Cash Transfer For Older People Reduce Poverty and Inequality

Prepared by: norohida binti mohamad ghazali

This paper discusses the poverty and inequality reduction properties of non contributory pension in Brazil, South Africa and Bangladesh. It examines the development of non contributory pension programmes in the countries involved, and the institutional factors behind their extension and current sustainability. It also examines the incidence of non-contributory pension programmes on poverty and inequality.

a) The main findings from the paper of the development of non-contributory pension
programmes overtime, as institutions for poverty and inequality reduction are:

- Non contributory pension programmes in Brazil and South Africa developed against adverse institutional environments: racially discriminatory social policy in South Africa and segmented social in Brazil.
- The development of non contributory pension programmes reflect widely held concerns with old age poverty, and are a core foundation of solidarity institutions.
- Instrumental factors combined with natural reservoirs of political support and social contract renewals are keys to explaining the expansion of non contributory pension programmes in the 1990s.

b) The main finding from paper as the available evidence on the impact of these programmes on poverty and inequality are:

- The contribution of these programmes to reducing inequality is under researched, but there is no evidence that the programmes increase inequality.
- Evaluation of the well being of older people with a range of well being indicators suggest that non contributory pension programmes can support and promote functioning and capabilities among poorer and vulnerable groups.
- Non contributory pension programmes have significant poverty reduction properties, and these are stronger for poverty gap measures of poverty than poverty incidence. Non contributory pension programmes reduce the probability of poverty among those living in household with beneficiaries.