Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

In Latin America, macroeconomic stability in the region has allowed for countries to design policies to combat poverty and expand social policies. Policy efforts to address social issues across the region have included conditional cash transfers and major investments in the welfare state among others. While there have been significant improvements in life expectancy, education coverage and quality, and social insurance programs (i.e. pensions, health insurance), new regional challenges are emerging that impact the quality of life, social well-being, and health of populations. Utilizing Kindgon’s multiple-streams framework, we analyze the problem, policy and political elements related to three policy issues: health, migration, and drugs. For comparative purposes, the analysis covers a broad range of large and small countries in the region. The health analysis focuses specifically on obesity and mental health. Latin American nations have growing rates of obesity, while mental health, a problem with far reaching consequences, remains under recognized and under addressed across the region. Migration between the United States and Mexico has received extensive attention, but our focus is on return migration and migration between countries within Latin America. The limitations of criminalization of drugs and the merits of both de-criminalization and legalization will be examined in relationship to the drug issue. Our analysis shows that there are far-ranging consequences in all areas, and we present promising policy innovations in all three areas.