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Finding the Poor vs. Measuring Their Poverty: Exploring the Drivers of Targeting Effectiveness in Indonesia

Author

Listed:
  • Adama Bah
  • Samuel Bazzi
  • Sudarno Sumarto
  • Julia Tobias

Abstract

Centralized targeting registries are increasingly used to allocate social assistance benefits in developing countries. There are two key design issues that matter for targeting accuracy: (i) which households to survey for inclusion in the registry; and (ii) how to rank surveyed households. We attempt to identify their relative importance by evaluating Indonesia's Unified Database for Social Protection Programs (UDB), among the largest targeting registries in the world, used to provide social assistance to over 25 million households. Linking administrative data with an independent household survey, we find that the UDB system is more progressive than previous, program-specific targeting approaches. However, simulating an alternative targeting system based on enumerating all households, we find a one-third reduction in undercoverage of the poor compared to focusing on households registered in the UDB. Overall, there are large gains in targeting performance from improving the initial registration stage relative to the ranking stage.

Suggested Citation

  • Adama Bah & Samuel Bazzi & Sudarno Sumarto & Julia Tobias, 2019. "Finding the Poor vs. Measuring Their Poverty: Exploring the Drivers of Targeting Effectiveness in Indonesia," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 33(3), pages 573-597.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:wbecrv:v:33:y:2019:i:3:p:573-597.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/wber/lhx020
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Bazzi, Samuel & Sumarto, Sudarno & Suryahadi, Asep, 2015. "It's all in the timing: Cash transfers and consumption smoothing in a developing country," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 267-288.
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    5. David Coady & Emmanuel Skoufias, 2004. "On the Targeting and Redistributive Efficiencies of Alternative Transfer Instruments," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 50(1), pages 11-27, March.
    6. Vivi Alatas & Abhijit Banerjee & Rema Hanna & Benjamin A. Olken & Julia Tobias, 2012. "Targeting the Poor: Evidence from a Field Experiment in Indonesia," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 102(4), pages 1206-1240, June.
    7. Sudarno Sumarto & Daniel Suryadarma & Asep Suryahadi, 2007. "Predicting Consumption Poverty using Non-Consumption Indicators: Experiments using Indonesian Data," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 81(3), pages 543-578, May.
    8. Christophe Muller & Sami Bibi, 2010. "Refining Targeting against Poverty Evidence from Tunisia," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 72(3), pages 381-410, June.
    9. Skoufias, Emmanuel & Davis, Benjamin & de la Vega, Sergio, 2001. "Targeting the Poor in Mexico: An Evaluation of the Selection of Households into PROGRESA," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 29(10), pages 1769-1784, October.
    10. Adriana Camacho & Emily Conover, 2011. "Manipulation of Social Program Eligibility," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 3(2), pages 41-65, May.
    11. Paul Niehaus & Antonia Atanassova & Marianne Bertrand & Sendhil Mullainathan, 2013. "Targeting with Agents," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 5(1), pages 206-238, February.
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    Cited by:

    1. Adama Bah & Suahasil Nazara & Elan Satriawan, 2015. "Registro Único de Indonesia para los programas de protección social," Policy Research Brief 49, International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth.
    2. 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.
    3. repec:awi:wpaper:0696 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Matthew C. LaFevor & Alexandra G. Ponette-González & Rebecca Larson & Leah M. Mungai, 2021. "Spatial Targeting of Agricultural Support Measures: Indicator-Based Assessment of Coverages and Leakages," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(7), pages 1-17, July.
    5. Martin Wiegand, 2020. "Welfare Measurement and Poverty Targeting Based on Participatory Wealth Rankings," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 20-086/V, Tinbergen Institute.
    6. Adama Bah & Suahasil Nazara & Elan Satriawan, 2015. "Indonesia’s Single Registry for Social Protection Programmes," Policy Research Brief (Arab) 49, International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth.
    7. Christophe Muller, 2018. "Optimal Cash Transfers with Distribution Regressions: An Application to Egypt at the Dawn of the XXIst Century," Working Papers halshs-01684570, HAL.
    8. Tohari, Achmad & Parsons, Christopher & Rammohan, Anu, 2017. "Targeting Poverty under Complementarities: Evidence from Indonesia's Unified Targeting System," IZA Discussion Papers 10968, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    9. Fanny Salignac & Julien Hanoteau & Ioana Ramia, 2022. "Financial Resilience: A Way Forward Towards Economic Development in Developing Countries," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 160(1), pages 1-33, February.
    10. Adama Bah & Suahasil Nazara & Elan Satriawan, 2015. "Le registre unique indonésien à l’usage des programmes de protection sociale," Policy Research Brief (French) 49, International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth.
    11. Christophe Muller, 2016. "Optimal transfers with distribution regressions: An application to Egypt at the dawn of the XXIst century," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2016-179, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    12. Hillebrecht, Michael & Klonner, Stefan & Pacere, Noraogo A., 2023. "The dynamics of poverty targeting," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    13. Tohari, Achmad & Parsons, Christopher & Rammohan, Anu, 2019. "Targeting poverty under complementarities: Evidence from Indonesia's unified targeting system," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 140(C), pages 127-144.
    14. Della Guardia, Anne & Lake, Milli & Schnitzer, Pascale, 2022. "Selective inclusion in cash transfer programs: Unintended consequences for social cohesion," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 157(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    targeting; proxy-means testing; social protection; poverty;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D1 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior
    • I3 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty
    • I38 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Government Programs; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs

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