Recent trends in social spending and social investment in young people

This chapter examines traditional indicators of social spending, which aim to measure the level of priority that has been accorded to it in the current economic cycle, as a global slowdown curtails growth in Latin America and the Caribbean following limited rallies after the international financial crisis of 2008-2009. It also gauges the procyclical impact of social expenditure and seeks to determine whether its more recent tendency to be countercyclical is holding. The chapter also provides an overview of the sectoral distribution of public social expenditure, developments and changes in it over the long and medium term and cyclical patterns in its component parts.

Related Subject(s): Drugs Crime and Terrorism