Conditional Cash Transfer Programs in Ecuador and Chile / Progress in Mathematics (PDF)

In this book, Cecilia Osorio Gonnet takes the reader on a journey from the rise of Conditional Cash Transfers (CCTs) in Mexico and Brazil though their spread across Latin America over the late 20th and early 21st centuries. What makes this text a must read is how Osorio Gonnet analyses this spread; combining an impressive array of qualitative and quantitative data to show how endogenous and exogenous forces interacted to shape the nature of individual CCT programs, within an underlying set of 'essential' elements. Forming the fundamental uniqueness of this investigation was Osorio Gonnet's notable empirical study of the epistemic community that developed, changed, and acted as the catalyst for the spread and understanding of CCTs amongst the regions policymakers. Osorio Gonnet's core arguments are illustrated a detailed analysis of the diametrically different cases of Chile's Solidario program and what became Ecuador's Bono Desarrollo Humano program. Not only will this text help form the basis of future studies through the question it raises in relation to diffusion, but it will be a must read for anyone interested in Conditional Cash Transfers, Comparative Policy Analysis, Policy Studies, Policy Diffusion and Policy Transfer studies.
- David Dolowitz, University of Liverpool, UK