Políticas de Transferencias Monetarias. Exportando Expectativas en Desarrollo

Abstract

In this paper, I reconstruct the anticipatory contexts in which cash transfer programs were implemented in Mexico. In 1994, Procampo was implemented with the aim of supporting structural adjustments and for making Mexican agricultural sector viable in foreseen North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) markets. In 1997 Progresa cash transfer program began to condition the behavior of mothers of poor children, while it cast a long term future in which its beneficiaries would accumulate enough human capital to enter into formal labor markets. Given that these objectives could not be calculated neither empirically nor rationally a priori , I use the concept of "imaginary future" for their analysis. Leaving aside in this article the various appropriations of these moneys, I conclude that cash transfer programs that follow the Mexican model could be promoting the same fictional expectations of inclusion.