Social Protection in Latin America

This open access book offers a comprehensive analysis of social protection in Latin America, its origins, institutions, and outcomes. The chapters are organised in three groups. The earlier chapters discuss in turn appropriate methods, an analytical framework, and core institutions. The book advocates a causal inference approach to the study of the institutions that have dominated social protection in the region: occupational insurance, individual retirement savings, and social assistance. The middle chapters study social protection’s main stratification effects, focussing on stratification effects on employment, protection, and worker incorporation. The later chapters then assess social protection outcomes and identify country groupings including their evolution over time. The book, and its approach and findings, contributes to the advancement of a theory of social protection amongst late industrialisers. Armando Barrientos is Professor Emeritus of Poverty and Social Justice at the Global Development Institute at the University of Manchester, UK. He was Research Director at the World Poverty Institute.