Social assistance and the poor in Romania
Subbarao, K. | Mehra, Kalpana
Following the transition to a market economy, the incidence and depth of poverty have been a source of concern in Romania. This paper analyses the distributive impact of public social assistance programs, based on the data from the Integrated Household Survey for March 1994, and available secondary information. The main questions addressed are : how have social transfers fared in the recent period? how effective have the transfers been reaching the poor? what is the net impact of transfers on the poverty gap ratio? and how significant are the redistributed gains from a better targeting of programs? The paper concludes that though transfers are contributing to a reduction of the incidence and depth of poverty, many deserving poor (such as female-based households) may not be receiving the needed transfers. The paper also examines the pros and cons of the proposed minimum income guarantee, and argues that the scheme may be difficult to implement.
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