1st Edition

Heterodox Economics and Social Policy Reassessing Equality of Opportunity and Equality of Place

Edited By Camilo Andrés Guevara Castañeda Copyright 2026
236 Pages 13 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

236 Pages 13 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

This book critically examines the theoretical and practical foundations of contemporary social policy through the lens of heterodox economic thought. Despite decades of academic debate and institutional reform, contemporary social policy remains largely anchored in the liberal tradition of equality of opportunity. While this paradigm has advanced important conversations about fairness and... Read more

Lists of figures, maps and tables

List of contributors

 

1. Introduction

Camilo Guevara

 

Part I: Foundations and Critical Debates in Heterodox Social Policy

2. Economic Foundations of Social Policy: What Role for the State and Commons?

Camilo Guevara

 

3. Inequality of Opportunity and Stratification Economics: Different Paths, Shared Concerns 

Luis Monroy-Gómez-Franco

 

4. Equity Beyond Poverty Reduction 

 César Giraldo

 

5.Fiscal policy in times of crisis: Changing views about poverty and inequality reduction during the Pandemic in the United States

Matías Vernengo

Iván Velasquez

 

6. Rethinking Economy and Social Policy: Socio-Environmental Justice and Relational Political Ontologies

Mariluz Nova Laverde

 

Part II: Applied Perspectives and Policy Alternatives

7. Structural inequalities in research careers in Colombia: A review of the Public Policies of CTeI in Colombia from the critique of “equal opportunities”

Fabian Gamba

 

8. Agrarian Reform as a Pathway to Justice in Peripheral Countries: The Colombian Case

Carlos Alberto Suescún-Barón

 

9. Public financing for sustainable development: BNDES, infrastructure, and equal access to water in Brazil

Monika Meireles

Felipe Nogueira da Cruz

 

10.Social Justice in the Formalization of Waste Management in Colombia: Equality of Opportunity or Equality of Place?

Luisa Tovar

 

11. Mutual Aid Housing Cooperatives in El Salvador: an applied case of equality of place

Claudia Melissa Salgado Rodríguez

Carlos Vinicio Coreas Bonilla

 

12. The Struggles for the Construction of a New Colombia. Potentials and Constraints of Peace with Social Justice. The Case of Common Social Economies – ECOMUN, 2017–2024

Manuel Rubio

Juan Camilo Londoño

 

13. Interministerial Policies to Articulate Youth and Adult Education with the World of Work: The equality experience in the territory of the Specialized Adult High School Center in Health (CEBAS) Program of the Ministry of Health of the Province of Buenos Aires                                     

Karina Garcia

 

Biography

Camilo Andrés Guevara Castañeda is Associate Professor of Economics at the Faculty of Economics, Business, and Sustainable Development (FEEDS), Universidad de La Salle, Colombia. He holds a PhD in Economics from the Universidad Nacional de Colombia. His research lies at the intersection of heterodox macroeconomics, monetary theory, development and social policy, and the epistemology and history of economic thought. He is particularly interested in interdisciplinary research at the crossroads of economics, sociology, and philosophy. His work has been published in international journals, including the Journal of Cultural Economy, Review of Political Economy, and the Journal of Post Keynesian Economics.