Towards Effective Social Insurance in Latin America: The Importance of Countercyclical Fiscal Policy

Miguel Braun and Luciano di Gresia
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Luciano di Gresia: Universidad Nacional de La Plata

Public Economics from EconWPA

Abstract: Latin America is a volatile, crisis-prone region, with limited and inadequate social insurance. Therefore, the long-term as well as the recent poor suffer significantly during crises. Furthermore, social spending is procyclical in the region, but less so than total spending, indicating that the effectiveness of compensatory social policies designed to protect those vulnerable to crises is constrained by adjustments during recessions. The causes of procyclical fiscal policy lie in the political constraints on saving during expansions, combined with limited creditworthiness during recessions, and enhanced by economic volatility and a low share of automatic stabilizers in the budget.

JEL-codes: D6 D7 H (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2004-10-05
Note: Type of Document - pdf; pages: 62
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Persistent link: http://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:wpa:wuwppe:0410001

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