Scholars Who Became Practitioners: the Influence of Research on the Design, Evaluation and Political Survival of Mexico's Anti-poverty Program Progresa/Oportunidades

Nora Lustig

No 1123, Working Papers from Tulane University, Department of Economics

Abstract: Celebrated by academics, multilateral organizations, policy-makers and the media, Mexico's Progresa/Oportunidades conditional cash transfers program (CCT) is constantly used as a model of a successful anti-poverty program. Here I argue that the transformation of well-trained scholars into influential practitioners played a fundamental role in promoting a new conceptual approach to poverty reduction, ensuring the technical soundness and effectiveness of the program, incorporating rigorous impact evaluation, and persuading politicians to implement and keep the program in place. The involvement of scholars-practitioners also helped disseminate the new CCT "technology" to many countries around the world within a decade.

Keywords: anti-poverty programs; conditional cash transfers; scholars; practitioners; Progresa; Oportunidades; Mexico (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H3 H53 I3 O2 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 19 pages
Date: 2011-06
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-his and nep-ltv
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:tul:wpaper:1123

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