Large Cash Transfers to the Elderly in South Africa.

Although many governments in developing countries profess redistributive aims, and although standard efficiency arguments suggests that cash transfers are the best way of accomplishing such aims, direct cash transfers to the poor are rare. In this paper we examine a counter example, the "social pension" in South Africa, where large cash sums - about twice the median per capita income of African households - are paid to people qualified by age but irrespective of previous contributions.