Dr. Matthew Layton is giving a Wealth & Poverty research talk on “Conditional Social Assistance and the Politics of Social Exclusion in Latin America” on Tuesday, Oct. 20, from 9-10:20 a.m. in Bentley 233.
Dr. Matthew Layton
Layton, Assistant Professor of Political Science at Ohio University, is an affiliate of the Wealth and Poverty theme at Ohio University. His research interests include the comparative study of public opinion, political behavior, and the political effects of government conditional cash transfer programs in Latin America. He earned a Ph.D. from Vanderbilt University in 2015.
Abstract: Over the last two decades, Latin American countries have adopted conditional cash transfer (CCT) programs as their primary means of providing targeted social assistance to their citizens living in extreme poverty. Proponents of these programs have highlighted their successes in promoting many of their core objectives related to human capital development. In contrast, what is as yet unknown is whether CCT policies foster or undermine a complementary goal of these programs, namely political empowerment among beneficiaries. This talk presents a theoretical framework and empirical evidence based on research and fieldwork conducted in the context of Brazil that link current anti-poverty policies to program deficiencies in fostering vibrant, autonomous citizenship among recipients. In short, biases in the distribution, operation, and perceptions of contemporary CCT programs undermine the capacity of these programs to break persistent cycles of social exclusion or empower autonomous citizens.
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