Many South Asian countries experienced changes in government and strong economic growth since the early 2000s. Poverty and social exclusion have received growing attention, and many governments in the region strengthened their commitments to ensure equal access to basic healthcare, education and...

Many South Asian countries experienced changes in government and strong economic growth since the early 2000s. Poverty and social exclusion have received growing attention, and many governments in the region strengthened their commitments to ensure equal access to basic healthcare, education and...

Botswana's welfare state is both a parsimonious laggard in comparison with some other middle-income countries in Africa (such as Mauritius and South Africa) and extensive (in comparison with its low-income neighbours to the north and east). Coverage is broad but cash transfers are modest. This...

This paper assesses the effects on poverty and inequality of the alternative targeting approaches that Zambia's Social Cash Transfer programme could take as its expansion continues during the period of the country's Seventh National Development Plan (2017-21). It further assesses the domestic...

This report discusses Indonesia’s social policy response to Covid-19 as well as the public’s response to this policy response. It finds that the Indonesian social policy response to the pandemic was mainly through reallocations within the government budget to finance targeted social safety...

Non-take-up of means tested benefits is a wide spread phenomenon in European welfare states. The paper assesses whether the reform that replaced the monetary social assistance benefit by the minimum income benefit in Austria has succeeded in increasing take up rates. We use EU-SILC register data...

Korpi and Palme's (1998) classic "The Paradox of Redistribution and Strategies of Equality" claims that universal social policy better reduces poverty than social policies targeted at the poor. This article revisits Korpi and Palme’s classic, and in the process, explores and informs a set of...