Center For Global Development (04.02.2020) In a new CGD Note, we look at these social protection policy responses to COVID in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico. What programs did governments launch? How effective have they been in reaching the beneficiaries of social security systems and existing cash transfer programs, and in providing safety nets for households outside of these existing systems? What is the potential effect of safety net policies on inequality and poverty? The short answer, as we explain below, is that the response has been very heterogeneous