Clusters

The chapter studies differences and similarities in social protection institutions across countries in the region with the aim of identifying country groupings or clusters. The methodological approach implemented was borrowed from the literature in social policy regimes. The grouping of countries is based on the causal outcomes of social protection institutions—employment, protection, and incorporation—and repeated for the periods associated with institutional development. The results largely confirm the findings in the social policy regime literature. There are three main clusters of countries: Southern cone countries plus Costa Rica, Mexico, and Panama; Andean countries including Paraguay; and Central American countries. Repeating the cluster analysis for different periods characterised by social protection reforms provides additional insights. The temporal analysis suggests a measure of continuity in the country groupings over time, but it also shows disruption in the membership of the clusters during the neoliberal period. Cluster memberships loosen up during this period, especially for countries like Chile and Mexico. Paying attention to measures of the distribution of transfers introduces fluidity in the membership sets of Andean and Central American countries.