Monetary Transfers for Children and Adolescents in Argentina: Characteristics and Coverage of a ‘System’ with Three Components

Abstract

In 2009 Argentina established a new programme of transfers for children and adolescents, Asignación Universal por Hijo (Universal Child Allowance – AUH), that was aimed at those families engaged in the informal economy, inactive adults without unemployment insurance, unemployed people without any social security payments and those working in domestic service. This non-contributory programme is an addition to those programmes already in existence: a contributory family allowance (AFC) and a tax deduction from income tax (known as the ‘tax on earnings’) for each child (ACF). With the new programme, coverage was extended substantively in both quantitative and qualitative terms, taking over the role that was previously played by the Heads of Household Programme and the Families Programme. (...)