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This paper offers an updated picture of the nature of deprivation in old age in Latin America, as well as an analysis of its different dimensions. Based on harmonized cross-sectional social protection surveys for Chile, Colombia, Paraguay, El Salvador, and Uruguay we estimate and compare multidimensional poverty indices for older adults. We consider the following dimensions: housing, health, labor and social security, and education. Our results illustrate the disparities in multidimensional poverty of the older people across the region. We also provide original evidence about deprivations in health that go beyond health coverage and underline the importance of Social security at older ages. The general picture indicates that Housing is the dimension with lower deprivation rates, whereas Health presents the higher levels of deprivation. Chile and Uruguay stand out for their relatively good performance in Labor and Social Security. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Assumptions of the traditional income poverty measure have strong implications not confirmed by the evidence, but this measure is still widely used in gender poverty analysis. We explore the boundaries of the gender analysis of monetary poverty based on the currently available information (household surveys for 16 Latin American countries). Our results indicate that departing from the conventional methodology has more influence on women than men, worsening female indicators. Households emerge as crucial venues for income support for low income partnered women and for women with no access to any income, whose autonomy is seriously compromised due to this fact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Motivation: How is research on social issues shaped in Latin America? How much attention do researchers give to poverty and inequality? What is the focus of research on these issues? Purpose: The paper aims to analyse the main patterns of academic publications on poverty and inequality in Latin America. Approach and methods: A bibliometric analysis based on different sources is used to review the main trends of publications on poverty and inequality in the region between 1990 and 2014. Findings: We find that although Latin America is widely recognized as one of the most unequal regions worldwide, poverty—not inequality—has been at the centre of the region's research agendas for many years. We detect a gradual shift in research from poverty to inequality, both in the academic literature and in the publications of international organizations. Policy implications: These findings provide new elements to better understand how and why researchers choose certain topics over others. This understanding is important both to gain knowledge on what researchers are prioritizing, and to shed light on the relationship between those priorities and public policies to combat poverty and inequality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aims at contributing to the debate on the effectiveness of cash transfers in terms of income inequality variations at the national and regional level, in middle-income countries like Uruguay. We microsimulate how targeting criteria affect impacts on school attendance, income inequality and poverty of the recently incepted cash transfer programme Asignaciones Familiares. Our results show that inequality tends to persist although programme effects on child education, indigence and poverty are positive. Targeting mechanisms strongly condition both the geographical distribution of beneficiaries and school attendance outcomes but do not affect regional disparities and programme effects on inequality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]