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dc.titleRe-thinking Social Protection: From Poverty Alleviation to Building Resilience in Middle-Income Households
dc.contributor.authorVera-Cossio, Diego A.
dc.contributor.authorHoffmann, Bridget
dc.contributor.authorPecha, Camilo
dc.contributor.authorGallego, Jorge
dc.contributor.authorStampini, Marco
dc.contributor.authorVargas, David
dc.contributor.authorMedina, María Paula
dc.contributor.authorÁlvarez, Esteban
dc.contributor.orgunitDepartment of Research and Chief Economist
dc.coverageColombia
dc.coverageSouth America
dc.date.available2023-06-26T00:06:00
dc.date.issue2023-06-26T00:06:00
dc.description.abstractWe exploit an expansion in social protection to middle-income households to provide evidence on how middle-income households cope with economic shocks and how to build their resilience. We use a regression discontinuity design around the eligibility cutoff for a program that delivered monthly cash transfers mainly through bank accounts in Colombia. We find no impacts on food security, education, and health outcomes--the target outcomes of antipoverty programs. In contrast, program eligibility increases non-food consumption and reduces debt for routine expenses. Bank account ownership increases by 16%, and beneficiaries are more likely to borrow from formal lenders. Amid systemic and idiosyncratic shocks, the program prevents middle-income households from reducing non-food spending and acquiring debt for routine expenses. Moreover, when hit by severe shocks, beneficiary households substitute away from predatory loans. The results suggest that middle-income households are constrained by lack of insurance and that social protection can build middle-income households' resilience to shocks through both cash transfers and by integrating beneficiaries into formal credit markets.
dc.format.extent88
dc.identifier.doihttp://dx.doi.org/10.18235/0004969
dc.identifier.urlhttps://publications.iadb.org/publications/english/document/Re-thinking-Social-Protection-From-Poverty-Alleviation-to-Building-Resilience-in-Middle-Income-Households.pdf
dc.language.isoen
dc.publisherInter-American Development Bank
dc.subjectConditional Cash Transfer
dc.subjectTransfer Program
dc.subjectAdministrative Register
dc.subjectUniversal Basic Income
dc.subjectBank Loan
dc.subjectExternal Shock
dc.subjectInsurance
dc.subjectEconomy
dc.subjectIncome Distribution
dc.subjectSocial Protection
dc.subjectCoronavirus
dc.subject.jelcodeI18 - Government Policy • Regulation • Public Health
dc.subject.jelcodeI38 - Government Policy • Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs
dc.subject.jelcodeO15 - Human Resources • Human Development • Income Distribution • Migration
dc.subject.keywordsBasic income;Insurance;Cash transfers
dc.typeWorking Papers
idb.identifier.pubnumberIDB-WP-01412
idb.operationRG-E1755
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