Is there a Common Path that could have Conditioned the Degree of Welfare State Development in Latin America and the Caribbean?

The purpose of this paper is to re‐examine from a multidimensional perspective the possible existence of a single path that could have conditioned the degree of welfare state development (WSD) in Latin America. Economic/industrial development, trade‐openness, democracy and the strength of leftist parties‐labour movement are used as explanatory variables in the qualitative comparative analysis. In contrast to previous findings, this paper shows that there is no evidence of a common path followed by countries with a relatively high/medium WSD. Nevertheless, countries that experienced a low economic/industrial development combined with a low democratic experience were conditioned to have low WSD.     

Effect of food insecurity on food purchases at home

Previous research has established a relationship between income and food security. In this article, we examine the effect of food security on food purchases, specifically on five food‐at‐home groups. Using a set of Tobit models, and after controlling for a set of confounding factors, we show that food security perception leads to the purchase of fruit and vegetables, meats and eggs, and dairy products while decreasing the purchase of fat and carbohydrates. However, we cannot be certain of the actual nutritional effect.     

Drugs Around the Corner: Domestic Drug Markets and Violence in Colombia and Mexico

Over the past decade, drug consumption has increased in Colombia and Mexico, countries traditionally concerned with drug production and trafficking. Governments and observers have associated this growth with spikes in violence. Drawing on drug consumption surveys and fieldwork in four cities, this study argues that contrary to this perception, there is no automatic connection between domestic drug markets and violence. Violence depends on whether large drug‐trafficking organizations (DTOs) control low‐level street dealers and on whether those DTOs have a market monopoly at the local level. When dealers are independent, violence might be sporadic, but when DTOs control dealers, violence can explode (given competition between DTOs) or implode (if one organization holds a monopoly). Control over dealers provides DTOs not only income but also informants and armed muscle. This article also shows that domestic drug markets are not new, and have grown incrementally in the past two decades.