Resumen

APONTE BLANK, Carlos. El gasto público social durante los períodos presidenciales de Hugo Chávez: 1999-2009. CDC [online]. 2010, vol.27, n.73, pp.31-70. ISSN 1012-2508.

This article reviews social public expenditure between 1999 and 2009, highlighting the 2006-2009 period as the one with the largest per capita social disbursement in Venezuela fiscal history. It explores the role played by extra-budgetary mechanisms, such as Fonden and direct social spending by Pdvsa, in the development of an «indirect» centralism that strengthened the decision-making capacity of the national executive regarding public resources. From there it brings out major limitations of the most traditional and widespread perception about Venezuelan social expending, which confines it to expenditures by the central government. Finally, indications of improvisation in the use of the increased social spending in recent years are shown, underlying the vulnerability of an expansion dependent on the oil boom

Palabras clave : Public spending; Social expenditure; Social policy; Venezuela.