This paper considers the impact of cash transfer programmes for the old in Brazil and South Africa on poverty among households with older people. Using datasets collected specifically for the purpose, the paper constructs conditional and unconditional estimates of the poverty reduction capacity...

Facing rapid demographic, social and economic transformation, China has taken steps to extend and strengthen the urban Minimum Living Standard Scheme (MLSS). The MLSS is a social assistance programme initially focused on the chronically poor, but later extended to the long-term unemployed. The...

The paper discusses whether vulnerability generates poverty traps. It contains a review of models of poverty traps and a discussion of whether these can accommodate vulnerability; it also includes a discussion of the empirical evidence available in support of these models and a discussion of...