About the book

Edited by: H. Xavier Jara, Andrés Mideros Mora & María Gabriela Palacio
Published by: EdiPUCE, 2024

ISBN: 978-9978-77-707-7

Over the last four decades, Ecuador's social policy has been repeatedly redesigned, reshaped, and contested, leaving a deep imprint on the country’s social fabric, patterns of inequality, and competing visions of welfare. This volume offers a wide-ranging and critical overview of how social policy, poverty, and inequality in Ecuador have evolved between 1980 and 2021. Grounded in rich empirical evidence and interdisciplinary perspectives, the book examines the contribution of education, health, pensions, taxation, and child protection systems, while revealing the structural tensions and political struggles that drive policy reforms. Moving beyond purely technical debates, it interrogates the normative foundations of policymaking, foregrounds the lived experiences of marginalised groups, and unpacks the political economy of exclusion that continues to shape social rights and opportunities.

Table of Contents (Highlights)

• Social Policy and the State: Historical shifts, changing state roles, and the influence of political regimes

• Taxation and Redistribution: Reform trajectories, fiscal regressivity, and the limits and possibilities of state capacity

• Education and Inequality: Who gains access, who is left behind, and how quality gaps reproduce structural inequalities

• Social Protection: From targeted conditional cash transfers to debates on universalism and social citizenship

• Health Systems: Fragmentation, reform cycles, and the resilience of institutions in the face of crisis

• Child and Adolescent Welfare: Shifting legal and social norms, persistent vulnerabilities, and emerging policy agendas

• Poverty and Multidimensional Well-being: Measuring deprivation, assessing policy impacts, and contesting dominant narratives

For institutional purchase or bulk inquiries, please contact: publicaciones@puce.edu.ec