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ID: 156836

Easy and hard redistribution: the political economy of welfare states in Latin America / Holland, Alisha C ; Schneider, Ben Ross

Schneider, Ben Ross	Journal Article
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Summary/Abstract

Comparative research on Latin American welfare states recently has focused on the extension of non-contributory benefits to those outside the formal labor market. This extension of benefits constitutes a major break from past exclusionary welfare regimes. Yet there also are substantial areas of continuity, especially in the contributory social-insurance system that absorbs most of welfare budgets. We develop here a framework for studying changes in Latin American welfare states that reconciles these trends. We argue that Latin American governments enjoyed an “easy” stage of welfare expansions in the 2000s, characterized by distinct political coalitions. Bottom-targeted benefits could be layered on top of existing programs and provided to wide segments of the population. But many Latin American governments are nearing the exhaustion of this social-policy model. We explore policy and coalitional challenges that hinder moves to “hard” redistribution with case studies of unemployment insurance in Chile and housing in Colombia.

Key Words

Political Economy ; Latin America ; Welfare States ; Hard Redistribution

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ID: 149517

Middle-income trap: more politics than economics / Schneider, Ben Ross; Doner, Richard F

Schneider, Ben Ross	Journal Article
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Economists have identified the existence of a middle-income (MI) trap but have yet to analyze the politics of this trap. The authors argue that countries in the MI trap face two major institutional and political challenges. First, the policies necessary to upgrade productivity—as in human capital and innovation—require enormous investment in institutional capacity. Second, these institutional challenges come at a time when political capacity for building these institutions is weak, due primarily to the fragmentation of potential support coalitions. Politics are stalled in particular by fractured social groups, especially business and labor, and more generally by inequality. These conditions result in large measure from previous trajectories of growth. The empirical analysis concentrates on nine of the larger MI countries.

Key Words

Political Challenges ; Middle-Income Trap ; Political Capacity ; Politics than Economics

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ID: 057997

Organization interests and coalitions in the politics of market / Schneider, Ben Ross

April 2004 Journal Article

Schneider, Ben Ross	Journal Article
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April 2004.

Key Words

Latin America ; Economic Relations-Latin America ; Market Reform

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