Failing the needy: public social spending in Latin America

The paper accounts for the failure of public social spending in Latin American to reach poor and vulnerable groups of the population. It considers the level and allocation of expenditure; the distribution of entitlements across the population and the capacity of different groups to mobilize these entitlements. Whilst total spending levels compare favourably with other developing regions, only a small share is allocated to programmes with greatest potential for poverty reduction. Poor and vulnerable groups enjoy a much narrower range of entitlements than less needy sections and have greater difficulty in mobilizing these entitlements. Recent reform programmes have done little to reduce these inequitable effects.