Evaluating the cost of poverty alleviation transfer programs: an illustration based on PROGRESA in Mexico

David Coady, Raul Perez and Hadid Vera-Ilamas

No 199, FCND discussion papers from International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)

Abstract: "One of the common criticisms of poverty alleviation programs is that the high share of administrative (nontransfer) costs substantially reduces the programs' impact on poverty. But very little empirical evidence exists on program costs. For example, a recent extensive international review of targeted poverty alleviation programs in developing countries could find data on costs for only 32 out of the 111 programs reviewed. Even then, the numbers available were not always comparable. In this paper, we present a detailed analysis of the cost structure of a program recently introduced in Mexico, called PROGRESA. Our analysis shows how cost data can be used as the basis for an evaluation of the cost efficiency of anti-poverty programs. It cautions, however, that one must be very careful when interpreting cost numbers or undertaking comparisons across programs in order to avoid misleading conclusions. Any credible analysis of a program's cost efficiency must involve a detailed analysis of cost structure and not simply provide aggregate cost information. We also highlight the importance of not neglecting private costs incurred by households in taking up transfers." Authors' Abstract

Keywords: poverty; research; methodology; education; economic aspects; human capital; consumer behaviour; costs; analysis; expenditure; poverty alleviation; Mexico; Northern America; Latin America; Central America (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2005
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dev and nep-ltv
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
https://hdl.handle.net/10568/160647

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:fpr:fcnddp:199

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in FCND discussion papers from International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by ().