Ideas into policies: universal basic income translations in Brazil, Mexico, and Argentina

ABSTRACT

Introduction:

This paper aims to analyze policy transfer processes related to Universal Basic Income, discussing the various routes of knowledge from a global epistemic community to policies in Brazil, Mexico and Argentina. Policy transfer literature is discussed. We build a framework on the concepts of field, epistemic community, translation and isomorphic institutional change. This framework describes the moments and phenomena at place in policy transfer from epistemic communities.

Materials and Methods:

The cases describe policy work. Sources include news, speeches, policy documents and literature. Selection of the cases follows a frequency criteria, by means of which Google engine searches show Brazil, Mexico and Argentina as those more relevant. Time frame of the study is established according to the cases’ timeline, each of them following a different temporal span.

Results:

The paper describes policy transfer journeys in Brazil, Mexico and Argentina. Data shows that Universal Basic Income translations bring about policy programs in which the idea is just partially implemented.

Discussion:

The background, positionality of epistemic communities and political configurations define the dynamics, conditions, and results of the translations of the original idea. This study adds to the understanding of the agents and processes of policy transfer from global epistemic networks. It is shown that the policy products generated therein are beyond the control of their initial promoters.

Keywords
transfer of public policies; epistemic communities; border work; universal basic income; comparative study