Abstract
This chapter provides a comparative perspective on the design, implementation, financing, and performance of the noncontributory cash transfer programs (social assistance) across the six countries in the Western Balkan region (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, FYR Macedonia, Kosovo, Montenegro, and Serbia) and benchmarks their performance against similar programs in other countries in Central and Eastern Europe. The means-tested last-resort social assistance programs that exist in all six Western Balkan countries are the primary focus of the analysis. This chapter examines their core features, taking stock of basic indicators of their scope and performance and reviewing their financing, institutional setup, eligibility criteria, main design aspects, and implementation processes in the context of the main functions of social protection—the three “P”s for resilience and opportunity: (1) prevention against drop in well-being, income, and expenditure shocks; (2) protection from destitution and losses of human capital; and (3) promotion of human capital development, opportunities, livelihoods, and better jobs (World Bank. Building Resilience and Opportunity. The World Bank’s Social Protection and Labor Strategy 2012-2022. Concept Note for CODE Review. The World Bank, Washington, DC, 2011; Grosh et al. For Protection & Promotion: The Design and Implementation of Effective Safety Nets. The World Bank, Washington, DC, 2008).
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The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this chapter are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/The World Bank and its affiliated organizations or those of the Executive Directors of The World Bank or the governments they represent. The World Bank does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this work.
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- 1.
Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, FYR Macedonia, Kosovo, Montenegro, and Serbia.
- 2.
Compared to an overall GDP decline of 5.2% of GDP in Europe and Central Asia.
- 3.
In 2008, the means-tested programs in FYR Macedonia absorbed 0.75% of GDP, against 0.22% of GDP allocation on categorical programs. In 2009, the spending on means-tested programs increased marginally to 0.77% of GDP compared to a significant growth in the spending on categorical programs that reached 0.34% of GDP.
- 4.
Only in FBH, until 2010.
- 5.
Except for one of the ten cantons where the canton shares the responsibility for financing with the municipalities.
- 6.
Developed by the World Bank’s poverty team—a standard basket of goods and services across all countries and all expenses are similarly deflated across countries and expressed in per capita terms.
- 7.
Individuals are sorted into quintiles for each transfer using “per capita consumption—per capita social assistance transfers.”
- 8.
Administrative data and staff calculations; estimates/approximate numbers for Albania because administrative data is collected for households only (102,000 households at the point of estimation).
- 9.
Calculated using the OECD tax-benefit model, see Annex 5.
- 10.
It is interesting to note that there is a complete disconnect between the poverty line in a particular country and the income threshold for eligibility for the last-resort social assistance program in that country. Setting eligibility thresholds closer to the poverty line (or to a relative poverty line) can further assist in the LRSA program achieving its goal of protecting the chronic poor—such linking of eligibility thresholds and poverty lines will also address some of the concerns related to regularly indexing the thresholds to price inflation.
References
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Gotcheva, B., Sundaram, R. (2013). Social Safety Nets in the Western Balkans: Design, Implementation, and Performance. In: Ruggeri Laderchi, C., Savastano, S. (eds) Poverty and Exclusion in the Western Balkans. Economic Studies in Inequality, Social Exclusion and Well-Being, vol 8. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-4945-4_13
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