Includes bibliographical references (pages 245-273) and index.

Preface -- Acknowledgements -- Part I. -- Outsiders? -- Traditional excluding forces -- Discrimination in Latin America -- State reform and inclusion -- Bad jobs, low wages, and exclusion -- Social mobility and social exclusion -- To what extent do Latin Americans trust and cooperate? -- Part II. -- Privitization and social exclusion -- Exclusion and politics -- Exclusion and financial services -- Modern forms of program delivery and exclusion -- Part III. -- Inclusion and public policy -- The inclusion process in motion in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Outsiders? raises a number of fundamental questions about the multidimensional and interrelated nature of social exclusion and moves beyond the traditional emphasis on outcomes and groups to view exclusion as a process that results from societal traits that limit the functionings of the excluded. Using the tools of experimental economics, the report shows the enormous economic and welfare costs of exclusion, suggesting that inclusion policies should be viewed as an investment rather than as a supposedly generous handout to the worst off in society. Inclusion policies thus are more than new programs or new institutions to redress past injustices through income transfers, and imply fundamental changes in the way decisions are made, resources are allocated, and policies are implemented in democratic societies.--Provided by publisher.