The paper contains a framework forlinking social protection with growth and productivity, anupdated review of the literature, new original work fillingin gaps in the available evidence, and a discussion ofoperational implications. The paper demonstrates that therewas a shift in the economists' view on socialprotection, and now they are seen as a force that can make apositive contribution towards economic growth and reducepoverty. The paper looks at pathways in which socialprotection programs (social insurance and social assistanceprograms, as well as labor programs) can support bettergrowth outcomes: (i) individual level (building andprotecting human capital, and other productive assets,empowering poor individuals to invest or to adopt higherreturn strategies), (ii) local economy effects (enhancingcommunity assets and infrastructure, positive spilloversfrom beneficiaries to non-beneficiaries), (iii) overalleconomy level (acting as stabilizers of aggregate demand,improving social cohesion and making growth?enhancingreforms more politically feasible). Most social protectionprograms affect growth through all of these pathways. Butthe evidence is very uneven; and there are knowledge gaps.The paper discusses operational implications for the designand implementation of Social Protection (SP) programs andproposes a work program for addressing knowledge gaps.
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