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We study the effect of a job training program for low-income youth in Cordoba, Argentina. The program included life-skills and vocational training, as well as internships with private sector employers. Participants were allocated by means of a public lottery. We rely on administrative data on formal employment, employment spells, and earnings, to establish the effects of the program in the short term (18 months), but also-exceptionally for programs of this type in Latin America and in developing countries in general-in the medium term (33 months) and in the long term (48 months). The results indicate sizable gains of about 8 percentage points in formal employment in the short term (about 32% higher than the control group), although these effects dissipate in the medium and in the long term. Contrary to previous results for similar programs in the region, the effects are substantially larger for men, although they also seem to fade in the long run. Program participants also exhibit earnings about 40% higher than those in the control group, and an analysis of bounds indicates that these gains result from both higher employment levels and higher wages. The detailed administrative records also allow us to shed some light on the possible mechanisms underlying these effects. A dynamic analysis of employment transitions indicates that the program operated through an increase in the persistence of employment rather than from more frequent entries into employment. The earnings effect and the higher persistence of employment suggest that the program was successful in increasing the human capital of participants, although the transient nature of these results may also reflect better matches from a program-induced increase in informal contacts or formal intermediation. ( JEL J08, J24, J68, O15) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To describe the functional state, socio-economic status, and environmental situation of a very poor elderly (older than 65 years old) population in Argentina, and its relationship with their autonomy. Methods: This was a descriptive and prospective study , the applied instrument was the Spanish Red Cross Scales. The above mentioned evaluation was completed by applying a second instrument for social evaluation described by Marin et al in Chile in 1994. Besides, other general information was collected from the studied population such as: environmental, family, and social conditions. A group of inhabitants of a shanty town was evaluated. Statistical analysis was based on Chi- square test, while Student t test or non parametrics one were applied on the data depending on their distribution. Results: A sample of 219 people, with a mean value age of 69 ± 6 years old, was functionally evaluated using the Spanish Red Cross Scale, being the obtained data classified by age (less or older than 75 years old), education, income, and gender. There was no statistical difference between both age groups in any scale value (p=NS, ANOVA-Bonferroni). Conclusion: No significant difference was found in the functional state, capability for performing daily life activities, cognitive state among the studied people depending on their age, gender, educational level and economic income. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We begin this paper by reviewing some recent transformations in governance. We then propose three new concepts that we believe assist us in coming to terms with these transformations and the political statuses that have emerged as part of them. These concepts are ‘nodal governance’, ‘denizens’, and ‘communal space’. Following this we will explore the normative implications of nodal governance as it has taken shape to date, with an emphasis on the ‘governance disparity’ that is paralleling the ‘wealth disparity’ across the globe. In response to this disparity, we will end with an outline of a normative vision and practical programme aimed at deepening democracy in poor areas of South Africa, Argentina, and elsewhere. We will argue that the main virtue of nodal governance, namely, the emphasis on local capacity and knowledge can be retrieved, reaffirmed, and reinstitutionalized in ways that enhance the self-direction of poor communities while strengthening their ‘collective capital’. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on ethnographic fieldwork in a shantytown in the outskirts of Buenos Aires, this article studies the workings of Peronist "political clientelism" among the urban poor. It analyzes the web of relations that some slum-dwellers establish with local political brokers to obtain medicine, food, and solutions to other everyday concerns. The article also explores the main functions of the "problem-solving networks," which are resource control and information hoarding, and pays particular attention to an underexplored dimension of the operation of clientelism: clients' own views on the network. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]