Conditional Cash Transfers and Plural Meanings: State Money in the Argentinian Household Economy

The last decade has seen a proliferation of social policy interventions by Latin American states involving direct cash transfers to the most vulnerable households.

This article analyzes the Asignación Universal por Hijo para la Protección Social (Universal Allowance per Child for Social Protection - AUH) the most important of these programs in Argentina. By carrying out an ethnographic reconstruction of the budgets of recipient households we examine the social uses of the transferred cash and the meanings attributed to it.