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Designing and evaluating social safety nets

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Author Info
Coady, David P.
Abstract

"This paper reviews the literature on the performance of commonly found social safety net programs in developing countries. The evidence suggests that universal food subsidies have very limited potential for redistributing income. While targeted food subsidies have greater potential, this can only be realized when adequate attention is given to the design and implementation, as well as to the social and political factors influencing the adoption, of these programs. Although well-designed public works programs have impressive targeting performance, they have large non-wage costs; thus, to be cost-effective, they need to produce outputs that are especially beneficial to poor households. Social funds, which emphasize both community involvement and asset creation, have been cost-effective, but they are difficult to target to extremely poor households. Traditional public works programs are particularly attractive for addressing vulnerability, but they require flexibility regarding choice of output. Targeted human capital subsidies appear to have great potential for addressing extreme poverty; but again, their design needs to reflect the human capital profile of countries and the administrative capability of the government." Author's Abstract

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Paper provided by International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) in its series FCND discussion papers with number 172.

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Date of creation: 2004
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Handle: RePEc:fpr:fcnddp:172

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Keywords: Safety nets ; evaluation ; Food subsidies ; Poverty alleviation ; social policies ; Income distribution ; Community participation ; Public works ;

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This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports: References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Dev, S.M., 1992. "Poverty Alleviation Programmes: A Case Study of Maharashtra with Emphasis on Employment Guarantee Scheme," Papers 77, Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research-.
  2. Christina Paxson & Norbert R. Schady, 2002. "The Allocation and Impact of Social Funds: Spending on School Infrastructure in Peru," World Bank Economic Review, Oxford University Press, vol. 16(2), pages 297-319, August.
  3. Jalan, Jyotsna & Ravallion, Martin, 2003. "Estimating the Benefit Incidence of an Antipoverty Program by Propensity-Score Matching," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 21(1), pages 19-30, January.
    Other versions:
  4. Herring, Ronald J. & Edwards, Rex M., 1983. "Guaranteeing employment to the rural poor: Social functions and class interests in the employment guarantee scheme in Western India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 11(7), pages 575-592, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Galasso, Emanuela & Ravallion, Martin & Salvia, Agustin, 2001. "Assisting the transition from workfare to work : a randomized experiment," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2738, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
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  6. Morduch, Jonathan, 1994. "Poverty and Vulnerability," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 84(2), pages 221-25, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  7. Coady, David P. & Grosh, Margaret & Hoddinott, John, 2002. "Targeting outcomes redux," FCND discussion papers 144, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). [Downloadable!]
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  8. Radhakrishna, R. & Subbarao, K., 1997. "India's Public Distribution System. A National and International Perspective," World Bank - Discussion Papers 380, World Bank.
  9. Rawlings, Laura B. & Rubio, Gloria M., 2003. "Evaluating the impact of conditional cash transfer programs : lessons from Latin America," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3119, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
  10. Ahmed, Akhter U. & Gutner, Tamar & Lofgren, Hans & Bouis, Howarth E., 2001. "The Egyptian food subsidy system: structure, performance, and options for reform," Research reports 119, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). [Downloadable!]
  11. Menno Pradhan & Laura B. Rawlings, 2002. "The Impact and Targeting of Social Infrastructure Investments: Lessons from the Nicaraguan Social Fund," World Bank Economic Review, Oxford University Press, vol. 16(2), pages 275-295, August.
  12. Laura B. Rawlings & Norbert R. Schady, 2002. "An Introduction," World Bank Economic Review, Oxford University Press, vol. 16(2), pages 213-217, August.
  13. Ravallion, Martin, 2000. "Monitoring Targeting Performance When Decentralized Allocations to the Poor Are Unobserved," World Bank Economic Review, Oxford University Press, vol. 14(2), pages 331-45, May. [Downloadable!]
  14. Sahn, David E. & Stifel, David C., 2000. "Poverty Comparisons Over Time and Across Countries in Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 28(12), pages 2123-2155, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  15. David Coady, 1997. "Agricultural Pricing Policies in Developing Countries: An Application to Pakistan," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer, vol. 4(1), pages 39-57, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  16. Adato, Michelle & Haddad, Lawrence James, 2001. "Targeting poverty through community-based public works programs," FCND briefs 121, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). [Downloadable!]
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  17. Ravallion, Martin & Galasso, Emanuela & Lazo, Teodoro & Philipp, Ernesto, 2001. "Do workfare participants recover quickly from retrenchment?," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2672, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
  18. Ravallion, Martin & Wodon, Quentin, 1999. "Does child labor displace schooling? - evidence on behavioral responses to an enrollment subsidy," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2116, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
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  19. Dreze, Jean & Stern, Nicholas, 1987. "The theory of cost-benefit analysis," Handbook of Public Economics, in: A. J. Auerbach & M. Feldstein (ed.), Handbook of Public Economics, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 14, pages 909-989 Elsevier. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  20. Lawrence Haddad & Harold Alderman & Simon Appleton & Lina Song & Yisehac Yohannes, 2003. "Reducing Child Malnutrition: How Far Does Income Growth Take Us?," World Bank Economic Review, Oxford University Press, vol. 17(1), pages 107-131, June.
  21. Ahmad, Ehtisham & Stern, Nicholas, 1984. "The theory of reform and indian indirect taxes," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 25(3), pages 259-298, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  22. Guesnerie, Roger, 1979. "General statements on second best pareto optimality," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 6(2), pages 169-194, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  23. Hoddinott, John & Haddad, Lawrence James & Besley, Tim & Adato, Michelle, 2001. "Participation and poverty reduction," FCND briefs 98, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). [Downloadable!]
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  24. David P. Coady & Susan W. Parker, 2004. "Cost-effectiveness Analysis of Demand- and Supply-side Education Interventions: the Case of PROGRESA in Mexico," Review of Development Economics, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 8(3), pages 440-451, 08. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  25. Ahluwalia, Deepak, 1993. "Public distribution of food in India : Coverage, targeting and leakages," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 33-54, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Leonardo Gasparini & Francisco Haimovich & Sergio Olivieri, 2007. "Labor Informality Effects of a Poverty-Alleviation Program," Working Papers 0053, CEDLAS, Universidad Nacional de La Plata. [Downloadable!]
  2. Quisumbing, Agnes R. & Yohannes, Yisehac, 2005. "How fair is workfare? gender, public works, and employment in rural Ethiopia," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3492, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
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