In the absence of reliable and exhaustive income data, Proxy Means Tests (PMTs) are frequently employed as a cost-effective way to identify income-poor beneficiaries of targeted anti-poverty programs. However, their usefulness depends on whether proxies accurately identify the income poor. Based...

In the absence of reliable and exhaustive income data, Proxy Means Tests (PMTs) are frequently employed as a cost-effective way to identify income-poor beneficiaries of targeted anti-poverty programs. However, their usefulness depends on whether proxies accurately identify the income poor. Based...

A key question in the design of anti-poverty programs is to what extent they should be targeted. Empirical evaluations of targeted transfer schemes and simulation exercises often point to further gains that can be had from targeted transfers vis-à-vis universal transfers or from more narrow...

Poor persons in poor countries are greatly exposed to the risk of adverse shocks, many of international origin, which can create long-lasting damage to individual well-being. There is a strong moral and prudential case for taking measures which reduce the extent to which such shocks arise and...

The Philippines’ social protection system is anchored on the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps). Under the management of the Department of Social and Welfare Development (DSWD), the 4Ps covered over 3 million families and about 7.5 million children for a period of 64 months (February...

Poverty reduction programs are known as an effective instrument to produce electoral rewards. As such, they are generally politically appealing. But not all programs are the same from the perspective of a politician — some are more supportable than others. This article identifies the features...

This working paper makes the case for quickly expanding cash transfer programs across Sub-Saharan Africa to protect children and support economic recovery in 2021. It does so by: (i) describing the economic, poverty and child well-being situation across the region at the end of 2020; (ii)...

Conditional cash transfers (CCTs) are an increasingly popular tool for incentivizing behavior. This paper evaluates impact of one of the largest CCTs in the world, Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY) in India, on institutional deliveries. Maternal mortality is high in India and JSY aims to reduce it by...

This paper estimates trends in absolute poverty in urban China from 1988 to 2002 using the Chinese Household Income Project (CHIP) surveys. Poverty incidence curves are plotted, showing that poverty has fallen markedly during the period regardless of the exact location of the poverty line....

Conventional approaches to targeting social safety net programs select beneficiaries on the basis of income or expenditure levels. We argue that these approaches neglect human diversity and agency, which can lead to counterintuitive targeting outcomes and thus a misallocation of benefits. In...