The authors set out a general equilibrium model for the evaluation of a domestically financed transfer program, which helps to combine the results from a computable general equilibrium model with disaggregated household data.Using a Mexican cash transfer program as an illustration, they use the...

The authors evaluate the size of the welfare losses from using alternative “imperfect” welfare indicators as substitutes for the conventionally preferred consumption indicator. They find that whereas the undercoverage and leakage welfare indices always suggest substantial losses, and the...

"...There are sharply divergent views as to how much narrowly targeted interventions actually benefit the poor. These result from differing assessments of three issues: whether better targeting outcomes are likely to be achieved, whether such methods are cost-effective, and whether the living...

This paper is concerned with the issue of the most cost-effective way of improving access to education for poor households in developing countries. We consider two alternatives: (1) extensive expansion of the school system (i.e., bringing education to the poor) and (2) subsidizing investment in...

"Using data that enables us to distinguish between the different components of program participation (i.e., knowledge, application, and acceptance), we investigate the determinants of household behavior and program implementation in a social safety-net program that combines administrative and...

Using both national-sample and program-level census survey data, we evaluate the distributional power of Mexico's Programa Nacional de Educacion, Salud y Alimentacion (PROGRESA) transfers using the so-called distributional characteristic.These transfers are targeted both geographically at...

"This paper reviews the literature on the performance of commonly found social safety net programs in developing countries. The evidence suggests that universal food subsidies have very limited potential for redistributing income. While targeted food subsidies have greater potential, this can...

The paper shows how the so-called distributional characteristic of a policy instrument can be additively decomposed into two components; one that captures the targeting efficiency of the instrument, the other its redistributive efficiency. Using these measures, the paper provides an...

"One of the common criticisms of poverty alleviation programs is that the high share of administrative (nontransfer) costs substantially reduces the programs' impact on poverty. But very little empirical evidence exists on program costs. For example, a recent extensive international review of...

"A common criticism of antipoverty programs is that the high share of administrative (nontransfer) costs substantially reduces their effectiveness in alleviating poverty. Yet there is surprisingly little hard empirical evidence on such programs' costs. A recent international review of targeted...