The Social Policy Index: It's Applicability in Latin American Countries

Abstract

Social Policy is a tool employed by states to intervene in society with an aim of reducing the effects of poverty and inequality by meeting people's basic needs. The question is how do we measure social policy? In 2006, the United Nations Organization proposed a Social Policy Index (SPI), a methodological tool to measure social policy, with the aim of understanding the current regimes of economic and social structures in each country. The SPI suggests quantifying the elements of social policy, without focusing on their results, preferring to identify how the policy and the efforts of each government are materialized in some social indexes like social spending, social security, taxes, and institutional quality. Nevertheless, there are no known results to prove the effectiveness of this index. This paper discusses the proposal made by the UN and considers its application in particular time periods of social policy in Chile (1996 - 2010), a Latin American country and member of the OECD. A special emphasis is placed on the review of its dimensions, indicators, and information sources, identifying their strengths and potential difficulties in their applicability in Latin American countries like Chile.