ABSTRACT

This text aims to discuss the creation of the Bolsa Familia program from the perspective of policy diffusion, using the experience of Mexico as a comparison. It is argued that the Latin American wave of income transfer programs in the 1990s did not produce homogeneous policies due to the varying political, social, and institutional contexts of social learning (Hall 1993); the political trajectories in these countries; and the paradigms and stakeholder clashes that influenced these policies (Campbell 2002). One may conclude that, despite similar traits concerning administrative decentralization on the federal level and the hegemony of neoliberal ideas in economic policies, these two countries produced different trajectories for constructing income transfer programs. The interaction between political and social (and domestic and international) stakeholders and the role of ideas in these categories and their effects on policies are relevant in making this assessment.