On the Distributional Implications of Social Protection Reforms in Latin America

The paper tracks recent changes in the components of social protection in Latin America, the reforms to social insurance in the 1990s and the growth of social assistance in the 2000s, and assesses their effects on poverty and inequality and implications for welfare institutions in the region. The analysis focuses on public subsidies to social protection and their rebalancing. The paper concludes that the expansion of social assistance in the region will result in social protection institutions which are more comprehensive and distributionally progressive.Latin America, social insurance, social assistance, social protection, poverty, inequality

Supplementary pension coverage in Britain

The 1986 Social Security Act introduced far-reaching changes to the supplementary pension environment in Britain, encouraging the growth of defined contribution pension plans and especially personal pensions. This paper examines the pattern of supplementary pension coverage of employees in Britain five years after the implementation of the Act, using cross-sectional data from the Family Resources Survey 1993-94. Two-thirds of employees in Britain are covered by private contracted-out pension schemes. Employer-provided defined benefit pension schemes remain the dominant type of supplementary pension scheme. The growth of personal pension plans is more marked among manual, less-skilled, workers in smaller establishments. The paper concludes that, in the absence of further pension reform, adverse labour market conditions will exert downward pressure on private pension coverage.

A review of social protection in Latin America

This paper reviews social protection trends and policy responses in Latin America as part of a global scoping study on social protection commissioned by Ford Foundation (See Appendix One for ToR for this paper). The paper is organised as follows (following the paper contents as described in Appendix One): Section 1 identifies the main trends in poverty and vulnerability in the region, with particular references to rural-urban and life course poverty incidence. Section 2 provides a review of social protection trends. It discusses the two main areas of change and innovation in the last two decades: the reform of social insurance provision and the rapid expansion of social assistance schemes. Section 3 identifies some potential points of engagement between Ford Foundation work and the social protection policy agenda in the region

Social transfers and chronic poverty: objectives, design, reach and impact

In the first decade of the new century, social transfer programmes emerged as a new paradigm in the fight against poverty in the global South. These programmes currently reach more than 860 million people worldwide. This paper focuses on three policy questions: first, do programme objectives address chronic poverty? Second, are programme design features – the identification and selection of beneficiaries, delivery mechanisms and complementary interventions – effective in reaching chronically poor households? And third, do social assistance programmes benefit the chronically poor? The paper finds that by promoting longer-term human capital investment and protecting household assets and facilitating asset building, social transfers can directly or indirectly tackle persistent deprivation. The discussion notes that current knowledge on the outcomes of social transfers encourages strong expectations on its potential role in addressing long-term poverty, but that this can only be confirmed when current programmes reach maturity. This draws attention to the importance of extending the scope, depth and especially length of academic research into these relevant questions.social protection; chronic poverty, programme design

What is the Role of Social Pensions in Asia?

Rapid population ageing and economic transformation in Asia raise the policy challenge of ensuring income security in old age. There is growing interest among policymakers in the potential role of noncontributory transfers as an instrument to address a variety of policy challenges, including old age poverty and vulnerability, rapid population ageing, the effects of migration on intergenerational family support structures, and the effects of informality on social protection systems. The main objective of this paper is to explore the potential role of social pensions and other noncontributory schemes in Asia, informed by insights from theory and international experience. The paper identifies alternative forms of providing income security in old age, including social pensions. It also examines the welfare effects of adopting alternative social pension designs, especially around two key policy nodes: the comparative advantages of social assistance and social pensions, and the integration of noncontributory transfers within advanced contributory pension schemes

Human development income transfers in the longer term

The task for this paper is to provide some reflections on the future role of human development income transfers. Bolsa Família’s 10th anniversary provides a timely opportunity, and a fertile setting, to consider this issue. It provides an opportunity for a detailed assessment of the successes and continued challenges associated with a decade of implementation, to take stock of what has been achieved, the way in which barriers and limitations have been overcome, and the new tasks which have come to light. The contributions to this book undertake this assessment.2 The focus of this chapter is on the longer term, on the future role of human development income transfer programmes within the welfare institutions3 emerging in low- and middle-income countries, and especially Latin America. It considers the extent to which a decade of Bolsa Família maps out a route to establishing the long-term institutional framework needed to achieve and sustain the eradication of poverty. This is of considerable importance to low- and middle-income developing countries. Proposals on the post-2015 development agenda have raised the prospect of a commitment by the international community to work towards achieving a zero target for extreme poverty by 2030.4 The sustained fall in global extreme poverty since the 1990s has contributed to raising expectations of what can be achieved in the medium term. The share of the global population living on less than US$1.25 a day fell from 43.1 per cent in 1990 to 22.4 per cent in 2008, and the numbers of people in extreme poverty fell from 1.9 billion to 1.2 billion (Ravallion and Chen, 2012). Although the decline in the global incidence of extreme poverty has been dominated by trends in China, the Latin America region shows a strong performance, having reduced US$1.25/day poverty from 12.2 per cent in 1990 to 6.5 per cent in 2008, and US$2.5/day poverty from 22.4 per cent to 12.4 per cent in the same period. Sustaining a rate of extreme poverty reduction of around 1 per cent a year over the next decade and a half could take us closer to a world free from extreme poverty

Assessing the insurance role of microsavings

The paper contends that more attention should be paid to micro savings in view of multiple ways in which it can help poor to deal with economic insecurity. The paper presents information to show that while microsaving programs have spread, their full potential is far from being realized. It presents a detailed analysis on the basis of data from a selection of micro savings programs to show how savings help the poor to smooth consumption and undertake investment. The paper urges for a strong campaign to popularise micro saving programs.Economic insecurity, Micro credit, Micro insurance, Micro savings, Micro finance institutions, Poverty

Attitudes to Chronic Poverty in the “Global Village”

The paper explores attitudes to chronic poverty in a cross‐section of developed and developing countries based on data from the World Values Survey Wave Three (1994‐1998). The analysis finds a consistent belief among a majority of respondents that poverty is chronic. This paper also explores the factors that influence public attitudes to chronic poverty and finds that interests, position, knowledge, and shared values relating to social justice are important.In dem vorliegenden Arbeitspapier werden Haltungen zu chronischer Armut anhand von Querschnittsdaten aus Entwicklungs‐ und Industrieländern auf der Basis der dritten Runde des World Values Survey (1994‐1998) untersucht. Die Ergebnisse verdeutlichen, dass die Mehrheit der Befragten Armut als chronisch ansieht. Die Untersuchung zeigt zudem die jeweiligen Einflussfaktoren auf die öffentliche Meinung zu chronischer Armut auf, von denen insbesondere Interessen, Stellung, der Wissensstand als auch gemeinsame Werte bezüglich sozialer Gerechtigkeit von Bedeutung sind

Is there a Brazilian model of development? Are there lessons for countries in Africa?

Brazil's recent growth has been intensely pro-poor, and both poverty and inequality have declined significantly in the last decade. It has been suggested that Brazil's unexpected successes are the outcome of a new model of development. The paper argues that Brazil's unique combination of economic and social policies is at the root of its inclusive growth, but it is poorly understood. An assessment as to whether this combination constitutes a model is perhaps premature, but it is worth considering whether there are any lessons from Brazil's development policies for Sub-Saharan African countries