The diffusion of Conditional Cash Transfer programs in the Americas

Abstract

In the mid-1990s, Brazil and Mexico created innovative social policies known as Conditional Cash Transfers (CCTs). Since then, CCTs have spread to countries throughout Latin America and beyond. While these programs reflect a new development norm, their spread is surprising given that some emulating countries lack the basic education and health infrastructure to support increased demand from beneficiaries. This article draws on a policy diffusion framework to explain the spread of CCTs. The author contrasts domestic preconditions (political ideology, state capacity and human development levels) with international pressure (neighborhood effects, professional norm-creation and financial inducements by international financial institutions) to explain the diffusion of CCTs. In order to elucidate the mechanisms that drive diffusion processes, the article draws on mixed methods to uncover learning and emulation among actors.

Diffusion of CCTs from Latin America to Asia: the Philippine 4Ps case

“…Such diffusion in Latin America has been attributed to the pressures made by international organizations through a platform 'learning with your neighbors' , through establishing international professional norms, and financial incentives. In addition, the diffusion was also promoted by the tendency of domestic politicians to use heuristic shortcuts in their search for solutions (Sugiyama, 2011).…”

“…The section below explains that while these international actors, (including policy consultants who have worked in other CCTs, and international financing institutions, like the World Bank, Asian Development Bank and Australian Aid (AusAid) have used their epistemic authority in the first stage of CCT diffusion within Latin America from Mexico and Brazil (Jenson, 2010;Sugiyama, 2011), they are equally involved in the diffusion of CCTs to Asia. Although most studies on CCT diffusion in the Philippines argue that a political context germane for cooperation of these international actors with domestic actors from the Philippine government, particularly DSWD, is the most important variable for policy transfer (Kim and Yoo, 2015;Debonneville and Diaz, 2013), we argue that the current Pantawid Program was largely a by-product of an instrument constituency transnationally advocating for the value of CCT in poverty reduction.…”

Hacia una teoría ideacional de la difusión institucional. La adopción y adaptación del presidencialismo en América Latina durante el siglo XIX

“…Es imposible dar cuenta de la producción sobre difusión de políticas en apenas un párrafo. De todos modos, vale la pena mencionar algunos ejemplos para ilustrar la enorme variedad de procesos de difusión que han venido siendo estudiados durante los últimos años: transferencias condicionadas (Sugiyama, 2011), procesos de privatización de la seguridad social (Brooks, 2005), mecanismos de financiación de hospitales (Gilardi et al, 2009), políticas y tecnologías de regulación en los capitalismos contemporáneos (Levi-Faur, 2005), tratados bilaterales de inversión (Elkins et al, 2006), privatización de telecomunicaciones (Schmitt, 2011), políticas económicas promercado (Simmons y Elkins, 2004), instrumentos de política ambiental (Tews et al, 2003), políticas laborales en la Unión Europea (Casey y Gold, 2005), políticas antilavado de dinero en países en desarrollo (Sharman, 2008), control del tabaquismo (Shipan y Volden, 2006) y políticas energéticas en los Estados Unidos (Matisoff y Edwards, 2014).…”

Trazos e influencias de los Programas de Transferencia de Renta Condicionada / Outlines and influences of the Cash Conditional Transfers

“…Como lo expresa Sugiyama (2011), si bien los pioneros México y Brasil, tenían similar índice de desarrollo humano cuando configuraron sus respectivos programas, no era esa la situación del resto de las sociedades latinoamericanas. Países que presentaban mejor desempeño que México y Brasil respecto al índice mencionado así como aquellos que tenían necesidades notoriamente más acuciantes, adoptaron similar medida.…”