Assessing decommodification and welfare regimes

Juan Cruz Ferre

Chapter 3 in The Political Economy of Welfare in Latin America, 2026, pp 69-104 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: This chapter offers a comprehensive tool to measure shifts in social policy regimes, highlighting three dimensions of welfare—inclusion, generosity, and equity—across different policy areas: contributory and non-contributory transfers, healthcare, and education. The countries that made progress in decommodification improved inclusion and, to a lesser extent, generosity. However, no country made progress in equity. Progress was largely driven by non-contributory transfers and healthcare. Regression analyses show that left governments, a recent crisis of legitimacy, and economic growth are associated with greater progress in decommodification—and they also suggest electoral competition. A cluster analysis offers a new, more precise classification of Latin American welfare regimes in 2002 and 2017. Although the analysis shows minor shifts in country groupings, an increasing reliance on social assistance policies, particularly among the most advanced countries, marks a shift toward what I call compensatory regimes.

Keywords: Decommodification; Welfare regimes; Compensatory states; Universalism; Social assistance; Pink Tide (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
ISBN: 9781035371334
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