- better cushions the poverty effects of income shocks in a developing economy. We compare the effectiveness of the three … benefit schemes on poverty first conceptually and then by considering two different crisis scenarios, the COVID-19 pandemic … the proxy-means-tested benefits are the most effective in reducing the poverty gap index, a simple categorical benefit is …

programmes. We conduct a poverty and inequality decomposition analysis as well as a benefit-incidence analysis to examine the … negligible poverty reducing effects at the national level. The contribution of welfare benefits to reducing inequality is mixed … to the distribution of income. Further simulation analysis indicates that expanding coverage under poverty targeting …