Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-5wvtr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-16T21:43:03.694Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Targeted social policy allocations by “clean” state bureaucracies: Chile 2000–2009

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 March 2020

Juan Pablo Luna  and
Rodrigo Mardones
Juan Pablo Luna*
Affiliation:
Instituto de Ciencia Política, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile
Rodrigo Mardones
Affiliation:
Instituto de Ciencia Política, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile
*
*Corresponding author. Email: jlunaf@uc.cl
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

We present evidence on the distributive politics of social transfers implemented in the context of a capable bureaucracy and the absence of a clientelistic machine-party system; where the usual distinction between “core” and “swing” voter investments falls short. Using evidence from Chile, the paper illustrates a selective distributive politics scenario in which, at the margins of fair socioeconomic targeting, incumbents might seek to enhance their political returns by implementing a highly diversified investment portfolio that includes the pursuit of both electoral and non-electoral goals. Non-electoral goals might be more effectively accomplished through selective distributive politics. The empirical evidence is based on a series of seemingly unrelated-regression models generated using a database on the allocations of six different social programs in 345 municipalities over a nine-year period. Our findings and theory discourage the mechanical translation of investment rationales across cases, while promoting a broader and more contextualized analysis of distributive politics.

Keywords

targeted social policydistributive politicschileclientelismstate capacity
Type
Articles
Information
Journal of International and Comparative Social Policy , Volume 32 , Issue 1 , February 2016 , pp. 36 - 56
Copyright
Copyright © 2015 Taylor & Francis

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Altman, D. (2004). Redibujando el Mapa Electoral Chileno: Incidencia de Factores Socioeconómicos y Género en las Urnas. Revista de Ciencia Política, 24, 49–66.Google Scholar
Amorim Neto, O. (2000). Presidential cabinets, electoral cycles, and coalition discipline in Brazil. Dados, 43(3), 479–519.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Auyero, J. (2000). The logic of clientelism in Argentina: An ethnographic account. Latin American Research Review, 36, 55–81.Google Scholar
Bardhan, P., & Mookherjee, D. (2000). Capture and governance at local and national levels. American Economic Review, 90(2), 135–139.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bardhan, P., & Mookherjee, D. (2006). The rise of local governments: An overview. In Bardhan, P. & Mookherjee, D. (Eds.), Decentralization and local governance in developing countries. A comparative perspective (pp. 1–52). Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barozet, E. (2003). Movilización de Recursos y Redes Sociales en los Neopopulismos: Hipótesis de Trabajo para el Caso Chileno. Revista de Ciencia Política, 23, 39–54.Google Scholar
Bonvecchi, A., & Lodola, G. (2009). The dual logic of intergovernmental transfers. Territorial coalition-building in Argentina. Paper read at the congress of the Latin American Studies Association, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, June 11–14.Google Scholar
Calvo, E. F., & Murillo, M. V. (2009). Patronage networks, ideological proximity, and vote choice. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association, Toronto, Canada, September 3–6.Google Scholar
De la O, A. (2010). The politics of conditional cash transfers. Paper presented at the seminar on redistribution, public goods & political market failures, New Haven, Department of Political Science, Yale University, April 9–10.Google Scholar
De la O, A. (2013). Do conditional cash transfers affect electoral behavior? Evidence from a randomized experiment in Mexico. American Journal of Political Science, 57, 1–14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Donoso, S. (2013). Dynamics of change in Chile: Explaining the emergence of the 2006 Pingüino movement. Journal of Latin American Studies, 45(1), 1–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Emmenegger, P., Häusermann, S., Palier, B., & Seeleib-Kaiser, M. (2013). Structural change and the politics of dualization. Rassegna Italiana di Sociologica, 54, 201–226.Google Scholar
European Commission. (2014). Study on conditional cash transfers and their impact on children. Brussels: European Commission.Google Scholar
Escobar-Lemmon, M. (2003). Political support for decentralization: An analysis of the Colombian and Venezuelan legislatures. American Journal of Political Science, 47(4), 683–697.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
García-Guadilla, M. P. (2002). Clientelism and empowerment in Latin America. Latin American Perspectives, 29(5), 90–109.Google Scholar
Gibson, E. L. (1997). The populist road to market reform: Policy and electoral coalitions in Mexico and Argentina. World Politics, 49(3), 339–370.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Giraudy, A. (2007). The distributive politics of emergency employment programs in Argentina (1993–2002). Latin American Research Review, 42(2), 33–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Golden, M., & Min, B. (2013). Distributive politics around the world. Annual Review of Political Science, 16(1), 73–99.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
González Ocantos, E., Meléndez, C., Kiewiet de Jonge, C., Osorio, J., & Nickerson, D. (2012). Vote buying and social desirability bias: Experimental evidence from Nicaragua. American Journal of Political Science, 56(1), 202–217.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hawkins, K. A., & Hansen, D. R. (2006). Dependent civil society: The círculos bolivarianos in Venezuela. Latin American Research Review, 41(1), 102–132.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huber, E., & Stephens, J. D. (2012). Democracy and the left: Social policy and inequality in Latin America. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hunter, W., & Borges, S. N. (2009). Democracy and social policy in Brazil: Advancing basic needs, preserving privileged interests. Latin American Politics and Society, 51(2), 29–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Inter-American Development Bank. (2005). The politics of policies. Economic and social progress in Latin America. 2006 Report. Washington, DC: Inter-American Development Bank/David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies, Harvard University.Google Scholar
Jenson, J. (2010). Diffusing ideas for after neoliberalism: The social investment perspective in Europe and Latin America. Global Social Policy, 10(1), 59–84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lavinas, L. (2013). 21st century welfare. New Left Review, 84, 5–40.Google Scholar
Luna, J. (2010). Segmented party-voter linkages in Latin America: The case of the UDI. Journal of Latin American Studies, 42(2), 325–356.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Luna, J. (2014). Segmented representation. Political party strategies in unequal democracies. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Luna, J., & Altman, D. (2011). Up-rooted but stable. Chilean parties and the concept of party system institutionalization. Latin American Politics and Society, 53(2), 1–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Luna, J., & Mardones, R. (2010). Chile: Are the parties over?. Journal of Democracy, 21(3), 107–121.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Magaloni, B., Diaz-Cayeros, A., & Estévez, F. (2007). Clientelism and portfolio diversification: A model of electoral investment with applications to Mexico. In Kitschelt, H. & Wilkinson, S. I. (Eds.), Patrons, clients, and policies: Patterns of democratic accountability (pp. 182–205). New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mainwaring, S., & Scully, T. (Eds.). (1995). Building democratic institutions: Party systems in Latin America. Stanford: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Manacorda, M., Miguel, E., & Vigorito, A. (2011). Government transfers and political support. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 3(3), 1–28.Google Scholar
Mares, I. (2006). Taxation, wage bargaining, and unemployment. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mares, I., & Petrova, T. (2013). Disaggregating clientelism: Examining the mix of vote-buying, patronage and intimidation. New York: Department of Political Science, Columbia University.Google Scholar
Mares, I., Petrova, T., & Muntean, A. (2014). Economic intimidation in comparative perspective: Experimental evidence from Bulgaria and Romania. Paper presented at the 4th Annual conference of the European Political Science Association. Edinburgh, UK, June 19–21.Google Scholar
Mares, I., & Young, L. (2014). Conditionality as coercion: Strategies of electoral mobilization in Hungary. New York: Department of Political Science, Columbia University.Google Scholar
Mares, I., & Zhu, B. (2011). The electoral determinants of fraud in semi-competitive electoral systems: Revisiting the case of imperial Germany. Barcelona: Various University Venues.Google Scholar
Martínez Gallardo, C. (2005). Presidents, posts, and policy: Ministerial appointments and political strategy in presidential regimes. New York: Department of Political Science, Columbia University.Google Scholar
Medgyesi, M., & Temesváry, Z. (2013). Conditional cash transfers in high-income Oecd countries and their effects on human capital accumulation. GINI discussion paper 84, Amsterdam, Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Labour Studies.Google Scholar
Morales, M., & Navia, P. (eds.). (2012). Democracia Municipal en Chile, 1992–2012. Santiago: Ediciones Universidad Diego Portales.Google Scholar
Morel, N., Palier, B., & Palme, J. (eds.). (2012). Towards a social investment welfare state?: Ideas, policies and challenges. Bristol, UK: Policy Press.Google Scholar
Palier, B., & Thelen, K. (2010). Institutionalizing dualism: Complementarities and change in France and Germany. Politics & Society, 38(1), 119–148.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Payne, J. M., Daniel Zovatto, G., Mateo Díaz, M., Allamand, A., Carrillo, F., Freidenberg, F., & Jarquín, E. (2006). La Política Importa: Democracia yY Desarrollo en América Latina. Washington, DC: Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo, Instituto Internacional para la Democracia y la Asistencia Electoral.Google Scholar
Pribble, J. (2013). Welfare and party politics in Latin America. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rueda, D. (2005). Insider–outsider politics in industrialized democracies: The challenge to social democratic parties. American Political Science Review, 99(1), 61–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rueda, D. (2007). Social democracy inside out. partisanship and labor market policy in advanced industrialized democracies. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rueda, D. (2014). Dualization, crisis and the welfare state. Socio-Economic Review, 12(2), 381–407.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Salas, V. (2011). Accountability Social y Accountability Horizontal en Chile: Medios Pasivos, Agencias Estatales Reactivas. Santiago: Instituto de Ciencia Política, Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile.Google Scholar
Schady, N. (2000). The political economy of expenditures by the peruvian social fund (Foncode) 1991–1995. American Political Science Review, 94(2), 289–304.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stokes, S. C. (2005). Perverse accountability: A formal model of machine politics with evidence from Argentina. American Political Science Review, 99(3), 315–327.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stokes, S. C., Dunning, T., Nazareno, M., & Brusco, V. (2013). Brokers, voters, and clientelism: The puzzle of distributive politics. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Toro, S. (2007). Conducta Legislativa ante las Iniciativas del Ejecutivo: Unidad de los Bloques Políticos en Chile. Revista de Ciencia Política, 27, 23–41.Google Scholar
Toro, S. (2013). Diversificación del Portafolio Político, Dinámicas Legislativas e Incentivos Múltiples: Compatibilizando el Interés Individual y los Objetivos de Política en el Congreso Chileno (Doctoral dissertation). Santiago, Instituto de Ciencia Política, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile.Google Scholar
Weyland, K., Madrid, R. L., & Hunter, W. (eds.). (2010). Leftist governments in Latin America: Successes and shortcomings. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zucco, C. (2008). The president's ‘new’ constituency: Lula and the pragmatic vote in Brazil's 2006 presidential elections. Journal of Latin American Studies, 40(1), 29–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zucco, C. (2010). Cash-transfers and voting behavior: Electoral impacts of Brazil's Bolsa Família program. Paper presented at the seminar on redistribution, public goods & political market failures, New Haven, Yale University, April 9–10.Google Scholar