Belarus - Social Assistance Policy Note : Improving Targeting Accuracy of Social Assistance Programs

Belarus has a large and extensive social protection system (SP) covering a significant share of the population. Belarus has adopted a single methodology for calculating income to target Public Targeted Social Assistance (GASP). This methodology als...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author:	World Bank
Format:	Other Social Protection Study
Language:	English en_US
Published:	Washington, DC 2013
Subjects:	ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS AGRICULTURAL INCOMES AGRICULTURAL PRODUCE ANTIPOVERTY PROGRAMS AVERAGE INCOME BENCHMARKS CASH TRANSFER PROGRAMS CASH TRANSFERS CATEGORICAL ASSISTANCE CHILD ALLOWANCES CITIES COMPETENCIES CONSUMPTION LEVELS DISTRIBUTION OF BENEFITS DIVIDENDS DURABLE GOODS ECONOMIC GROWTH ECONOMIC SHOCKS EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES EMPLOYMENT STATUS EXPENDITURES FAMILIES FAMILY ASSISTANCE FAMILY INCOME FISCAL CONSTRAINTS FLEXIBILITY GDP GMI GUARANTEED MINIMUM INCOME HBS HBS DATA HEALTH CARE HOUSEHOLD BUDGET HOUSEHOLD BUDGET SURVEY HOUSEHOLD PER CAPITA INCOME HUMAN CAPITAL ILLNESS IMPACT ON POVERTY INCIDENCE ANALYSIS INCOME INCOME COMPOSITION INCOME DISTRIBUTION INCOME SOURCES INCOME SUPPORT INSPECTORS INSURANCE INTEGRATION LAND OWNERSHIP MEANS TESTING MEDICAL CARE MEDICAL SERVICES MEDICAL TREATMENT OLD AGE PENSIONS PER CAPITA CONSUMPTION PER CAPITA INCOMES PERMANENT INCOME POLICY AGAINST POVERTY POOR POOR PEOPLE POVERTY GAP POVERTY HEADCOUNT POVERTY LINE POVERTY RATES PREGNANCY PROBABILITY PROGRAM BENEFICIARIES PROGRAM COVERAGE PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION PUBLIC SPENDING REDUCING POVERTY REHABILITATION RURAL RURAL AREAS SAVINGS SERVICE DELIVERY SIMULATIONS SOCIAL ASSISTANCE SOCIAL INCLUSION SOCIAL POLICIES SOCIAL PROGRAMS SOCIAL SAFETY NETS SOCIAL SECURITY SOCIAL TRANSFERS SSN TARGETING TRANSITION ECONOMIES UNEMPLOYMENT UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS WAGES WAR WELLBEING
Online Access:	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2011/05/16282080/belarus-improving-targeting-accuracy-social-programs-social-assistance-policy-note http://hdl.handle.net/10986/12580

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Summary:	Belarus has a large and extensive social protection system (SP) covering a significant share of the population. Belarus has adopted a single methodology for calculating income to target Public Targeted Social Assistance (GASP). This methodology also is used when testing an applicant's income/means for some of the child benefits. To reduce the leakage of benefits to the non-poor while expanding GASP, this note assesses the usefulness of applying a Hybrid-Means-Test method (HMT), a variation of the means-testing method that combines means testing and proxy-means testing. All outcomes in this note have been estimated on the basis of the 2008 Belarusian Household Budget Survey (2008 HBS). The HMT model improves estimates of 'means' by generating a predicted value for hard-to-verify incomes, which are then added to the observed (reported) values of easy-to-verify incomes. In this way, the HMT model can improve predictions of per capita households (HH) income. The note is divided in six sections. In section one, the authors present an overview of the current social safety net (SSN) programs in Belarus, their design features, number of beneficiaries, and eligibility criteria to draw the overall picture of the types of programs delivered in Belarus and the magnitude of their public spending. Section two reviews the targeting accuracy of existent SP programs in Belarus. Section three analyzes whether HMT can be an option for targeting in Belarus. Section four presents the HMT formulae. In section five the authors describe how HMT also can be used for client profiling of beneficiaries. In section six, the authors conclude by discussing the results of some simulations about the targeting accuracy of the HMT method.

Belarus - Social Assistance Policy Note : Improving Targeting Accuracy of Social Assistance Programs

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