Uneven Social Policies: The Politics of Subnational Variation in Latin America
by Sara Niedzwiecki (Cambridge University Press, Hardback: 2018, Paperback: 2020)

Social policies can transform the lives of the poor and marginalized, yet inequitable implementation often limits their access. Uneven Social Policies shifts the focus of welfare state analysis away from policy design and toward policy implementation. By examining variation in political motivations, state capacity, and policy legacies, it explains why some policies are implemented more effectively than others, why some deliver votes to incumbent governments while others do not, and why regionally elected executives block the implementation of some but not all national policies. Niedzwiecki explores this variation across provinces and municipalities by combining case studies with statistical analysis of conditional cash transfers and health policies in two decentralized countries, Argentina and Brazil. The analysis draws on original data gathered during fifteen months of field research that included more than 230 interviews with politicians and 140 with policy recipients.

Argentina Political Alignments
Data and Codebook

Replication Material Chapter 4
Data Brazil
Data Argentina
Do-File Chapter 4
Online Appendix Chapter 4

  • Donna Lee Van Cott Award for the best book on Latin American Politics and Institutions, LASA
  • IPPA Public Policy and/or Public Administration Best Book Award, Associations International Conference on Public Policy (ICPP)

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