Social protection, poverty, and inequality: global patterns and changes

Udaya Wagle

Chapter 18 in Research Handbook on Poverty and Inequality, 2023, pp 323-349 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: Social protection policies are promoted as a tool to fight and reduce poverty and inequality. But has the reality lived up to this expectation? This chapter explores changes in social protection policies, poverty, and inequality globally and examines the extent to which social protection has helped reduce poverty and inequality. While data are limited when it comes to juxtaposing social protection with the measures of poverty and inequality, this chapter uses all available data in the framework of differential analysis where average changes are compared over time. Findings suggest some efficacy of social protection expenditures in reducing poverty especially in upper-middle-income countries as well as for the period since 2005. However, a similar observation may not apply to the case of inequality even when the raw data give that impression. This chapter offers various explanations for these observations and concludes with directions for further research.

Keywords: Development Studies; Geography; Politics and Public Policy Sociology and Social Policy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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