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The Appeal of Minimum Income Programmes in Latin America Lena Lavinas This paper aims at describing some minimum income schemes implemented in Latin America in the 1990s. Special attention will be given to school grant programmes - usually called Bolsa-Escola - adopted in Brazil. We also provide information on the ongoing debate on minimum income programs taking place in Argentina and Ecuador and offer a brief description on Progresa, the Mexican version of school stipends. Despite their compensatory bias, minimum income programmes play an important role in expanding the citizenship of the less favored that have been left out from the existing social protection system. More than a safety net, these cash transfers actually have a redistributive impact that is non-existent in the traditional compensatory programmes, since they bring into the debate on the restructuring of welfare the idea of basic security for all. In doing so they provide the necessary framework for moving from selectivity to universalism. Click here for full document in PDF |
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Updated by LD. Approved by GS. Last update: 30 October 2000.