IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/asieco/v23y2012i2p179-188.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Evaluating social protection programs in Tajikistan

Author

Listed:
  • Son, Hyun H.

Abstract

At independence, Tajikistan inherited an extensive social protection system that included a range of cash and non-cash benefits. While the economy is well into its transition from a centrally planned to a market-oriented economy, its social welfare policies still adhere to the methods and approaches of the Soviet period. This is true for social protection, which has both social insurance and social assistance components, and for which benefits are effectively non-contributory in nature in that no contributions are collected from employees. In this paper, we examine the performance of the country's social protection system—essentially public transfers for the elderly and disabled—in terms of reducing poverty, with the aim of identifying its key problems. Since the government provides such public transfers mainly as pensions (i.e., old-age pension, disabled pension, and survivors pension), it merits an in-depth analysis of whether or not these transfer programs reach the intended beneficiaries; that is, how well do they target the intended beneficiaries? Using data from the Living Standards Measurement Survey conducted in 2007, we find that only 43% of poor households are receiving transfers from the government, while 33% of non-poor households receive transfers. This study argues for applying a targeted approach to public transfer programs, including non-contributory pension schemes aimed at the most vulnerable populations.

Suggested Citation

  • Son, Hyun H., 2012. "Evaluating social protection programs in Tajikistan," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 23(2), pages 179-188.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:asieco:v:23:y:2012:i:2:p:179-188
    DOI: 10.1016/j.asieco.2011.09.002
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S104900781100090X
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.asieco.2011.09.002?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. David Coady & Margaret Grosh & John Hoddinott, 2004. "Targeting of Transfers in Developing Countries : Review of Lessons and Experience," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 14902.
    2. Foster, James & Greer, Joel & Thorbecke, Erik, 1984. "A Class of Decomposable Poverty Measures," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 52(3), pages 761-766, May.
    3. Angus Deaton & Christina Paxson, 1998. "Economies of Scale, Household Size, and the Demand for Food," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 106(5), pages 897-930, October.
    4. Nanak Kakwani & Hyun H. Son, 2005. "Economies Of Scale In Household Consumption: With Application To Australia," Australian Economic Papers, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(2), pages 134-148, June.
    5. Kakwani, Nanak & Lambert, Peter J., 1998. "On measuring inequity in taxation: a new approach," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 14(2), pages 369-380, May.
    6. repec:bla:revinw:v:34:y:1988:i:2:p:115-42 is not listed on IDEAS
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Thaiyoong Penny Mok & Gillis Maclean & Paul Dalziel, 2013. "Alternative Poverty Lines for Malaysia," Asian Economic Journal, East Asian Economic Association, vol. 27(1), pages 85-104, March.
    2. Jha,R., 2000. "Reducing Poverty and Inequality in India: Has Liberalization Helped?," Research Paper 204, World Institute for Development Economics Research.
    3. Stoeffler, Quentin & Mills, Bradford & del Ninno, Carlo, 2016. "Reaching the Poor: Cash Transfer Program Targeting in Cameroon," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 244-263.
    4. Kakwani, Nanak & Li, Shi & Wang, Xiaobing & Zhu, Mengbing, 2019. "Evaluating the effectiveness of the rural minimum living standard guarantee (Dibao) program in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 1-14.
    5. Ravi Kanbur, 2008. "Globalization, Growth, and Distribution," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 28017.
    6. Karbasi, A. & Mohammadzadeh, S.H., 2018. "Estimating Household Expenditure Economies of Scale in Iran," 2018 Conference, July 28-August 2, 2018, Vancouver, British Columbia 277152, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    7. Schleicher, Michael & Souares, Aurélia & Pacere, Athanase Narangoro & Sauerborn, Rainer & Klonner, Stefan, 2016. "Decentralized versus Statistical Targeting of Anti-Poverty Programs: Evidence from Burkina Faso," Working Papers 0623, University of Heidelberg, Department of Economics.
    8. Aleksandr Vashchilko, 2012. "Households' Expenditure Patterns in Belarus," BEROC Working Paper Series 20, Belarusian Economic Research and Outreach Center (BEROC).
    9. Jed Friedman, 2003. "How Responsive is Poverty to Growth? A Regional Analysis of Poverty, Inequality, and Growth in Indonesia, 1984-99," WIDER Working Paper Series DP2003-57, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    10. Aguila, Emma & Kapteyn, Arie & Tassot, Caroline, 2017. "Designing cash transfer programs for an older population: The Mexican case," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 9(C), pages 111-121.
    11. Bagala Biswal & Raghbendra Jha & Urvashi D. Biswal, 2001. "An Empirical Analysis Of The Impact Of Public Expenditures On Education And Health On Poverty In Indian States," Working Paper 998, Economics Department, Queen's University.
    12. Quisumbing, Agnes R. & Haddad, Lawrence & Pena, Christine, 2001. "Are women overrepresented among the poor? An analysis of poverty in 10 developing countries," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 66(1), pages 225-269, October.
    13. World Bank, 2009. "Guatemala - Poverty assessment : good performance at low levels," World Bank Publications - Reports 3063, The World Bank Group.
    14. Wim Van Lancker & Natascha Van Mechelen, 2014. "Universalism under siege? Exploring the association between targeting, child benefits and child poverty across 26 countries," Working Papers 1401, Herman Deleeck Centre for Social Policy, University of Antwerp.
    15. Deon Filmer & Kinnon Scott, 2012. "Assessing Asset Indices," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 49(1), pages 359-392, February.
    16. Bassier, Ihsaan & Budlender, Joshua & Zizzamia, Rocco & Leibbrandt, Murray & Ranchhod, Vimal, 2021. "Locked down and locked out: Repurposing social assistance as emergency relief to informal workers," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    17. Nanak Kakwani & Hyun H. Son, 2006. "Evaluating Targeting Efficiency of Government Programmes: International Comparisons," WIDER Working Paper Series RP2006-55, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    18. Brown, Caitlin & Ravallion, Martin & van de Walle, Dominique, 2018. "A poor means test? Econometric targeting in Africa," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 134(C), pages 109-124.
    19. Sami Bibi & Jean-Yves Duclos, 2007. "Poverty-decreasing indirect tax reforms: Evidence from Tunisia," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 14(2), pages 165-190, April.
    20. Pritchett, Lant, 2005. "The political economy of targeted safety nets," Social Protection Discussion Papers and Notes 31498, The World Bank.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Social protection; Social assistance; Transition; Social pension; Poverty; Tajikistan;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H53 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Government Expenditures and Welfare Programs
    • I38 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Government Programs; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs
    • P36 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Socialist Institutions and Their Transitions - - - Consumer Economics; Health; Education and Training; Welfare, Income, Wealth, and Poverty
    • O53 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Asia including Middle East

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:asieco:v:23:y:2012:i:2:p:179-188. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/asieco .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.