Can Social Protection Tackle Chronic Poverty?

Abstract

Recent developments in social protection have shifted its focus on to risk and vulnerability. These contribute to poverty directly, but also indirectly through the response of poor households to risk. The extent to which social protection interventions could address chronic poverty is unclear. A hard and fast distinction between transient and chronic poverty suggests a bifurcation in anti-poverty policy, with social protection addressing the former, and asset transfer policies the latter. To the extent that factors behind chronic poverty extend beyond the direct and indirect impact of risk on households, social protection can at best constitute a partial response. The paper discusses these issues and concludes that 'broad' social protection can have an important role in interrupting risk and vulnerability among the chronic poor.Les développements récents sur la protection sociale se sont concentrés sur les notions de risque et de vulnérabilité. Ces derniers contribuent directement aux phénomènes de pauvreté, et indirectement également, à travers la réponse des ménages pauvres au risque. L'impact des modifications de la protection sociale sur la pauvreté chronique reste peu clair. La distinction radicale entre pauvretés chronique et transitoire suggère une modification des politiques anti-pauvreté, la protection sociale étant affectée à la pauvreté transitoire, et les politiques de transfert d'actifs à la pauvreté chronique. Dans la mesure où les facteurs déterminants de la pauvreté chronique dépassent les questions de l'impact direct et indirect du risque sur les ménages, la protection sociale peut au mieux constituer une réponse partielle. L'article propose une analyse de ces problèmes, et conclut qu'une protection sociale hélargiei peut avoir un rôle important en matière de réduction du risque et de la vulnérabilité associée à la pauvreté chronique.

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