IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/revinw/v67y2021i4p1005-1028.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Assessing the Social Welfare Effects of Government Transfer Programs: Some International Comparisons☆

Author

Listed:
  • Nanak Kakwani
  • Xiaobing Wang
  • Jing Xu
  • Ximing Yue

Abstract

This paper offers a new way of assessing government transfer programs using a social welfare function framework. It demonstrates how one can use social welfare functions to measure such programs' efficiency without requiring the specification of a poverty line or particular poverty measures. The paper introduces three alternative principles of targeting, which provide a basis for measuring program efficiency. By applying the methodology developed in this paper, we compare the targeting efficiencies of 44 countries, which include both middle and high‐income countries.

Suggested Citation

  • Nanak Kakwani & Xiaobing Wang & Jing Xu & Ximing Yue, 2021. "Assessing the Social Welfare Effects of Government Transfer Programs: Some International Comparisons☆," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 67(4), pages 1005-1028, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:revinw:v:67:y:2021:i:4:p:1005-1028
    DOI: 10.1111/roiw.12500
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/roiw.12500
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/roiw.12500?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Rema Hanna & Benjamin A. Olken, 2018. "Universal Basic Incomes versus Targeted Transfers: Anti-Poverty Programs in Developing Countries," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 32(4), pages 201-226, Fall.
    2. Pedro Carneiro & Karsten T. Hansen & James J. Heckman, 2003. "Estimating Distributions of Treatment Effects with an Application to the Returns to Schooling and Measurement of the Effects of Uncertainty on College," NBER Working Papers 9546, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Hanna, Rema & Olken, Benjamin A., 2018. "Universal Basic Incomes vs. Targeted Transfers: Anti-Poverty Programs in Developing Countries," Working Paper Series rwp18-024, Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government.
    4. David Dollar & Tatjana Kleineberg & Aart Kraay, 2015. "Growth, inequality and social welfare: cross-country evidence," Economic Policy, CEPR, CESifo, Sciences Po;CES;MSH, vol. 30(82), pages 335-377.
    5. Chen Wang & Koen Caminada & Kees Goudswaard, 2012. "The redistributive effect of social transfer programmes and taxes: A decomposition across countries," International Social Security Review, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 65(3), pages 27-48, July.
    6. Carneiro, Pedro & Hansen, Karsten T. & Heckman, James J., 2003. "Estimating Distributions of Treatment Effects with an Application to the Returns to Schooling and Measurement of the Effects of Uncertainty on College Choice," IZA Discussion Papers 767, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    7. Claudia Gerber & Alexander Klemm & Li Liu & Victor Mylonas, 2020. "Income Tax Progressivity: Trends and Implications," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 82(2), pages 365-386, April.
    8. Kakwani, Nanak & Lambert, Peter J., 1998. "On measuring inequity in taxation: a new approach," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 14(2), pages 369-380, May.
    9. Çinar Baymul & Kunal Sen, 2019. "Kuznets Revisited: What Do We Know about the Relationship between Structural Transformation and Inequality?," Asian Development Review, MIT Press, vol. 36(1), pages 136-167, March.
    10. Pedro Carneiro & Karsten T. Hansen & James J. Heckman, 2003. "2001 Lawrence R. Klein Lecture Estimating Distributions of Treatment Effects with an Application to the Returns to Schooling and Measurement of the Effects of Uncertainty on College Choice," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 44(2), pages 361-422, May.
    11. Nanak Kakwani & Shi Li & Xiaobing Wang & Shanshan Wu, 2019. "Social Tensions in a Growing China," Manchester School, University of Manchester, vol. 87(2), pages 228-258, March.
    12. Kakwani, Nanok C, 1977. "Measurement of Tax Progressivity: An International Comparison," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 87(345), pages 71-80, March.
    13. Kakwani, Nanak & Li, Shi & Wang, Xiaobing & Zhu, Mengbing, 2019. "Evaluating the effectiveness of the rural minimum living standard guarantee (Dibao) program in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 1-14.
    14. Nanak Kakwani & Hyun Hwa Son, 2016. "Social Welfare Functions and Development," Palgrave Macmillan Books, Palgrave Macmillan, number 978-1-137-58325-3.
    15. Sen, Amartya, 1979. "The Welfare Basis of Real Income Comparisons: A Survey," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 17(1), pages 1-45, March.
    16. Atkinson, Anthony B., 1970. "On the measurement of inequality," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 2(3), pages 244-263, September.
    17. Amartya Sen, 1976. "Real National Income," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 43(1), pages 19-39.
    18. Robert Inklaar & D. S. Prasada Rao, 2017. "Cross-Country Income Levels over Time: Did the Developing World Suddenly Become Much Richer?," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 9(1), pages 265-290, January.
    19. Xiaobing Wang & Jenifer Piesse, 2010. "Inequality and the Urban–rural Divide in China: Effects of Regressive Taxation," China & World Economy, Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, vol. 18(6), pages 36-55, November.
    20. Sen, Amartya, 1974. "Informational bases of alternative welfare approaches : Aggregation and income distribution," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 3(4), pages 387-403, November.
    21. Koen Caminada & Kees Goudswaard & Chen Wang & Jinxian Wang, 2019. "Has the redistributive effect of social transfers and taxes changed over time across countries?," International Social Security Review, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 72(1), pages 3-31, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Nanak Kakwani & Xiaobing Wang & Ning Xue & Peng Zhan, 2022. "Growth and Common Prosperity in China," China & World Economy, Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, vol. 30(1), pages 28-57, January.
    2. Marko Ledić & Ivica Rubil & Ivica Urban, 2023. "Tax progressivity and social welfare with a continuum of inequality views," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 30(5), pages 1266-1296, October.
    3. Yangyang Shen & Shi Li & Xiaobing Wang, 2021. "Impacts of Two Tax Reforms on Inequality and Welfare in China," China & World Economy, Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, vol. 29(3), pages 104-134, May.
    4. Anne Villamil & Xiaobing Wang & Ning Xue, 2021. "A political foundation of public investment and welfare spending," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 23(4), pages 660-690, August.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Nanak Kakwani & Xiaobing Wang & Jing Xu & Ximing Yue, 2020. "Assessing the Social Welfare Effects of Government Transfer Programs: Some International Comparisons," LIS Working papers 786, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    2. Yangyang Shen & Shi Li & Xiaobing Wang, 2021. "Impacts of Two Tax Reforms on Inequality and Welfare in China," China & World Economy, Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, vol. 29(3), pages 104-134, May.
    3. Nanak Kakwani & Xiaobing Wang & Ning Xue & Peng Zhan, 2022. "Growth and Common Prosperity in China," China & World Economy, Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, vol. 30(1), pages 28-57, January.
    4. Gordon Anderson & Oliver Linton & Maria Grazia Pittau & Yoon-Jae Whang & Roberto Zelli, 2021. "On unit free assessment of the extent of multilateral distributional variation," The Econometrics Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 24(3), pages 502-518.
    5. Cunha, Flavio & Heckman, James J., 2007. "The Evolution of Inequality, Heterogeneity and Uncertainty in Labor Earnings in the U.S. Economy," IZA Discussion Papers 3115, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. Flávio Cunha & James Heckman, 2016. "Decomposing Trends in Inequality in Earnings into Forecastable and Uncertain Components," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 34(S2), pages 31-65.
    7. Kemptner, Daniel & Tolan, Songül, 2018. "The role of time preferences in educational decision making," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 25-39.
    8. Grossmann, Volker, 2008. "Risky human capital investment, income distribution, and macroeconomic dynamics," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 30(1), pages 19-42, March.
    9. Bonhomme, Stphane & Robin, Jean-Marc, 2009. "Consistent noisy independent component analysis," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 149(1), pages 12-25, April.
    10. Jeremy T. Fox, 2010. "Estimating the Employer Switching Costs and Wage Responses of Forward-Looking Engineers," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 28(2), pages 357-412, April.
    11. Heckman, James J. & Urzúa, Sergio, 2010. "Comparing IV with structural models: What simple IV can and cannot identify," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 156(1), pages 27-37, May.
    12. Fossen, Frank M. & Glocker, Daniela, 2017. "Stated and revealed heterogeneous risk preferences in educational choice," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 1-25.
    13. Francesco Agostinelli & Matthew Wiswall, 2016. "Identification of Dynamic Latent Factor Models: The Implications of Re-Normalization in a Model of Child Development," NBER Working Papers 22441, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    14. Tony Smith & M. Fatih Guvenen, 2007. "Inferring Labor Income Risk from Economic Choices: An Indirect Inference Approach," 2007 Meeting Papers 1024, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    15. Shakeeb Khan & Arnaud Maurel & Yichong Zhang, 2023. "Informational Content of Factor Structures in Simultaneous Binary Response Models," Advances in Econometrics, in: Essays in Honor of Joon Y. Park: Econometric Methodology in Empirical Applications, volume 45, pages 385-410, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
    16. Aakvik, Arild & Salvanes, Kjell G. & Vaage, Kjell, 2010. "Measuring heterogeneity in the returns to education using an education reform," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 54(4), pages 483-500, May.
    17. James J. Heckman, 2008. "Econometric Causality," International Statistical Review, International Statistical Institute, vol. 76(1), pages 1-27, April.
    18. Dirk Bergemann & Benjamin Brooks & Stephen Morris, 2022. "Counterfactuals with Latent Information," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 112(1), pages 343-368, January.
    19. Christian Belzil, 2008. "Testing the Specification of the Mincer Wage Equation," Annals of Economics and Statistics, GENES, issue 91-92, pages 427-451.
    20. Brian Clark & Clément Joubert & Arnaud Maurel, 2017. "The career prospects of overeducated Americans," IZA Journal of Labor Economics, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 6(1), pages 1-29, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:revinw:v:67:y:2021:i:4:p:1005-1028. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/iariwea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.