Levels and Patterns of Safety Net Spending in Developing and Transition Countries

Andrews, Colin

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: CALCULATIONS;    CASH TRANSFERS;    DEMOCRACY;    DEVELOPING COUNTRIES;    EXTERNAL FINANCING;   

RP-ID  :  47292

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

This paper offers a new set of datacompiled from individual World Bank country reports andcovering 87 developing and transition countries during1996-2006. The findings show that mean spending on safetynets is 1.9 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) andmedian spending is 1.4 percent of GDP across developing andtransition countries. For about half of these countries,spending falls between 1 and 2 percent of GDP. Somevariation is apparent. Bosnia and Herzegovina, Pakistan, andTajikistan, for example, spend considerably less than 1percent of GDP, while spending on social safety nets inEthiopia and Malawi is nearly 4.5 percent of GDP becauseinternational aid is counted, but would be more like 0.5percent if only domestically financed spending were counted.Other high-spending countries, Mauritius, South Africa, andthe Slovak Republic, finance their safety nets domestically.Spending on safety nets is less variable than spending onsocial protection or the social sectors.