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Lifting the floor? Economic development, social protection and the developing World's poorest

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  • Margitic, Juan
  • Ravallion, Martin

Abstract

It is theoretically ambiguous whether people in richer countries have a higher floor to their living standards. Nor is it clear whether social protection spending reaches the poorest and thus lifts the floor. Across countries, the paper finds that higher mean incomes come with a higher floor. The bulk of this is direct rather than via public spending on social protection. Social insurance (mainly public pensions) does the “heavy lifting” of the floor. Social assistance (mainly targeted cash-transfers) lifts the floor by only 1.5 cents per day on average, which is less than 10% of mean spending on social assistance.

Suggested Citation

  • Margitic, Juan & Ravallion, Martin, 2019. "Lifting the floor? Economic development, social protection and the developing World's poorest," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 97-108.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:deveco:v:139:y:2019:i:c:p:97-108
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jdeveco.2019.03.003
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    2. Martin Ravallion, 2020. "On Measuring Global Poverty," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 12(1), pages 167-188, August.
    3. Dean Jolliffe & Juan Margitic & Martin Ravallion & Laura Tiehen, 2024. "Food stamps and America's poorest," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 106(4), pages 1380-1409, August.
    4. Sebastian Sir n, 2024. "Making Growth Inclusive? Do Government Transfers Moderate the Effect of Economic Growth on Absolute and Relative Child Poverty?," LIS Working papers 879, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
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    6. Caitlin S. Brown & Martin Ravallion & Dominique van de Walle, 2020. "Can the World’s Poor Protect Themselves from the New Coronavirus?," NBER Working Papers 27200, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Habimana, Dominique & Haughton, Jonathan & Nkurunziza, Joseph & Haughton, Dominique Marie-Annick, 2021. "Measuring the impact of unconditional cash transfers on consumption and poverty in Rwanda," World Development Perspectives, Elsevier, vol. 23(C).
    8. Jaskirat Singh & Dhiraj Sharma & Gurdip Singh Batra, 2023. "Does Credit Utilization Pattern Promote Poverty Alleviation? An Evidence from India," Global Business Review, International Management Institute, vol. 24(6), pages 1227-1250, December.
    9. Dean Jolliffe & Grazia Pittau & John Gibson, 2022. "Editors' Introduction," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 68(S2), pages 261-263, December.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Poverty; Inequality; Floor; Social insurance; Social assistance;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I32 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Measurement and Analysis of Poverty
    • I38 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Government Programs; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs
    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration

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