Critical reflections about basic universalism

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors claim that the establishment and effective implementation of basic universalism do not lead to the universalization of a great number of basic services of good quality and quantity, or to the progressive universalisation of all the social benefits.

Abstract: In the last few years Basic Universalism has become one of the main topics in the agenda of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) concerning social rights in South America. It is stated that Basic Universalism (BU) allows for a better allocation of social public expenditure by first focusing it on the universalization of basic social services of good quality, and then moving towards complete universalization. In this paper I claim that the establishment and effective implementation of BU do not lead to the universalization of a great number of basic services of good quality and quantity, or to the progressive universalization of all the social benefits. On the contrary, I consider that it generates a tendency towards mercantilization in both levels, basic and non basic. At the same time, it stimulates the decrease in quantity and quality of free basic services, with the consequent reproduction, in the access to both basic and non basic social benefits, of inequalities in income, produced by labor and financial markets.