In sub-Saharan Africa, public resource allocation in social service sectors can be particular important in that low levels of development can make private services inaccessible for much of the population. In addition, short-term social services needs often compete with longer-term growth...

We measure the response of household consumption of different income groups to social spending during the 2002-2012 period using the aggregated Household Budget Survey Data. We find that households respond more strongly to changes in pensions than to changes in allowances and in-kind transfers....