The Political Economy of Anti-Poverty Policies in Latin America

Abstract This chapter explores poverty relief policies based on conditional cash transfer (CCT) programmes in Latin America, arguably the most fundamental institutional social policy innovation at the turn of the twentieth century. It was in Latin America where CCTs were initially created. This chapter explores the political economy of the adoption of CCT anti-poverty interventions, why they have improved targeting in favour of the poor, how they have become increasingly popular among politicians and policymakers, and whether structuring these programmes has shifted policy discretion away from political clientelism, in favour of becoming true entitlements. One major implication of the rise of CCTs is that citizens in Latin America can now judge the competence and performance of politicians in terms of their success or failure in reducing poverty.