The Persistence of Horizontal Inequalities and the Role of Policy: The Case of Peru

The paper studies a case of deeply embedded group or “horizontal” inequalities, and asks why part of the reason for this persistence of inequality appears to be that even well-intentioned policies that attempt to improve the position of the most disadvantaged often fail to achieve their goals. The paper investigates the role of the institutions underpinning the implementation of policy and the responses of the different actors, and explores how these often produce perverse results. The case studied is Peru and the paper explores two instances of social policy and one of land reform. The paper explores the relationships between policy failure and group inequality. The paper concludes that if policy failures left group inequalities even more deeply embedded, while the embedding increased the likelihood of further failure, this would be a significant vicious circle of underdevelopment.