Social public expenditures in Venezuela. A global analysis for the period 1980-1998

This paper examines, concisely and in a descriptive way, conceptual aspects related to the social public expenditure, social policy, and the models applied in Venezuela. In this context, possible relationships existing among the social and total expenditure and the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) are analyzed. In this sense, it highlights the fluctuating tendency of social expenditure, in most of the years, related to the instability shown in the evolution of GDP and the consequent dilemma about what an appropriate allocation of resources through the social expenditure should be.