Social Protection, Poverty and the Post-2015 Agenda

Social protection is absent from the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), and only recently has gained some prominence in the post-2015 discourse. In the past quarter century, however, rising inequality has often accompanied economic growth. At the same time, the growing importance of risk and vulnerability on the wellbeing of the poor has been recognized. Further, there is now a consensus on adopting more ambitious goals on poverty reduction. Defining social protection as a collection of programs that address risk, vulnerability, inequality and poverty through a system of transfers in cash or in kind, this paper argues that social protection needs to be on the post-2015 agenda as a key element of the discourse. It provides an empirical overview of social protection around the world based on the World Bank's Atlas of Social Protection: Indicators of Resilience and Equity (ASPIRE) data set. Focusing on the goal of ending poverty, the paper estimates that social protection programs are currently preventing 150 million people from falling into poverty. Based on the data set, the paper develops, tentatively and for discussion, a set of candidate goals, indicators and targets for the acceleration of poverty reduction through social protection. The authors ask what it would take for social protection programs to contribute to halving the poverty gap in a country. They show that if all countries could achieve the actual poverty reduction efficiency already observed in the top quartile of countries, then 70 percent of the countries in the sample could achieve this goal. However, for 30 percent of the countries, even reaching the top quartile on efficiency will not be enough -- for these countries, the issue is one of budgetary adequacy.

Bibliographic Details

Main Authors:	Kanbur, Ravi, Fiszbein, Ariel, Yemtsov, Ruslan
Language:	English en_US
Published:	World Bank, Washington, DC 2013-05
Subjects:	ABSOLUTE POVERTY, ACCOUNTABILITY MECHANISMS, ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS, ANNUAL GROWTH, ASSET BUILDING, ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS, BENEFICIARIES, BENEFIT SYSTEMS, CAPITAL FLOWS, CASH TRANSFER, CASH TRANSFER PROGRAMS, CASH TRANSFERS, CHILD GROWTH, CHILD HEALTH, CHILD MORTALITY, CHILD NUTRITION, CHRONIC POVERTY, CIVIL SOCIETY, CLIMATE CHANGE, COASTAL REGIONS, CONDITIONAL CASH, CONTRIBUTORY PENSIONS, COPING STRATEGIES, COUNTERFACTUAL, CROP VARIETIES, DATA AVAILABILITY, DEVELOPED COUNTRIES, DEVELOPING COUNTRIES, DEVELOPING COUNTRY, DEVELOPING WORLD, DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS, DEVELOPMENT EFFORTS, DEVELOPMENT GOALS, DEVELOPMENT POLICY, DISABILITY ALLOWANCES, DISASTER RELIEF, DISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH, DROUGHT, ECONOMIC GROWTH, ECONOMIC SHOCKS, ECONOMIC STUDIES, ELECTRICITY SUBSIDIES, ELIMINATION OF POVERTY, EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE, ENERGY SUBSIDIES, ENVIRONMENTAL DAMAGE, EXTREME POVERTY, EXTREME POVERTY LINE, FEE WAIVERS, FINANCIAL CRISES, FINANCIAL MARKETS, FISCAL CAPACITY, FOOD ASSISTANCE, FOOD PROGRAM, FOOD STAMPS, FORM OF POVERTY, GINI COEFFICIENT, GINI INDEX, GLOBAL ECONOMY, GLOBAL LEVEL, GLOBAL POVERTY, GROWTH RATES, HEADCOUNT RATIO, HEALTH INSURANCE, HIGH INCOME COUNTRIES, HOUSEHOLD BUDGET, HOUSEHOLD INCOME, HOUSEHOLD SURVEYS, HOUSEHOLD WELFARE, HUMAN CAPITAL, HUMAN DEVELOPMENT, HUMAN RIGHTS, IDENTIFICATION OF BENEFICIARIES, IMPACT ON POVERTY REDUCTION, INCOME, INCOME DISTRIBUTION, INCOME GROUPS, INCOME GROWTH, INCOME INEQUALITY, INCOME POVERTY, INCOME RISK, INCOME SECURITY, INCOME TRANSFERS, INDIRECT BENEFICIARIES, INEQUALITY REDUCTION, INEQUALITY WILL, INSURANCE, INTERNATIONAL FOOD POLICY, JOB TRAINING, LABOR MARKET, LABOR MARKET PROGRAMS, LIVING CONDITIONS, LIVING STANDARDS, LOSS OF INCOME, MARKET FAILURES, MATERNAL HEALTH, MATERNAL MORTALITY, MEASUREMENT OF POVERTY, MEDIUM TERM, NATURAL DISASTERS, NEW CROP VARIETIES, PENSION, PENSIONS, PER CAPITA INCOME, POLICY IMPLICATIONS, POLICY INTERVENTIONS, POLICY MAKERS, POLICY PERSPECTIVE, POLICY RESEARCH, POOR, POOR HOUSEHOLDS, POOR PEOPLE, POOR PEOPLES, POOR PERSON, POVERTY ALLEVIATION, POVERTY DYNAMICS, POVERTY ERADICATION, POVERTY GAP, POVERTY GAP INDEX, POVERTY IMPACT, POVERTY INCIDENCE, POVERTY INDICES, POVERTY LINE, POVERTY MEASURE, POVERTY MEASURES, POVERTY RATE, POVERTY REDUCTION, POVERTY STATUS, POVERTY TARGET, PROTECTION SYSTEMS, PUBLIC EXPENDITURE, PUBLIC POLICY, PUBLIC WORKS, PURCHASING POWER, REDUCING INEQUALITY, REDUCING POVERTY, REDUCTION IN POVERTY, REDUCTION OF INCOME, REDUCTION OF INEQUALITY, REDUCTION OF POVERTY, RELATIVE ROLE, RISING INEQUALITY, RISK AVERSION, RISK MANAGEMENT, SAFETY NET, SAFETY NET PROGRAMS, SAVINGS, SCHOOL FEEDING, SCHOOL FEEDING PROGRAMS, SCHOOLING, SHOCK, SIGNIFICANT EVIDENCE, SIGNIFICANT IMPACT, SOCIAL ASSISTANCE, SOCIAL INSURANCE, SOCIAL PENSIONS, SOCIAL PROGRAMS, SOCIAL PROTECTION, SOCIAL PROTECTION SPENDING, SOCIAL SAFETY NET, SOCIAL SAFETY NETS, SOCIAL SERVICES, SOCIAL TRANSFERS, SSN, SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT, TARGETING, TECHNOLOGICAL PROGRESS, TOTAL POVERTY, TRADE OPENNESS, TRANSFER AMOUNT, TRANSFERS IN CASH, TRANSIENT POVERTY, TRANSITION COUNTRIES, UNEMPLOYMENT, UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS, UNEQUAL DISTRIBUTION, UNIVERSAL HEALTH, VULNERABILITY ASSESSMENT, VULNERABLE HOUSEHOLDS, WELFARE DISTRIBUTION, WORLD COMMUNITY,
Online Access:	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2013/05/17779372/ https://hdl.handle.net/10986/15601
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