Safety Net Programs And Poverty Reduction

This is an edited volume reviewing the major means-tested social programs in the United States. Each author addresses a major program or area, reviewing each area’s successes and recommending how to address shortcomings through policy change. In general, our means-tested programs do many things well, but some adjustments to each could make the system much more effective. This book provides policymakers with a broad overview of the issues at hand in each program and how to address them.

The need for social safety nets has become a key component of poverty reduction strategies. Over the past three decades several developing countries have launched a variety of programs, including cash transfers, subsidies in-kind, public works, and income-generation programs. However, there is little guidance on appropriate program design, and few studies have synthesized the lessons from widely differing country experiences. This report fills that gap. It reviews the conceptual issues in the choice of programs, synthesizes cross-country experience, and analyzes how country- and region-specific constraints can explain why different approaches are successful in different countries.

This book investigates the origins, current state, and fundamental value of social safety nets in developing countries, as well as their effectiveness in these settings. Social safety net programs (SSNPs) are critical because they keep those who are already vulnerable from falling deeper into poverty. Analysing how social safety nets benefit the most disadvantaged and marginalized members of society by allowing those in need to become financially stable, more resilient, and open up more opportunities for themselves, this book shows that social safety nets (SSNs) are a collection of social services designed to protect people from the effects of economic and emotional hardship. Showing that the purpose of the safety net is not to provide permanent financial security, but rather to provide temporary financial security during periodic shocks and how this applies in South Asia and also in parts of Africa, this book will be of interest to all scholars and students of social policy, sociology, social work, and Global South politics more generally.

Safety nets are noncontributory transfer programs targeted to the poor or vulnerable. They play important roles in social policy. Safety nets redistribute income, thereby immediately reducing poverty and inequality; they enable households to invest in the human capital of their children and in the livelihoods of their earners; they help households manage risk, both ex ante and ex post; and they allow governments to implement macroeconomic or sectoral reforms that support efficiency and growth. To be effective, safety nets must not only be well intended, but also well designed and well implemented. A good safety net system and its programs are tailored to country circumstances, adequate in their coverage and generosity, equitable, cost-effective, incentive compatible, and sustainable. Good safety nets are also dynamic and change over time as the economy changes or as management problems are solved and new standards are set. Drawing on a wealth of research, policy, and operational documents from both academia and the World Bank s work in over 100 countries, For Protection and Promotion provides pragmatic and informed guidance on how to design and implement safety nets, including useful information on how to define eligibility and select beneficiaries, set and pay benefits, and monitor and evaluate programs and systems. The book synthesizes the literature to date and enriches it with new examples on various program options cash transfers (conditional and unconditional), in-kind transfers, price subsidies, fee waivers, and public works. It concludes with a comprehensive diagnostic for fitting safety net systems and programs to specific circumstances.

This is an edited volume reviewing the major means-tested social programs in the United States. Each author addresses a major program or area, reviewing each area's successes and recommending how to address shortcomings through policy change. In general, our means-tested programs do many things well, but some adjustments to each could make the system much more effective. This book provides policymakers with a broad overview of the issues at hand in each program and how to address them. Contributions by Douglas J. Besharov, Richard V. Burkhauser, Douglass M. Call, James C. Capretta, Kevin C. Corinth, Maura Corrigan, Mary C. Daly, Robert Doar, Ron Haskins, Bruce D. Meyer, Edgar O. Olsen, Angela Rachidi, Katharine B. Stevens, and Russell Sykes.

This book assesses the status, objectives, features, performance, and financing of safety nets in Africa. It identifies how governments and donors can strengthen safety nets to protect and promote poor people. Overall safety nets are on the rise in Africa and are beginning to evolve from fragmented programs into systems.

"This book investigates the origins, current state, and fundamental value of social safety nets in developing countries, as well as their effectiveness in these settings. Social safety net programs (SSNPs) are critical because they keep those who are already vulnerable from falling deeper into poverty. Analysing how social safety nets benefit the most disadvantaged and marginalized members of society by allowing those in need to become financially stable, more resilient, and open up more opportunities for themselves, it shows that SSNs are a collection of social services designed to protect people from the effects of economic and emotional hardship. Showing that the purpose of the safety net is not to provide permanent financial security, but rather to provide temporary financial security during periodic shocks and how this applies in South Asia and also in parts of Africa, this book will be of interest to all scholars and students of social policy, sociology, social work and the global south politics more generally"--

The strengths and abilities children develop from infancy through adolescence are crucial for their physical, emotional, and cognitive growth, which in turn help them to achieve success in school and to become responsible, economically self-sufficient, and healthy adults. Capable, responsible, and healthy adults are clearly the foundation of a well-functioning and prosperous society, yet America's future is not as secure as it could be because millions of American children live in families with incomes below the poverty line. A wealth of evidence suggests that a lack of adequate economic resources for families with children compromises these children's ability to grow and achieve adult success, hurting them and the broader society. A Roadmap to Reducing Child Poverty reviews the research on linkages between child poverty and child well-being, and analyzes the poverty-reducing effects of major assistance programs directed at children and families. This report also provides policy and program recommendations for reducing the number of children living in poverty in the United States by half within 10 years.

In one of the most provocative books ever published on America's social welfare system, economist Janet Currie argues that the modern social safety net is under attack. Unlike most books about antipoverty programs, Currie trains her focus not on cash welfare, which accounts for a small and shrinking share of federal expenditures on poor families with children, but on the staples of today's American welfare system: Medicaid, Food Stamps, Head Start, WIC, and public housing. These programs, Currie maintains, form an effective, if largely invisible and haphazard safety net, and yet they are the very programs most vulnerable to political attack and misunderstanding. This book highlights both the importance and the fragility of this safety net, arguing that, while not perfect, it is essential to fighting poverty. Currie demonstrates how America's safety net is threatened by growing budget deficits and by an erroneous public belief that antipoverty programs for children do not work and are riddled with fraud. By unearthing new empirical data, Currie makes the case that social programs for families with children are actually remarkably effective. She takes her argument one step further by offering specific reforms--detailed in each chapter--for improving these programs even more. The book concludes with an overview of an integrated safety net that would fight poverty more effectively and prevent children from slipping through holes in the net. (For example, Currie recommends the implementation of a benefit "debit card" that would provide benefits with less administrative burden on the recipient.) A complement to books such as Barbara Ehrenreich's bestselling Nickel and Dimed, which document the personal struggles of the working poor, The Invisible Safety Net provides a big-picture look at the kind of programs and solutions that would help ease those struggles. Comprehensive and authoritative, it will prompt a major reexamination of the current thinking on improving the lives of needy Americans.