Publication: Reducing Error, Fraud and Corruption (EFC) in Social Protection Programs
Date
2007-01
ISSN
Published
2007-01
Author(s)
Tesliuc, Emil Daniel
Milazzo, Annamaria
Abstract
Social Protection (SP) and Social Safety
Net (SSN) programs channel a large amount of public
resources, it is important to make sure that these reach the
intended beneficiaries. Error, fraud, or corruption (EFC)
reduces the economic efficiency of these interventions by
decreasing the amount of money that goes to the intended
beneficiaries, and erodes the political support for the
program. While no program is immune to EFC, evidence from
developed countries demonstrates that such leakage can be
brought to negligible levels. In five Organization for
Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries (UK,
Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, and USA) this fraction is
between 2-5 percent for the SP sector as a whole. For SSN
programs, which use more complex eligibility criteria and
hence are more prone to EFC, this fraction is 10 percent. To
achieve these results, programs have implemented a number of
measures reviewed in this note. In contrast, efforts to
combat or even measure EFC are quite rare in developing
countries, although some programs are plagued by it.
Citation
“Tesliuc, Emil Daniel; Milazzo, Annamaria. 2007. Reducing Error, Fraud and Corruption (EFC) in Social Protection Programs. Social Safety Nets Primer Notes; No. 26. © World Bank, Washington, DC. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/11770 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”