting and Conditionalities in Mexico: The End of a Cash Transfer Model?......Page 78 4 Basic Pensions in Latin America: Toward a Rights-Based Policy?......Page 98 5 A Regional Citizen’s Income to Reduce Poverty in Central America......Page 124 Part II Citizen’s Income and the Latin American Public Agenda......Page 150 6 Are Latin Americans—Brazilians in Particular—Willing to Support an Unconditional Citizen’s Income?......Page 152 7 The Politics of Citizen’s Income Programs in Latin America: Policy Legacies and Party Character......Page 180 8 Should Citizen’s Income Become a Goal for Feminism in Latin America?......Page 198 9 Citizen’s Income and Democratization in Latin America—A Multi-Institutional Perspective......Page 222 10 Citizen’s Income and the Material Basis of the Constitution......Page 244 Epilogue......Page 270 Notes on Contributors......Page 278 Index......Page 280 Machine generated contents note: Introduction 1.Lo Vuolo, Rube;n.First Part: Citizen's Income and Cash Transfers2.Lavinas, Lena: Brazil: the lost road to citizen's income.3.Lo Vuolo, Rube;n: The Argentine 'Universal Child Allowance' for the unemployed and informal workers4.Arza, Camila: Basic pensions in Latin America: Towards a rights-based policy?5.Yanes, Pablo: Targeting and conditionalities in Mexico: the end of a cash transfer model?6.Krozer, Alice and Lo Vuolo, Rube;n: A Regional Citizen's Income to Reduce Poverty in Central America.Second Part: Citizen's Income and the Latin American Public Agenda7.Walterberg, Fabio: Are Latin Americans - Brazilians in Particular - Willing to Support an Unconditional Citizen's Income?8.Pribble, Jennifer: The Politics of Citizen Income Programs in Latin America: Policy Legacies and Party Character.9.Rodriguez Enriquez, Corina: Should Citizen´s Income become a goal for feminism in Latin America?10.Haagh, Louise: Citizen's Income and Democratization in Latin America - A Multi-Institutional Perspective.11.Gargarella, Roberto: Citizen's Income and the material basis of the Constitution.Epilogue12.Lo Vuolo, Rube;n. "Social protection systems in Latin America developed in a fragmented manner, offering varying access to benefits and benefit levels to population groups. In the context of widespread informal and precarious work, social insurance institutions could only provide limited coverage. In this context, progress towards a Citizen's Income policy in Latin America depends on the possibility of reappraising its importance for an integrated institutional system, which promotes the empowerment and economic independence of the people. A Citizen's Income policy is not only a cash transfer to alleviate poverty or a basic income for food. It is a basic right to improve democracy and encourage a more autonomous development of people living in profoundly unequal societies"-- Provided by publisher Social protection systems in Latin America developed in a fragmented manner, offering varying access to benefits and benefit levels to population groups. In the context of widespread informal and precarious work, social insurance institutions could only provide limited coverage. In this context, progress towards a Citizen's Income policy in Latin America depends on the possibility of reappraising its importance for an integrated institutional system which promotes the empowerment and economic independence of people. A Citizen's Income policy is not only a cash transfer to alleviate poverty or a basic income for food. It is a basic right to improve democracy and encourage a more autonomous development of people living in profoundly unequal societies.--Résumé de l'éditeur