ABSTRACT
Social protection systems in Latin America have experienced deep structural change in the last two decades. Social assistance – budget-financed and rules-based programmes providing transfers and services to disadvantaged groups – now reaches around one-third of the population in the region. It plugs a longstanding gap in the region’s social protection institutions, historically rooted in Bismarckian social insurance. The chapter argues that structural change has resulted in dual social protection institutions: social insurance covering workers in formal employment and social assistance supporting low-income groups in informal employment. Growing dualism in social protection raises important questions about the future of welfare institutions in the region. The chapter tracks the emergence of this dualism, assesses explanations for how we got here and speculates on the future of social protection institutions in the region.
