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Simulation of options to replace the special COVID-19 Social Relief of Distress grant and close the poverty gap at the food poverty line

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Listed:
  • Maya Goldman
  • Ihsaan Bassier
  • Joshua Budlender
  • Lindi Mzankomo
  • Ingrid Woolard
  • Murray Leibbrandt

Abstract

We use a fiscal incidence model based on the South African 2014/15 Living Conditions Survey to simulate the poverty reduction impacts of a selection of medium-to-long-term social grant options with the goal of replacing the existing special COVID-19 Social Relief of Distress grant upon its expiry and closing the extreme (food poverty line) poverty gap. Our key findings are that the introduction of a household-targeted family poverty grant is theoretically able to reduce extreme poverty most efficiently; however, it faces stark implementation challenges.

Suggested Citation

  • Maya Goldman & Ihsaan Bassier & Joshua Budlender & Lindi Mzankomo & Ingrid Woolard & Murray Leibbrandt, 2021. "Simulation of options to replace the special COVID-19 Social Relief of Distress grant and close the poverty gap at the food poverty line," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2021-165, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    • Handle: RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp-2021-165
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Maya Goldman & Ingrid Woolard & Jon Jellema, 2021. "The Impact of Taxes and Transfers on Poverty and Income Distribution in South Africa 2014/15," Commitment to Equity (CEQ) Working Paper Series 106, Tulane University, Department of Economics.
    2. Stephan Klasen & Ingrid Woolard, 2009. "Surviving Unemployment Without State Support: Unemployment and Household Formation in South Africa," Journal of African Economies, Centre for the Study of African Economies, vol. 18(1), pages 1-51, January.
    3. 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).
    4. Martin Wittenberg, 2010. "An introduction to maximum entropy and minimum cross-entropy estimation using Stata," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 10(3), pages 315-330, September.
    5. Hamoudi, Amar & Thomas, Duncan, 2014. "Endogenous coresidence and program incidence: South Africa's Old Age Pension," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 30-37.
    6. Andrew Kerr, 2018. "Job Flows, Worker Flows and Churning in South Africa," South African Journal of Economics, Economic Society of South Africa, vol. 86(S1), pages 141-166, January.
    7. Maya GOLDMAN & Ingrid WOOLARD & Jon JELLEMA, 2020. "The Impact of Taxes and Transfers on Poverty and Income Distribution in South Africa 2014/2015," Working Paper 148aae17-521b-428b-85de-b, Agence française de développement.
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    Cited by:

    1. Ihsaan Bassier & Joshua Budlender & Maya Goldman, 2022. "Social distress and (some) relief: Estimating the impact of pandemic job loss on poverty in South Africa," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2022-80, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    2. Ihsaan Bassier & Joshua Budlender, 2024. "Stimulus effects of a large public employment programme," Working Paper a09be470-a23f-4594-b51a-f, Agence française de développement.

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