Welfare conditionality in OECD countries and in Latin America: A comparative perspective

Abstract

Cash benefit programs have increasingly emphasized conditionality in recent decades. Linking benefits to certain behavioral requirements has become a prominent feature of reforms of unemployment benefits (UBs) and related out-of-work benefits in high-income Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries, but it has also been a defining feature of conditional cash transfer (CCT) programs in many emerging economies. This is notably the case in Latin America, where CCTs have accounted for growing shares of cash support programs targeted to households facing severe material deprivation and systemic exclusion. Existing research of conditionality patterns and trends has considered the two regions separately, limiting our understanding of key differences but also commonalities. We take a first step to resolve this by comparing core elements of benefit conditionality rules within and across the OECD and Latin America. We analyze conditionality provisions across both regions using a common measurement framework and discussing implications for the study of conditional social policy from a global perspective.