Conditional Cash Transfer Programs in Ecuador and Chile

This book offers readers a deeper understanding of the diffusion process of the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) programs in Latin America and the role played by experts and international organizations. CCTs have been increasingly implemented around the world in recent decades, and by 2010, 17 countries in Latin America had adopted them. The evidence suggests that this concentration is due to a process of policy diffusion. International organizations contribute to this process; however, the book’s main argument is that there was another, more important actor involved: a regional epistemic community that increased the availability of information about CCTs and reinforced their legitimacy, playing a role in the domestic processes of formulation and adoption.


This book addresses the diffusion of the programs throughout the region; diffusion mechanisms that can help us understand the programs’ adoption (emulation, learning and coercion); and the impacts of key actors on the process (epistemic community, international organizations and policymakers).

This book presents groundbreaking research on one of the most important social policy innovations developed in the Global South in the past 25 years: Conditional Cash Transfers (CCT). Cecilia Osorio Gonnet overcomes the ‘territorial trap’ of conventional public policy analysis and provides a sophisticated study of CCTs in Latin America, considering both national and transnational dimensions, with particular attention to Chile and Ecuador. She weaves together the micro and macro dynamics of policy diffusion to explain the adoption of CCTs in the region, unveiling the role played by epistemic communities, governments and international organizations. The book is a must read for all scholars and practitioners interested in social policies, policy diffusion and Latin American politics.
- Osmany Porto de Oliveira, International Relations Department, Federal University of São Paulo, Brazil

Cecilia Osorio brings a crucial contribution to the discussion of Conditional Cash Transfers (CCTs) in the framework of policy diffusion processes. Latin America was the cradle of those programs and there is a need for an enhanced understanding of why and how diverse leaders in the region made the decision to reduce poverty by recurring to the CCT policy model. Dr. Osorio's work is context-rich and analytically sophisticated.
- Michelle Morais de Sa e Silva, University of Oklahoma, USA

In this book, Cecilia Osorio Gonnet takes the reader on a journey from the rise of Conditional Cash Transfers (CCTs) in Mexico and Brazil though their spread across Latin America over the late 20th and early 21st centuries.  What makes this text a must read is how Osorio Gonnet analyses this spread; combining an impressive array of qualitative and quantitative data to show how endogenous and exogenous forces interacted to shape the nature of individual CCT programs, within an underlying set of ‘essential’ elements.  Forming the fundamental uniqueness of this investigation was Osorio Gonnet’s notable empirical study of the epistemic community that developed, changed, and acted as the catalyst for the spread and understanding of CCTs amongst the regions policymakers.  Osorio Gonnet’s core arguments are illustrated a detailed analysis of the diametrically different cases of Chile’s Solidario program and what became Ecuador’s Bono Desarrollo Humano program.  Not only will this text help form the basis of future studies through the question it raises in relation to diffusion, but it will be a must read for anyone interested in Conditional Cash Transfers, Comparative Policy Analysis, Policy Studies, Policy Diffusion and Policy Transfer studies.
- David Dolowitz, University of Liverpool, UK

Cecilia Osorio’s book significantly contributes to the study of public policymaking; an underdeveloped field in Latin America. Using a policy diffusion perspective, she identifies variables to explain the adoption of Conditional Cash Transfer programs, which have played an important role in overcoming poverty in several countries of the region in the past decades. She argues that policy choices are explained by both institutional capacity and the role of epistemic communities. Using Chile and Ecuador as case studies, the author tests her hypothesis through a combination of methodologies, providing solid comparative evidence. This research offers an original perspective to understanding how different Latin American countries have approached poverty alleviation and it also contributes to the broader debate around poverty eradication.
- Flavia Freidenberg, Instituto de Investigaciones Jurídicas, UNAM, México, Red de Politólogas - #NoSinMujeres

Cecilia Osorio Gonnet holds a Ph.D. in Political and Social Sciences from the Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain. She is currently an Assistant Professor at the Politics and Government Department, Universidad Alberto Hurtado, Chile. Her most recent book was “Learning or emulating: how social policies are disseminated in Latin America” (2018).