The Social Security "full retirement age" (FRA) is the age at which retirement income benefits are available without reduction for early commencement. Presently, that age is 67 for those born in 1960 or later. This paper is about the unfair and unnecessary threat to reduce Social Security...

Background The use of health care services by the most vulnerable households in low-and middle-income countries is a major challenge. This includes ensuring access to health services and protecting households from the financial risks of unaffordable medical care. In 2008, Togo put in place a...

In an era of increasingly frequent and severe interconnected shocks, particularly climate-related, it is paramount to identify the most vulnerable populations in a timely manner. Dynamic social registries play a vital role in the delivery of adaptive social protection programs in environments...

Since it became the first new sovereign state of the 21st century on May 20, 2002, the Government of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste has demonstrated commendable leadership in rebuilding the country's economy with reasonably steady degrees of poverty reduction. The nation's unwavering...

Vietnam has witnessed impressive economic growth in recent decades, but it continues to have a large share of its workers in the informal sector. The lack of a labor contract for workers in the informal economy excludes them from payroll financed mandatory social insurance (SI) coverage. Among...

Using an artefactual field experiment, we elicit revealed preferences for solidarity of different age groups toward the same and other age groups among a large, diverse Dutch population sample. Preferences are measured with a solidarity game and linked to a unique administrative database,...

The paper discusses the growing interest in using social protection to address climate-related vulnerabilities and strengthen resilience, particularly in conflict-affected settings. It examines the Productive Safety Net Programme in Ethiopia, highlighting that while social assistance offers a...

This case study examines how social protection policymaking in Côte d’Ivoire has been shaped by a complex interplay of colonial legacies, postcolonial ideologies and domestic political-economic dynamics. Through stakeholder interviews and documentary analysis, it offers a nuanced...

Tanzania has made notable progress in expanding its social protection system, yet the influence of colonial governance models, entrenched donor dependency and limited population coverage of existing provisions remain significant. This case study critically explores the historical and...

The historical influence of colonial powers and the continued, deep-rooted engagement of international development actors in shaping social protection systems is widely recognised across academic and policy arenas. Nevertheless, evidence of the role of coloniality in social protection remains...

This report presents the results of extensive research and collaborative efforts to improve Mongolia's social protection system's ability to adapt to covariate shocks and enhance herder resilience to climate shocks. It analyzes the existing social protection mechanisms, with specific attention...

The world is facing unprecedented and often prolonged and complex crises, ranging from conflicts and natural disasters to epidemics and economic shocks. These crises have far-reaching consequences for individuals, communities, and entire societies. The humanitarian needs resulting from these...

This article offers a comprehensive review of Artificial Intelligence's (AI) effects on global labour markets, with a particular focus on developing economies. Drawing on an extensive body of evidence, it demonstrates that AI's disruptive potential diverges markedly from earlier waves of...

Manuscript type: Research Article Research Aims: to determine whether the perceived service quality factors could promote user Jamsostek Mobile (JMO) satisfy and continue to use JMO Design/methodology/approach: Data was gathered through an online survey of JMO users to analyse three hypotheses...

This report presents a mapping of digital tools and services for the purpose of cross-border social security coordination, covering the EU Member States plus Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway. Drawing on desk research and qualitative interviews with national social security institutions, the...

This report presents a mapping of digital tools and services for the purpose of cross-border social security coordination, covering the EU Member States plus Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway. Drawing on desk research and qualitative interviews with national social security institutions, the...

Poor implementation frequently impedes social protection delivery in low-state-capacity settings. In such environments, reducing managers' information acquisition costs may improve their grasp of frontline issues and program performance. However, in the presence of managerial rent-seeking,...

Innovations in big data and algorithms are enabling new approaches to target interventions at scale. We compare the accuracy of three different systems for identifying the poor to receive benefit transfers - proxy means-testing, nominations from community members, and an algorithmic approach...

This is a joint report on scoping studies carried out by Olli Kangas (first part) and Pascale Vielle (second part) on social protection systems in societal and ecological transitions. The study has been prepared in the context of the forthcoming Social Transformations and Resilience Partnership...

This Guidebook provides practical operational guidance for designing, delivering, and implementing World Bank-supported social safety nets in contexts affected by fragility, conflict and violence (FCV). It identifies the unique challenges faced in these environments and presents a set of...

Shocks and crises pose significant threats to human development, disproportionately affecting poor and vulnerable households. These shocks, whether natural disasters, economic crises, or political upheavals, often force households to resort to negative coping strategies, such as pulling children...

This paper examines how access to informal insurance shapes family responses to reductions in social welfare benefits, and how these adjustments affect children's development. In 2003, Israel reformed its child allowance program, significantly reducing unconditional cash benefits for large...

Low- and middle-income countries are experiencing fast population aging and reductions in extreme poverty, increasing theoretical incentives to save for old age, but empirical evidence on household wealth accumulation over the life cycle is lacking. Using age-cohort-time decompositions on 18...

Although development intervention programs can have far-reaching impacts beyond their stated objective, there have been few careful studies of unintended outcomes of such programs. This study assesses the role of Ethiopia’s Productive Safety Net Program (PSNP) on household size and dependency...

This working paper examines Tanzania's social protection system amidst growing humanitarian crises driven by climate change, health epidemics, and regional conflicts. It explores the social protection needs experienced in humanitarian settings, the challenges in implementation and expansion of...

This paper examines the role of social protection in mitigating the adverse effects of conflict on household welfare. We assess the impact of a graduation intervention linked to Ethiopia's Productive Safety Net Programme, focusing on Amhara, a region severely affected by the Tigray conflict....

The existence of a high percentage of informal labour has a direct impact on the living conditions of millions of people and their families, especially in rural areas and developing countries. The implications of this problem present a challenge for public policy on employment, social security...

Directive 79/7/EEC (Directive 79/7) was adopted to ensure equal treatment of men and women in mandatory statutory social security across the EU. It played a significant role in moving away from gendered social security systems (where men were oſten the primary earners) to more equitable models....

This report contains a case study for the Study supporting the Impact assessment of the future European Social Fund proposal. Achieving structural change: conditions for success in the areas of ESF intervention. The reform under assessment focuses on "Reinforcing social protection, especially...

Directive 79/7/EEC (Directive 79/7) was adopted to ensure equal treatment of men and women in mandatory statutory social security across the EU. It played a significant role in moving away from gendered social security systems (where men were oſten the primary earners) to more equitable models....