Progressively targeted cash transfers remain the dominant policy response to chronic poverty in developing countries. But are there alternative social protection policies that might have larger poverty impacts over time for the same public expenditure? To explore this question, this paper...

There has been much discussion and debate on the kind of institutions and policies that could best address poverty and vulnerability in developing countries. Financing has emerged as a key constraint on the extension of social protection. The paper considers the main sources, and key...

Many informal sector employees in developing and emerging countries lack access to reliable forms of social protection: They cannot afford to buy private insurance, they are not covered by social insurance, and they are not entitled to social assistance. Therefore, micro-insurance schemes have...

Several circumstances make women more vulnerable to economic shocks than men. Women are more likely than men to be out of the labor force due to care responsibilities. When they work, women are more likely to have low-paying jobs in the informal sector. Moreover, women have lower access to...

Poor persons in poor countries are greatly exposed to the risk of adverse shocks, many of international origin, which can create long-lasting damage to individual well-being. There is a strong moral and prudential case for taking measures which reduce the extent to which such shocks arise and...

Background to the Social Protection Initiative -- International Instruments -- Definition of the Social Protection Floor -- Adaptive Social Protection -- Country Developments and Initiatives -- Appendices.

Market transitions and the poor: new coalitions for economic reform? -- From emergency employment to social investment: politics, adjustment, and poverty in Chile -- The politics of protecting the poor during adjustment: Bolivia's emergency social fund -- The politics of reform without a safety...