Using data from the Inter-American Development Bank “Harmonized Household Surveys from Latin America and the Caribbean”, which now provide a more comprehensive coverage of Caribbean countries, we show that before the pandemic non-contributory cash transfers covered 26% of the population of 17 countries with available data. This is the most appropriate focus when the goal is to assess the ability to provide protection to larger population groups (including the vulnerable) and against transitory poverty caused by systemic shocks (such as pandemic or extreme weather events, which may become more and more frequent due to climate change). In addition, we are the first to expand the focus to all non-contributory cash transfer programs, including those that are quasi-universal and/or unconditional. While the literature presents estimates of coverage and leakage of conditional cash transfers and non-contributory pensions, our results are novel because they are the first to analyze coverage and leakage implemented in response to the COVID-19 crisis. The latter analyzes the magnitude of the policy response. The former is useful to show the degree of preparedness of the region. In this paper, we present novel estimates of the coverage and beneficiary distribution of all non-contributory cash transfers both before and during the COVID-19 crisis.
It showed that the Latin American and Caribbean regions income support systems were both fundamental and insufficient. The socioeconomic crisis associated with the pandemic put cash transfer programs back at the top of the policy agenda.
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