Social Transfers and Chronic Poverty

Research

Objectives

This research project aims to contribute to knowledge on social transfers, by examining the way they impact households’ chronic poverty. In particular, the main objectives are to:

provide an assessment of whether and to what extent Social transfers are an effective response to chronic poverty in developing countries;
identify and assess the modalities of social transfers that are most effective in addressing chronic poverty;
provide tools for policy analysis and research in the area of social transfers;
disseminate research findings through journal articles, media, briefings, and website materials.

The empirical analysis will focus on a range of countries that satisfy the following criteria:

Countries with large scale programme evaluation datasets (specially longitudinal);
Countries with household survey datasets;
Covering different types of programmes;
Ensuring a balance in the regional coverage.

Preliminary list of programmes to be included in the study
Region	Pure income transfers	Conditional income transfers	Integrated poverty reduction programmes
Latin America	Brazil’s Previdencia Rural.	Mexico’s Oportunidades Brazil’s Bolsa Escola. Nicaragua’s Red de Protección Social.	Chile Solidario
Africa	South Africa’s Social Pension	Ethiopia’s Cash for Work.
Asia	China’s Minimum Living Subsidy Scheme. Bangladesh’s Old Age Allowance Scheme and Assistance Programme for Widowed and Destitute Women.	India’s NREGS. Bangladesh’s Cash for Education.	Bangladesh’s Challenging the Frontiers of Poverty Reduction/Targeting the Ultra Poor (CFPR/TUP)

Research questions and methodology

There are three central questions that will be addressed in this research project:

What are the difficulties and advantages associated with introducing chronic poverty reduction objectives and indicators in the assessment of social transfers?
To what extent are social transfers an important component in global policy responses to chronic poverty?
What modalities of social transfers, in terms of design, implementation, financing, time windows, and associated politics, are most effective in addressing chronic poverty?

In order to address these research questions, the project will examine outcome variables that capture poverty persistence features of transfer programmes. We propose to undertake a comparative, detailed, and thorough investigation of existing social transfers, with a view of establishing what modalities are more effective in addressing chronic poverty.

Impact analysis of social transfer programmes.