Download or read book Efficient Allocation of Transfers to the Poor written by Paul Glewwe and published by . This book was released on 1990 with total page 78 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This paper examines the problem of how to transfer money or other forms of assistance to poor households when one observes some characteristics of households, but not their incomes. This and related issues are often referred to as the targeting problem. The paper first sets out the problem formally as one of minimizing a poverty index given a fixed amount of money available for transfers. Assuming that household survey data are available which include accurate income and/or expenditure information, the solution for the problem is formulated as a non-linear mathematical programming exercise. Using household survey data from Cote d'Ivoire, the technique is applied to both urban and rural areas separately. The paper concludes with a general discussion and suggestions for future research.
Download or read book Designing Fiscal Redistribution The Role of Universal and Targeted Transfers written by Mr.David Coady and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2020-06-26 with total page 27 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There is a growing debate on the relative merits of universal and targeted social assistance transfers in achieving income redistribution objectives. While the benefits of targeting are clear, i.e., a larger poverty impact for a given transfer budget or lower fiscal cost for a given poverty impact, in practice targeting also comes with various costs, including incentive, administrative, social and political costs. The appropriate balance between targeted and universal transfers will therefore depend on how countries decide to trade-off these costs and benefits as well as on the potential for redistribution through taxes. This paper discusses the trade-offs that arise in different country contexts and the potential for strengthening fiscal redistribution in advanced and developing countries, including through expanding transfer coverage and progressive tax financing.
Download or read book Conditional Cash Transfers written by Ariel Fiszbein and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2009-02-09 with total page 346 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) programs aim to reduce poverty by making welfare programs conditional upon the receivers' actions. That is, the government only transfers the money to persons who meet certain criteria. These criteria may include enrolling children into public schools, getting regular check-ups at the doctor's office, receiving vaccinations, or the like. They have been hailed as a way of reducing inequality and helping households break out of a vicious cycle whereby poverty is transmitted from one generation to another. Do these and other claims make sense? Are they supported by the available empirical evidence? This volume seeks to answer these and other related questions. Specifically, it lays out a conceptual framework for thinking about the economic rationale for CCTs; it reviews the very rich evidence that has accumulated on CCTs; it discusses how the conceptual framework and the evidence on impacts should inform the design of CCT programs in practice; and it discusses how CCTs fit in the context of broader social policies. The authors show that there is considerable evidence that CCTs have improved the lives of poor people and argue that conditional cash transfers have been an effective way of redistributing income to the poor. They also recognize that even the best-designed and managed CCT cannot fulfill all of the needs of a comprehensive social protection system. They therefore need to be complemented with other interventions, such as workfare or employment programs, and social pensions.
Download or read book Intergovernmental Fiscal Transfers written by Robin W. Boadway and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2007 with total page 624 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The design of intergovernmental fiscal transfers has a strong bearing on efficiency and equity of public service provision and accountable local governance. This book provides a comprehensive one-stop window/source of materials to guide practitioners and scholars on design and worldwide practices in intergovernmental fiscal transfers and their implications for efficiency, and equity in public services provision as well as accountable governance.
Download or read book Guidelines for Public Expenditure Management written by Mr.Jack Diamond and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 1999-07-01 with total page 84 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Traditionally, economics training in public finances has focused more on tax than public expenditure issues, and within expenditure, more on policy considerations than the more mundane matters of public expenditure management. For many years, the IMF's Public Expenditure Management Division has answered specific questions raised by fiscal economists on such missions. Based on this experience, these guidelines arose from the need to provide a general overview of the principles and practices observed in three key aspects of public expenditure management: budget preparation, budget execution, and cash planning. For each aspect of public expenditure management, the guidelines identify separately the differing practices in four groups of countries - the francophone systems, the Commonwealth systems, Latin America, and those in the transition economies. Edited by Barry H. Potter and Jack Diamond, this publication is intended for a general fiscal, or a general budget, advisor interested in the macroeconomic dimension of public expenditure management.
Download or read book Targeting of Transfers in Developing Countries written by David Coady and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2004 with total page 128 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Drawing on a database of more than one hundred anti-poverty interventions in 47 countries, 'Targeting of Transfers in Developing Countries' provides a general review of experiences with methods used to target interventions in transition and developing countries. Written for policymakers and program managers in developing countries, in donor agencies, and in NGOs who have responsibility for designing interventions that reach the poor, it conveys what targeting options are available, what results can be expected as well as information that will assist in choosing among them and in their implementation. Key messages are: - While targeting 'works' - the median program transfers 25 percent more to the poor than would a universal allocation - targeting performance around the world is highly variable. - Means testing, geographic targeting, and self-selection based on a work requirement are the most robustly progressive methods. Proxy means testing, community-based selection of individuals and demographic targeting to children show good results on average, but with considerable variation. - Demographic targeting to the elderly, community bidding, and self-selection based on consumption show limited potential for good targeting. - There is no single preferred method for all types of programs or all country contexts. Successful targeting depends critically on how a method is implemented. The CD-ROM includes the database of interventions, an annotated bibliography (PDF) and Spanish and Russian translations of the book (PDFs).
Download or read book The World Bank Research Observer written by and published by . This book was released on 2003 with total page 300 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Geographical Targeting for Poverty Alleviation written by David Bigman and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2000-01-01 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: .."in many developing countries, there are large differences in economic conditions and the standard of living between regions, and even between communities within the same region. In many countries, poverty has a clear geographic dimension, since the poor are often concentrated in pockets of poverty. Therefore, the design of poverty alleviation policies must also have a signficant spatial component." Although development projects are carefully designed and meticulously evaluated for cost effectiveness and benefits, too many of them are not sufficiently targeted geographically. The growing availability and use of spatial data, organized in a computer system such as a geographical information system (GIS), makes it more feasible to analyze the impact of projects in specific locales and to achieve more effective targeting. 'Geographical Targeting for Poverty Alleviation' introduces the basic concepts of a GIS. It also demonstrates how to organize geographic and nongeographic data. In addition, it presents different methods for using the data of the Household Income and Expenditure Survey, together with other surveys and the population census, to provide estimates for the standard of living and the incidence of poverty incidence in different geographical areas of a country. Ultimately, these estimates should be used to establish guidelines for targeting poverty alleviation projects. This publication illustrates different GIS applications for identifying the project's target population, determining the project's spatial 'sphere of influence' or deciding where to locate public facilities. This publication is of interest to task managers, economists, development researchers, and geographers.
Download or read book Just Give Money to the Poor written by Joseph Hanlon and published by Kumarian Press. This book was released on 2012-03 with total page 233 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: * Argues strongly for overlooked approach to development by showing how the poor use money in ways that confound stereotypical notions of aid and handouts * Team authored by foremost scholars in the development field Amid all the complicated economic theories about the causes and solutions to poverty, one idea is so basic it seems radical: just give money to the poor. Despite its skeptics, researchers have found again and again that cash transfers given to significant portions of the population transform the lives of recipients. Countries from Mexico to South Africa to Indonesia are giving money directly to the poor and discovering that they use it wisely “ to send their children to school, to start a business and to feed their families. Directly challenging an aid industry that thrives on complexity and mystification, with highly paid consultants designing ever more complicated projects, Just Give Money to the Pooroffers the elegant southern alternative “ bypass governments and NGOs and let the poor decide how to use their money. Stressing that cash transfers are not charity or a safety net, the authors draw an outline of effective practices that work precisely because they are regular, guaranteed and fair. This book, the first to report on this quiet revolution in an accessible way, is essential reading for policymakers, students of international development and anyone yearning for an alternative to traditional poverty-alleviation methods.
Download or read book What We Owe Each Other written by Minouche Shafik and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2022-08-23 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From one of the leading policy experts of our time, an urgent rethinking of how we can better support each other to thrive Whether we realize it or not, all of us participate in the social contract every day through mutual obligations among our family, community, place of work, and fellow citizens. Caring for others, paying taxes, and benefiting from public services define the social contract that supports and binds us together as a society. Today, however, our social contract has been broken by changing gender roles, technology, new models of work, aging, and the perils of climate change. Minouche Shafik takes us through stages of life we all experience—raising children, getting educated, falling ill, working, growing old—and shows how a reordering of our societies is possible. Drawing on evidence and examples from around the world, she shows how every country can provide citizens with the basics to have a decent life and be able to contribute to society. But we owe each other more than this. A more generous and inclusive society would also share more risks collectively and ask everyone to contribute for as long as they can so that everyone can fulfill their potential. What We Owe Each Other identifies the key elements of a better social contract that recognizes our interdependencies, supports and invests more in each other, and expects more of individuals in return. Powerful, hopeful, and thought-provoking, What We Owe Each Other provides practical solutions to current challenges and demonstrates how we can build a better society—together.
Download or read book Including the Poor written by Michael Lipton and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 1993-01-01 with total page 624 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Explores the role of government policy in economic development in the Republic of Korea. The Republic of Korea has achieved economic success on many fronts. Real GNP has tripled every decade since the 1960s. A dynamic and flexible manufacturing sector now dominates the economy. The benefits of growth have been widely distributed, with a sharp decrease in poverty. This study, like others in the series, seeks to draw lessons from such success and to identify and analyze the policies behind this strong economic performance. Koreas development strategy and macroeconomic performance are outlined in Part I. Several factors are seen to underlie strong growth, including the maintenance of a stable macroenvironment, flexible and pragmatic policies, and investment in infrastructure and human capital. Part II assesses the role played by industrial policy since 1961. Particular attention is given to the Heavy and Chemical Industry (HCI) drive, launched in 1973 to diversify and upgrade Koreas industrial sector. The authors note that while the HCI has been largely successful, it also has been very costly, particularly to the financial sector. Part III outlines the role of institutions and the close relationships among the government, the bureaucracy, and business. The key to Koreas rapid development, according to the authors, was the governments commitment to growth and its early focus on equity and wide distribution of the gains from growth. The authors also laud the efficiency and effectiveness of Koreas public and private sector institutions, which they see as models for all developing nations.
Download or read book Poverty Comparisons and Household Survey Design written by Steven Howes and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 1997-01-01 with total page 60 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: World Bank Discussion Paper No. 356. The World Bank has become the world's largest lender in the health, nutrition, and population (HNP) sectors, requiring the institution to seek ever greater evidence that its work is effective on the ground. This paper reviews the literature on the causes of observed changes in health and fertility levels, on the evaluation of policies, and on programs designed to accelerate these changes. It presents a framework that delineates the relationships between Bank activities in the HNP sectors, the characteristics of a health care system, household behavior, and changes in health outcomes. The paper also describes a strategy for assessing the development effectiveness of the Bank's work in these sectors. The underlying thesis is that changes in health policy and improved outcomes depend on the the demand for health services and on institutional incentives that drive health care system performance.
Download or read book Poverty Lines in Theory and Practice written by Martin Ravallion and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 1998-01-01 with total page 58 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A poverty line helps focus the attention of governments and civil society on the living conditions of the poor. This paper offers a critical overview of alternative approaches to setting poverty lines. In reviewing the methods found in practice, the paper tries to throw light on, and go some way toward resolving, ongoing debates about poverty measurement, emphasizing those debates which would appear to have greatest bearing on policy discussions.
Download or read book Assessing Aid written by and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 1998 with total page 164 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Assessing Aid determines that the effectiveness of aid is not decided by the amount received but rather the institutional and policy environment into which it is accepted. It examines how development assistance can be more effective at reducing global poverty and gives five mainrecommendations for making aid more effective: targeting financial aid to poor countries with good policies and strong economic management; providing policy-based aid to demonstrated reformers; using simpler instruments to transfer resources to countries with sound management; focusing projects oncreating and transmitting knowledge and capacity; and rethinking the internal incentives of aid agencies.
Download or read book Measuring the Effects of Geographic Targeting on Poverty Reduction written by Judy L. Baker and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 1994 with total page 46 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This third and final volume from the City Study analyzes the structure of Bogota and Cali, Colombia by modelling different markets and the behavior of individuals, households, firms, and governments within these markets. Simple economic reasoning is used to understand the urban behavior that can determine a city's overall appearance and structure. The author underlines the importance of this understanding which, he argues, could lead to the creation of more effective urban policies. This study links infrastructure requirements and supply to the behavior of urban life and to the existing income distribution in the city. The author concludes that institutional responses to the rapidly changing and unpredictable demands of metropolitan residents must become an inherent part of city structure, and that this would be the most practical way of coping with urban growth.
Download or read book Shock Waves written by Stephane Hallegatte and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2015-11-23 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ending poverty and stabilizing climate change will be two unprecedented global achievements and two major steps toward sustainable development. But the two objectives cannot be considered in isolation: they need to be jointly tackled through an integrated strategy. This report brings together those two objectives and explores how they can more easily be achieved if considered together. It examines the potential impact of climate change and climate policies on poverty reduction. It also provides guidance on how to create a “win-win†? situation so that climate change policies contribute to poverty reduction and poverty-reduction policies contribute to climate change mitigation and resilience building. The key finding of the report is that climate change represents a significant obstacle to the sustained eradication of poverty, but future impacts on poverty are determined by policy choices: rapid, inclusive, and climate-informed development can prevent most short-term impacts whereas immediate pro-poor, emissions-reduction policies can drastically limit long-term ones.
Download or read book Handbook on Public Sector Efficiency written by António Afonso and published by Edward Elgar Publishing. This book was released on 2023-03-02 with total page 459 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Examining the increasingly relevant topic of public sector efficiency, this dynamic Handbook investigates the context of constrained fiscal space and public funding sources using cross-country datasets in areas including China, India and sub-Saharan Africa and OECD economies.
