Publication:
Government Social Protection Programme Spending and Household Welfare in Lesotho

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dc.contributor.authorBoko, Joachim
dc.contributor.authorRaju, Dhushyanth
dc.contributor.authorYounger, Stephen D
dc.date.accessioned2023-07-10T18:57:18Z
dc.date.available2023-07-10T18:57:18Z
dc.date.issued2023-03-16
dc.description.abstractLesotho has notably high levels of poverty and inequality despite a high level of government spending on social protection programmes. We assess the performance of this spending in reducing consumption poverty and inequality, applying benefit incidence and microsimulation methods to 2017/2018 household survey data. We investigate the distributional effects of actual spending as well as those of a hypothetical alternative in which the spending is targeted through a proxy means test (PMT) formula used by the government for some programmes. We find that government spending on social protection programmes in Lesotho substantially reduces poverty and inequality. For most programmes, the hypothetical alternative of targeting spending to poorer households through the government's PMT formula would have no better distributional effects than current programme spending. The exception is postsecondary education bursaries, which are costly and regressive. Retaining bursaries only for poorer students, and reallocating the outlay this saves to a transfer targeted to poorer households through the government's PMT formula, could reduce poverty and inequality significantly.en
dc.identifier.citationSouth African Journal of Economics
dc.identifier.doi10.1596/39969
dc.identifier.issn0038-2280
dc.identifier.issn1813-6982 (eISSN)
dc.identifier.otherJEL CLASSIFICATION: H53, H55, I3, O12, O55
dc.identifier.urihttps://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/39969
dc.language.isoen_US
dc.publisherJohn Wiley and Sons
dc.rightsWiley Terms and Conditions
dc.rights.holderWorld Bank
dc.rights.urihttps://authorservices.wiley.com/author-resources/Journal-Authors/licensing/self-archiving.html
dc.subjectCOVERAGE
dc.subjectEFFECTIVENESS
dc.subjectINCIDENCE
dc.subjectLESOTHO
dc.subjectPENSIONS
dc.subjectSAFETY NETS
dc.subjectSIMULATIONS
dc.subjectSOCIAL ASSISTANCE
dc.subjectSOCIAL PROTECTION
dc.titleGovernment Social Protection Programme Spending and Household Welfare in Lesothoen
dc.typeJournal Article
dspace.entity.typePublication
okr.associatedcontenthttps://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/saje.12341 Journal website (version of record)
okr.crossref.titleGovernment Social Protection Programme Spending and Household Welfare in Lesotho
okr.date.disclosure2023-07-12
okr.doctypePublications & Research::Journal Article
okr.externalcontentExternal Content
okr.identifier.doi10.1111/saje.12341
okr.identifier.doihttp://dx.doi.org/10.1596/39969
okr.language.supporteden
okr.peerreviewAcademic Peer Review
okr.region.administrativeAfrica Eastern and Southern (AFE)
okr.region.countryLesotho
okr.region.geographicalSouthern Africa
okr.topicSocial Protections and Labor::Social Protections & Assistance
okr.topicSocial Protections and Labor::Safety Nets and Transfers
okr.topicSocial Protections and Labor::Pensions & Retirement Systems
okr.unitHECSP
relation.isAuthorOfPublication1c10655a-fd13-5895-9ace-c83619e62db1
relation.isAuthorOfPublication.latestForDiscovery1c10655a-fd13-5895-9ace-c83619e62db1
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