Working Paper
Towards greater poverty reduction in Zambia
A large share of the population in Zambia is living below the national poverty line. To reduce poverty, in 2019, the government initiated the Cash Plus reform, which aims to build on the existing Social Cash Transfer as a floor benefit with...
Working Paper
Simulation of options to replace the special COVID-19 Social Relief of Distress grant and close the poverty gap at the food poverty line
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...
Working Paper
Welfare and the depth of informality
This study explores the relationship between household poverty and depth of informality by proposing a new measure of informality at the household level. It is defined as the share of activities (hours worked or income earned) without social...
Working Paper
Informality and pension reforms in Bolivia
How social protection programmes affect work choices is a question that has been at the centre of labour economics research for decades. More recently, a scant literature has focused on the effects of social protection on work choices and informal...
Working Paper
Analysis of the distributional effects of COVID-19 and state-led remedial measures in South Africa
This paper explores the impact of the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa on income poverty and inequality in South Africa. Using a static tax–benefit microsimulation model with input datasets that were adjusted to reflect people’s...
Blog
The Nordic Model — lessons for Sri Lanka
by
Arusha Cooray
January 2021
Sri Lanka, like the Nordic countries, is a social democratic nation with a strong welfare state. It is classified as a ‘high human development’...
Blog
Social protection at a crossroad
by
Annalena Oppel
August 2021
How can we ensure a resilient and inclusive recovery from COVID-19? How can we hold on to the target of eradicating poverty and hunger by 2030, with...
Working Paper
Financing the Zambia social cash transfer scale-up
This paper assesses the effects on poverty and inequality of the alternative targeting approaches that Zambia’s Social Cash Transfer programme could take as its expansion continues during the period of the country’s Seventh National Development Plan...
Journal Article
Trade, poverty, and social protection in developing countries
How do shifts in trade affect social protections for the poor? Although the fraction of the world's population considered the “extreme” poor has fallen by over one-half over the past quarter century, many of those lifted above the global poverty line...
Policy Brief
Inequality dynamics in China
In the late 1970s, China embarked on a major programme of economic transition and reform. Since then, China’s economy has been transformed from a socialist planned economy to a predominately market economy characterized by a combination of state...
Working Paper
Social protection, the COVID-19 crisis, and the informal economy
This paper considers the implications of COVID-19 relief measures for the building and extension of comprehensive and universal social protection systems. It highlights three key areas emerging from the crisis, which are likely to affect the shape of...
Working Paper
Comparing the poverty-reduction efficiency of targeted versus universal benefits amid crises
This study evaluates which type of benefit—a universal benefit, a proxy mean-tested benefit, or a categorical benefit— better cushions the poverty effects of income shocks in a developing economy. We compare the effectiveness of the three benefit...
Working Paper
Microsimulation of tax-benefit systems in the Global South: a comparative assessment
This paper analyses the effectiveness of tax-benefit systems in reducing poverty and inequality across 13 countries in the Global South. Using national survey data and tax-benefit microsimulation models from the SOUTHMOD project, we provide a cross...
Working Paper
Aid’s impact on social protection in low- and middle-income countries
This study conducts an international comparative analysis of the recent evolution of social protection systems in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), and Asia-Pacific (APAC) regions, paying particular attention to the...
Blog
The COVID-19 TERS policy saved at least 2 million jobs: But not without some unintended results
About three years have passed since the South African government introduced the COVID-19 Temporary Employer-Employee Relief Scheme (TERS) in response...
Working Paper
Choices for spending government revenue
This paper examines a broad range of opportunities for addressing the pressing human development needs of low-income countries by using new oil, gas, and mineral discoveries. It assesses how much of an impact can be made on the funding gaps for...
Blog
From PhD Fellow to President: (of Colpensiones, Colombia’s public pension and social security administrator) – Juan Villa
by
Ruby Richardson
November 2018
Four years ago, in 2014, Juan Villa spent three months at UNU-WIDER in our PhD Fellowship Programme. I spoke to him on a sunny September afternoon...
Working Paper
Inequality in China
In this paper we describe the major trends in China’s income inequality over the past 40 years and explain them as the outcome of four interleaved stories. The first story is a standard development story characterized by structural change, market...
Working Paper
Quantifying the impacts of expanding social protection on efficiency and equity
A large informal sector is a challenge for developing countries building up social protection systems. Expanding social safety nets reduces poverty, but financing them can increase the tax burden, potentially reducing availability of formal sector...
Working Paper
Welfare and redistributive effects of social assistance in the Global South
This paper presents an analysis of the recent evolution of social assistance in the developing world, looking at its complex typological configuration, which has interlinked with, and partly reflects the complex demographic and epidemiological...
Working Paper
Winning or buying hearts and minds?
This paper studies how household-level receipts of cash transfers affect political attitudes in Pakistan. The paper exploits the locally exogenous eligibility cut-off of the flagship Benazir Income Support Programme to estimate causal effects. The...
Book
The Politics of Social Protection in Eastern and Southern Africa
The notion that social protection should be a key strategy for reducing poverty in developing countries has now been mainstreamed within international development policy and practice. Promoted as an integral dimension of the post-Washington Consensus...
Annual Lecture
WIDER Annual Lecture 20 - Direct interventions against poverty in poor places
Wed, 23 March 2016
Stockholm School of Economics, Aula,
Sveavägen 65 (entrance from Bertil Ohlins gata),
Stockholm,
Sweden
Past event
About
Contributors - AL20
Short biographies of those who contributed to the event.
Video
Webcast - AL20
View the WIDER Annual Lecture by Martin Ravallion on Direct interventions against poverty in poor places.
News
Director Kunal Sen contributes to blog on taxation in developing countries
The capability to raise revenues from taxes – often called fiscal capacity – is a crucial aspect for the functioning of every state, particularly in developing countries. They need higher revenues to invest in a number of economic and social areas...
Article
Feasibility of tax-benefit microsimulation in Ghana
The technical paper introduced in this article studies the feasibility of building a tax-benefit microsimulation model for Ghana. The main Ghanaian tax and benefit policies are reviewed, followed by a discussion of data requirements. We conclude that the Ghana Living Standards Survey, wave 6 (GLSS6), forms a fairly promising basis for tax-benefit microsimulation. Ghana has a need not only for modelling, but also building a more comprehensive tax and benefit system.
Working Paper
The politics of scaling up social protection in Kenya
Literature on social protection in Kenya shows progress in implementation of cash transfers but not the social health insurance scheme. With a dearth of explanation for this contrasting promotion of social protection, this paper examines the role of...
Working Paper
The global politics of social protection
Since the early 2000s international development agencies have actively promoted social protection as a new global public policy. This process can be understood as flowing from related shifts within the global political economy and of development...
Working Paper
Fiscal capacity and social protection expenditure in developing nations
There is scant analysis on the causal relationship between fiscal capacity and social protection expenditure in the developing world. We investigate the causal relationship between fiscal capacity of the state and social protection expenditure...
Working Paper
Building a conservative welfare state in Botswana
Botswana’s welfare state is both a parsimonious laggard in comparison with some other middle-income countries in Africa (such as Mauritius and South Africa) and extensive (in comparison with its low-income neighbours to the north and east). Coverage...
Working Paper
Poverty, changing political regimes, and social cash transfers in Zimbabwe, 1980–2016
Since 2000, Zimbabwe has been under some pressure to provide more fully for its children. It is not clear whether child poverty has worsened, although AIDS, drought, and economic mismanagement have all compromised poverty reduction. In any case...
Working Paper
Social protection, electoral competition, and political branding in Malawi
Competitive elections in many parts of Africa generate powerful incentives to presidential candidates (and to a lesser extent political parties) to brand themselves in ways that transcend regional or ethnic loyalties. In Malawi, Joyce Banda—President...
Working Paper
Worker retraining and transfer payments
We conduct an incentive-theoretical analysis of political economy considerations in the design of social protection programmes in developing countries to accompany economic reforms. We focus on two aspects of social protection—the provision of...
Workshop
Report on aid and social protection systems in the Global South shared with Swedish development agency
Non-resident Senior Research Fellow at UNU-WIDER, Miguel Niño-Zarazúa, is invited to speak and share results at a half-day workshop on 'Social protection in the Global South: evidence, sustainability, climate change and migration, and the role of aid...
Thu, 21 September 2023
Sida, rm. Höga Kusten,
Sundbyberg, Rissneleden 10,
Stockholm,
Sweden
Past event
Policy seminar
Cash Plus dissemination event
Tue, 5 October 2021
Hotel Southern Sun Ridgeway,
Lusaka, online,
Zambia
Past event
Presentation
Roosa Lambin and Milla Nyyssölä on social protection and gender in Tanzania
On 29 September 2021 UNU-WIDER researchers Roosa Lambin and Milla Nyyssölä give a presentation at the weekly online seminar of the Labour Institute for Economic Research. The topic of their presentation is Social protection and gender in Tanzania -...
Wed, 29 September 2021
online,
Finland
Past event
Policy seminar
Distributional Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Zambia
Thu, 14 October 2021
Sarovar Premiere Hotel, online,
Lusaka,
Zambia
Past event
Presentation
SOUTHMOD work presented at the Mozambique Social Protection Week
The Ministry of Gender, Child and Social Action (MGCAS) organises a Social Protection theme week in Mozambique 11-15 October 2021. During the week, on 15 October, The Mozambican Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) with Internation Labour...
Fri, 15 October 2021
Radisson Blu,
Mozambique
Past event
Presentation
Roosa Lambin and Milla Nyyssölä on social policy trajectories and women in Tanzania
The virtual conference Social Policy in Africa is organized 22-24 November 2021 by University of South Africa (UNISA) in the City of Tshwane in South Africa. On 22 November researchers Roosa Lambin and Milla Nyyssölä give a presentation in the...
Mon, 22 November 2021
online,
South Africa
Past event
Project meeting
Cash Plus final meeting
Wed, 28 July 2021
Lusaka,
Zambia
Past event
Workshop
Sixth training on TAZMOD - a tax-benefit microsimulation model for Tanzania
As part of the SOUTHMOD project, the national team at University of Dar es Salaam in collaboration with UNU-WIDER, and Southern African Social Policy Research Insights (SASPRI) organizes a training event on TAZMOD, the tax-benefit microsimulation...
Wed, 25 October 2023
–
Fri, 27 October 2023
Golden Tulip Airport,
Dar es Salaam,
Tanzania
Past event
Presentation
Jukka Pirttilä on social protection and taxation in times of crises
Helsinki Graduate School of Economics organises a weekly Development seminar series in Helsinki. On 6 April 2023 UNU-WIDER Non-Resident Senior Research Fellow Jukka Pirttilä presents the work in progress on the topic of Social protection and taxation...
Thu, 6 April 2023
Economicum,
Finland
Past event
Presentation
MOZMOD work presented at the Mozambique Social Protection Week
The Ministry of Gender, Child and Social Action (MGCAS) organises a Social Protection theme week in Mozambique 21-27 November 2022. During the week, on 25 November, The Mozambican Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) with Internation Labour...
Fri, 25 November 2022
Centro de Conferencias Joaquim Chissano,
Maputo,
Mozambique
Past event
Workshop
Author workshop on tax-benefit systems and crisis
Mon, 6 June 2022
–
Wed, 8 June 2022
Online,
Finland
Past event
Presentation
SOUTHMOD presented at Tampere University
The Global Health and Social Policy research unit of Tampere university organized an in person The Futures of Global Social Policy Workshop on 30 May 2022. UNU-WIDER Research Associate Jesse Lastunen and Research Assistant Enrico Nichelatti presented...
Mon, 30 May 2022
Tampere,
Finland
Past event
Blog
Poverty and the pandemic in the Pacific
by
Christopher Hoy
June 2020
COVID-19 has had a far greater economic impact than health impact on Papua New Guinea (PNG) and the Pacific. There has been extensive commentary about...
Blog
The case for universal social insurance in Latin America
by
Santiago Levy
November 2019
Access to effective social insurance in Latin America is typically determined by workers’ status in the labor market – whether they have formal or...
Policy Brief
The politics of social protection in Eastern and Southern Africa
Since the mid-1990s, there has been in Africa something of a ‘quiet revolution’ in poverty reduction strategies with the proliferation of social assistance programmes that entail cash transfers to the poor. The past two decades have also been...
Blog
An African in Africa: New perspectives on travelling for research
Working for an international organisation presents a host of challenges, given the vast nature of tasks that one must surmount in a fast paced and...
Blog
The pandemic and Africa's social safety net
The COVID-19 pandemic has shown that African tax and social-benefit systems are currently ill-equipped to protect households from sudden income losses...
Working Paper
Dynamic impacts of lockdown on domestic violence
We leverage staggered implementation of lockdown across Chile’s 346 municipalities, identifying dynamic impacts on domestic violence. Using administrative data, we find lockdown imposition increases indicators of distress related to domestic violence...
Journal Article
Analysis of the distributional effects of COVID-19 and state-led remedial measures in South Africa
This study explores the impact of the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa on income poverty and inequality in South Africa. Using a static tax-benefit microsimulation model with input datasets that were adjusted to reflect people’s...
Technical Note
Feasibility study: simulating the impacts of farm subsidies on poverty and inequality in African countries
Agricultural subsidies may have significant productive and distributional consequences, and policy-makers need to be able to assess these impacts as a part of the overall tax and benefit policy. Microsimulation models offer a tool for such analysis...
Working Paper
Social protection for working-age women in Tanzania
Tanzania has expanded its social protection framework significantly over the past decade, but the country continues to grapple with important gender inequalities. This paper examines, first, the evolution and effects of Tanzania’s social protection...
Working Paper
The effectiveness of social protection in five African countries through normal times and times of crisis
We study the effectiveness of social protection benefits in reducing income and consumption poverty in five sub-Saharan African countries—Ghana, Mozambique, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia—in normal times and times of widespread economic crisis. Using...
Blog
Teamwork and capacity strengthening to promote development: The case of Mozambique
Designing and implementing public policies requires caution to guarantee the best use of scarce resources, especially in middle- and lower-income...
Working Paper
Social protection expansions during crisis and fiscal space
This study provides a first attempt to contribute a large-scale assessment of whether crisis response as observed during the COVID-19 pandemic can serve as a feasible blueprint for creating durable solutions across countries. Adopting a lens on...
Blog
Sales recovered faster from the pandemic than employment: Evidence from tax administrative and survey data in Zambia
by
Aliisa Koivisto, Christopher Hoy, Laban Simbeye, Muhammad Malik, Mashekwa Maboshe
August 2022
Like most other countries, the government of Zambia introduced restrictions to control COVID-19, which considerably curtailed normal economic activity...
Working Paper
Social protection floor gaps and pandemic relief measures: a case for universalism?
With the expansion of social protection measures due to the COVID-19 pandemic, considerations both old and new have surfaced regarding targeted versus universalist approaches. This study focuses on how social protection coverage before the pandemic...
Blog
New country on the SOUTHMOD map: Meet our tax-benefit microsimulation team in Rwanda!
by
Anna Toppari
December 2022
How can Global South countries improve their tax and social protection systems? One way is to take advantage of tools that help assess the impact of...
Working Paper
The role of social protection and tax policies in cushioning crisis impacts on income and poverty in low- and middle-income countries
In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, several countries enacted tax and social protection measures to help mitigate the economic hardship faced by individuals and households. This experience underscores the need to better understand the impact of...
Policy Brief
How to create decent work for women
Despite advancements for gender equality in some spheres, labour market outcomes for women continue to be worse than for men. Gender gaps in pay, labour force participation rates, and measures of job quality are stubbornly persistent and continue to...
Journal Article
Does the depth of informality influence welfare in urban sub-Saharan Africa?
We explore the relationship between household welfare and informality, measuring household informality as the share of members’ activities (hours worked or income) without social insurance. We discretize these measures into four bins or portfolios...
Blog
Modelling to influence poverty and inequality in Zanzibar: Latest addition to the SOUTHMOD programme
by
Anna Toppari
December 2023
ZANMOD, the tax-benefit microsimulation model for Zanzibar, was launched in November 2023. The model will aid local authorities and researchers in...
Annual Lecture
WIDER Annual Lecture 23 - Informality: addressing the Achilles heel of social protection in Latin America
Wed, 30 October 2019
The Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies,
Maison de la Paix, Chemin Eugène-Rigot 2,
Geneva,
Switzerland
Past event
Project meeting
Cash Plus work in progress meeting
UNU-WIDER's SOUTHMOD tax-benefit microsimulation team, in collaboration with the senior partners from Southern African Social Policy Research Insights (SASPRI) and Zambia Institute for Policy Analysis and Research (ZIPAR), as well as the...
Mon, 26 April 2021
Online,
Lusaka,
Zambia
Past event
Project meeting
Second Cash Plus work in progress meeting
UNU-WIDER's SOUTHMOD tax-benefit microsimulation team, in collaboration with the senior partners from Southern African Social Policy Research Insights (SASPRI) and Zambia Institute for Policy Analysis and Research (ZIPAR), as well as the...
Tue, 8 June 2021
Online,
Lusaka,
Zambia
Past event
Presentation
Social protection in sub-Saharan Africa: Will the green shoots blossom?
Social Protection in the form of conditional cash transfers, non-contributory social pension schemes or targeted workfare programs, have evolved in recent years in an increasing number of developing countries. Impact evaluations show that social...
Wed, 23 May 2012
Mediterranean Museum Auditorium,
Fredsgatan 2,
Stockholm,
Sweden
Past event
Working Paper
The politics of promoting social protection in Zambia
This paper examines the rise of the social protection agenda in Zambia, and demonstrates that this has two alternative drivers: shifting dynamics within Zambia’s political settlement and the promotional efforts of a transnational policy coalition. We...
Working Paper
Social protection in an aspiring ‘developmental state’
Ethiopia’s Productive Safety Net Programme is among the largest social protection programmes in Africa and has been promoted as a model for the continent. This paper analyses the political drivers of the programme, arguing that elite commitment can...
Working Paper
Trade, poverty, and social protection in developing countries
How do shifts in trade affect social protections for the poor? Although the fraction of the world’s population considered the ‘extreme’ poor has fallen by over one-half over the past quarter century, many of those lifted above the global poverty line...
Working Paper
Ideational and institutional drivers of social protection in Tanzania
In the early 2000s, there was low elite commitment to social protection in Tanzania. Yet, in 2012, the government officially launched a countrywide social safety net programme, and a year later it announced the introduction of an old age pension. In...
About
Presentation - AL20
Martin Ravallion’s WIDER Annual Lecture focused on the economic and political issues surrounding the use of direct interventions, such as cash transfers and in kind contributions, against poverty. He highlighted two key lessons that are important for...
News
Press release - AL20
United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER) in partnership with the Stockholm Institute of Transition Economics (SITE) will host the WIDER Annual Lecture 20 at the Stockholm School of Economics on 23 March 2016. The lecture will be delivered by Martin Ravallion, a leading economist in the study of poverty and policies for fighting it.
Presentation
New Directions for Social Policy – towards socially sustainable development
Plenary Panel Presentation: Is Social Protection Effective in Tackling Inequality in Developing Countries? by Miguel Niño-Zarazúa, Research Fellow The Global Social Policy Forum provides a platform for discussion and dissemination of research...
Mon, 4 November 2013
Domus, Mechelinia-hall,
Hietaniemenkatu 14,
Helsinki,
Finland
Past event
Project workshop
2024 SOUTHMOD workshop
From 7–8 August 2024, participants from seven timezones gather for a two-day virtual SOUTHMOD workshop to exchange experiences and knowledge on tax-benefit microsimulation modeling in Global South countries.The annual workshop brings together...
Wed, 7 August 2024
–
Thu, 8 August 2024
Online,
Helsinki,
Finland
Past event
Workshop
BOLMOD training
The BOLMOD training, which is delivered in Spanish, is designed for current and prospective users of the BOLMOD simulation tool, including individuals from government offices, universities, and research institutes. The participants are expected to...
Mon, 2 September 2024
–
Fri, 6 September 2024
La Paz,
Bolivia
Past event
Workshop
EUROMOD research workshop 2024
The EUROMOD Research Workshop is an annual event that serves as a key platform for the microsimulation research community to exchange knowledge and research findings. The 2024 edition focuses on significant developments in microsimulation models and...
Thu, 26 September 2024
–
Fri, 27 September 2024
Marseilles,
France
Past event
Policy seminar
Inequality and Development – trends and policies
Powerpoint presentation UNU-WIDER policy seminar on “Inequality and Development - trends and policies” at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland. The seminar will look at current trends in inequality, the relationship between development and...
Fri, 26 September 2014
Valopiha, Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland,
Katajanokanlaituri 3,
Helsinki,
Finland
Past event
Blog
Budget credibility in Mozambique – challenges and solutions
Mozambique ranks in the bottom 20 of the human development index, with nearly two-thirds of its population (18.9 million people) living below the USD...
Presentation
Poverty Dynamics and Graduation from Social Protection: A Markovian Model for Mexico’s Oportunidades Programme
The presentation of the paper by Juan M. Villa and Miguel Niño-Zarazúa, 'Poverty Dynamics and Graduation from Social Protection: A Markovian Model for Mexico’s Oportunidades Programme'. At the XXII Annual Meetings of the LACEA/IADB/WORLD BANK/UNDP...
Mon, 9 June 2014
Universidad de Chile,
Av Libertador Bernardo O'Higgins 1058,
Santiago de Chile,
Chile
Past event
Presentation
Social protection in development
Improving the social protection of the poor and vulnerable is a global concern and co-operation is needed at all levels. As part of efforts to build dialogue and to better support social protection in developing countries, Jukka Pirttilä presented on...
Tue, 17 January 2017
–
Wed, 18 January 2017
German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development,
Bonn,
Germany
Past event
Video
Inequality, Gender and Nutrition
Conference on Inequality—Measurement, trends, impacts, and policies - Parallel 4.4
Blog
South Africa’s emergency social grant proves to be a critical tool in the fight against poverty — it should be expanded
by
Maya Goldman, Brynde Kreft, Ntuthuko Hlela
October 2024
South Africa's unemployment rate stands at a staggering 32.1%—one of the highest in the world. Coupled with an alarming poverty rate, where nearly...
Blog
Understanding Mozambique’s social protection system in the context of recurring shocks – perspectives from the field
by
Sara Almeida, Amadeu das Neves
October 2024
Effective social protection programmes that meet local needs can significantly enhance wellbeing and break the cycle of structural poverty among the...
Blog
Can insurance help African pastoralists escape poverty traps in the face of climate change?
by
Nathaniel D. Jensen, Francesco P. Fava, Andrew G. Mude, Christopher B. Barrett, Brenda Wandera-Gache, Anton Vrieling, Masresha Taye, Kazushi Takahashi, Felix Lung, Munenobu Ikegami, Polly Ericksen, Philemon Chelanga, Sommarat Chantarat, Michael Carter, Hassan Bashir, Rupsha Banerjee
October 2024
Drought is a leading cause of persistent poverty and humanitarian crises among pastoralists in East Africa. In a new book in the UNU-WIDER and...
Workshop
MOZMOD training and retreat 2024
This event is organized by UNU-WIDER in collaboration with the national MOZMOD team, the International Labour Organization (ILO) Mozambique, and the Ministry of Economic and Finance (MEF) of Mozambique.The MOZMOD Training and Retreat 2024 targets...
Fri, 1 November 2024
–
Sat, 2 November 2024
Maputo,
Mozambique
Past event
Workshop
ZANMOD training
As part of the SOUTHMOD project, this workshop is designed to train government officials in effectively using ZANMOD, a tax-benefit microsimulation model specifically developed for Zanzibar. This three-day training is the second event on ZANMOD...
Tue, 12 November 2024
–
Thu, 14 November 2024
Zanzibar,
Tanzania
Past event
Working Paper
Microsimulation approaches to studying shocks and social protection in selected developing economies
This paper calculates automatic stabilization in Ghana, South Africa, and Ecuador to explain income cushioning amid income and demand shocks. Fiscal policies within these countries are also stress tested to gauge welfare contingencies and insurance...
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