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The Economy-wide Impacts of the South African Child Support Grant: a Micro-Simulation-Computable General Equilibrium Analysis

Author

Listed:
  • Luca Tiberti
  • Hélène Maisonnave
  • Margaret Chitiga
  • Ramos Mabugu
  • Véronique Robichaud
  • Stewart Ngandu

Abstract

We examine the economy-wide impact of the child support grant (CSG) on the South African economy using a bottom-up/top-down approach. This allows us to estimate the potential effects on households’ welfare and on the economy following a change in the CSG. Three simulations are presented, in simulation 1 the value of the CSG is increased by 20%; in simulation 2 the number of beneficiaries among the eligible children is increased by two million and simulation 3 combines these two. A positive link between the CSG and the probability of participating in the labour market is found. The positive impacts on the labour market, together with the increase in the transfers received by households, results in an increase in their income. Poverty decreases in comparison with the base year for the whole population and for children. Finally, we can conclude that simulation 1 is the most cost effective of the policies.

Suggested Citation

  • Luca Tiberti & Hélène Maisonnave & Margaret Chitiga & Ramos Mabugu & Véronique Robichaud & Stewart Ngandu, 2013. "The Economy-wide Impacts of the South African Child Support Grant: a Micro-Simulation-Computable General Equilibrium Analysis," Cahiers de recherche 1303, CIRPEE.
    • Handle: RePEc:lvl:lacicr:1303
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    Cited by:

    1. Umed Temursho & Matthias Weitzel & Toon Vandyck, 2020. "Distributional impacts of reaching ambitious near-term climate targets across households with heterogeneous consumption patterns: A quantitative macro-micro assessment for the 2030 Climate Target Plan," JRC Research Reports JRC121765, Joint Research Centre.
    2. Nokuthula Ngubane & Pranitha Maharaj, 2018. "Childbearing in the Context of the Child Support Grant in a Rural Area in South Africa," SAGE Open, , vol. 8(4), pages 21582440188, December.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Child support grant; computable general equilibrium; micro-simulation; poverty; South Africa;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D58 - Microeconomics - - General Equilibrium and Disequilibrium - - - Computable and Other Applied General Equilibrium Models
    • E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity
    • E6 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook
    • H53 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Government Expenditures and Welfare Programs
    • I3 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty
    • J01 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General - - - Labor Economics: General
    • O55 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Africa

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