This book includes case studies of 30 social programs from 11 Latin American countries. These services include the delivery of school lunches, unemploment assistance and housing mortgages. The book also shows how the different programmes balanced service improvements against cost.

This book includes case studies of 30 social programs from 11 Latin American countries and provides valuable lessons about targeting a range of social programs. These services include the delivery of school lunches, food stamps, day care, student aid, cash payments, unemployment assistance, housing mortgages, and food commodities and subsidies. Information is provided on the administration costs, requirements, and options for targeting social services. Case by case, the book shows how the different programs managed to balance service improvements against the expense of targeting to make them cost-effective. It also describes the most common targeting methods and identifies which programmes used them and why.

In theory - costs and benefits of targeting
methods for judging outcomes
in practice - program costs and outcomes
individual assessment mechanisms
targeting by group characteristics and geographical area, self-targeting mechanisms
targeting and universal services
summary and conclusions.