Alderman, Harold2014-03-042014-03-042001-01World Bank Economic Reviewhttps://hdl.handle.net/10986/17214Albania provides a small amount of social assistance to nearly 20 percent of its population through a system that allows some community discretion in determining distribution. This study investigates how well this social assistance program is targeted to the poor. Relative to other safety net programs in low-income countries, social assistance in Albania is fairly well targeted. Nevertheless, the system is hampered by the absence of a clear, objective criterion to determine the size of the grants from the central government to communes as well as limited information that could be used to implement this criterion. Substantial gains in targeting could be achieved if the central government better allocated transfers to local governments, even holding local targeting at base levels.enCC BY-NC-ND 3.0 IGOACCOUNTABILITYACCOUNTINGBENEFICIARIESBLOCK GRANTSBUDGET CONSTRAINTBUDGETINGCASH TRANSFERCASH TRANSFER PROGRAMSCASH TRANSFERSCENTRAL GOVERNMENT GUARANTEESCHECKSCITIESCOMMUNESCOMMUNITIESCONSUMER DURABLESCONSUMER SUBSIDIESCOUNTERFACTUALDECENTRALIZATIONDERIVATIVEDERIVATIVESDEVELOPING COUNTRIESDISTRIBUTIONAL OUTCOMESDISTRICTSDURABLEDURABLE GOODSDWELLINGECONOMIC CONDITIONSECONOMIC EFFICIENCYEMPLOYMENT STATUSEXPENDITUREEXTERNALITIESFACE VALUEFAMILY SAFETY NETSFEMALEFEMALESFISCAL DECENTRALIZATIONFISCAL DISCIPLINEFISCAL FEDERALISMFLOW OF INFORMATIONFOOD STAMP PROGRAMSFOOD SUBSIDIESFRAUDHOLDINGHOUSEHOLD INCOMEHOUSEHOLD SIZEHOUSEHOLD SURVEYHOUSEHOLD WELFAREHOUSINGINCOMEINCOME INEQUALITYINCOME REDISTRIBUTIONINSTRUMENTINSURANCEINTERGOVERNMENTAL TRANSFERSINTERNATIONAL BANKLABOR MARKETLAND HOLDINGSLAND OWNERSHIPLANDHOLDINGSLIVING STANDARDSLOCAL COUNCILSLOCAL GOVERNMENTLOCAL GOVERNMENT ELECTIONSLOCAL GOVERNMENTSMIGRATIONMOBILITYOLD-AGE PENSIONPENSIONPENSIONSPOLITICAL ECONOMYPOORPOOR AREASPOOR HOUSEHOLDSPOOR PEOPLEPOVERTY ALLEVIATIONPOVERTY LEVELSPOVERTY LINEPOVERTY LINESPOVERTY MAPPOVERTY MAPPINGPOVERTY RANKINGSPOVERTY RATESPRICE SUBSIDIESPRIVATE TRANSFERSPUBLIC EXPENDITURESPUBLIC WORKSREFERENDUMRURALRURAL AREASRURAL DEVELOPMENTRURAL FAMILIESRURAL HOUSEHOLDSSAFETYSAFETY NETSAFETY NET PROGRAMSSAFETY NETSSOCIAL ASSISTANCESOCIAL CAPITALSOCIAL PROGRAMSSTATE ENTERPRISESTARGETED SOCIAL PROGRAMSTARGETED TRANSFERSTARGETINGTAXTAXATIONTRANSITION ECONOMYUNEMPLOYMENTURBAN AREASVILLAGESWAGESJournal ArticleWorld Bank10.1596/17214