Administering Targeted Social Programs in Latin America: From Platitudes to Practice (World Bank Regional and Sectoral Studies)

This book includes case studies of 30 social programs from 11 Latin American countries and provides valuable lessons about targeting a range of social programs. These services include the delivery of school lunches, food stamps, day care, student aid, cash payments, unemployment assistance, housing mortgages, and food commodities and subsidies. Information is provided on the administration costs, requirements, and options for targeting social services. Case by case, the book shows how the different programs managed to balance service improvements against the expense of targeting to make them cost-effective. It also describes the most common targeting methods and identifies which programmes used them and why.