Is South Africa's social protection system addressing the causes or the symptoms of poverty? : the case of the Child Support Grant

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dc.contributor.advisorTownsend, Stephen Sen_ZA
dc.contributor.authorAllan, Claireen_ZA
dc.date.accessioned2015-07-14T08:40:49Z
dc.date.available2015-07-14T08:40:49Z
dc.date.issued2010en_ZA
dc.descriptionIncludes bibliographical references (leaves 71-77).en_ZA
dc.description.abstractThe South African Government's anti-poverty strategy has been largely dominated by unconditional cash transfers. A growing body of literature examines the impacts of these transfers on a range of socio-economic outcomes; however there is little discussion of why such impacts are important. Without an explicit conceptual framework within which to examine these effects, evaluating their likely long term poverty impacts remains problematic. The focus of this research is to distil the current thinking on poverty and social protection to establish an appropriate theoretical framework within which to appraise anti-poverty measures. 'An Assets-Augmented' Capabilities Framework is proposed with a focus on asset-building as the primary means of poverty reduction. Focusing on the Child Support Grant (CSG), empirical analysis is then applied to examine whether the underlying causes of poverty are being addressed. Using the National Income Dynamics Study (NIDS) Wave 1 Dataset, the effects of the CSG on households' expenditure patterns are examined to assess the extent to which CSG-recipients invest in asset-building. A propensity score matching method is employed to construct an appropriate counterfactual. Households receiving the CSG are not found to exhibit significantly different expenditure patterns compared to a control group and cannot therefore be argued to invest differently in assets. This key finding provides evidence that the CSG primarily addresses the symptoms of poverty and cannot be expected to generate sustainable poverty reduction. A linking approach is thus proposed to combine the cash transfer element of the grant with more explicitly promotional measures in order to seek greater asset effects. A key recommendation is to ensure that the CSG acts as a gateway to other complementary services and benefits in order to increase the value of the grant with relatively little additional effort or cost.en_ZA
dc.identifier.apacitationAllan, C. (2010). <i>Is South Africa's social protection system addressing the causes or the symptoms of poverty? : the case of the Child Support Grant</i>. (Thesis). University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,Department of Social Development. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/11427/13418en_ZA
dc.identifier.chicagocitationAllan, Claire. <i>"Is South Africa's social protection system addressing the causes or the symptoms of poverty? : the case of the Child Support Grant."</i> Thesis., University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,Department of Social Development, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/13418en_ZA
dc.identifier.citationAllan, C. 2010. Is South Africa's social protection system addressing the causes or the symptoms of poverty? : the case of the Child Support Grant. University of Cape Town.en_ZA
dc.identifier.ris TY - Thesis / Dissertation AU - Allan, Claire AB - The South African Government's anti-poverty strategy has been largely dominated by unconditional cash transfers. A growing body of literature examines the impacts of these transfers on a range of socio-economic outcomes; however there is little discussion of why such impacts are important. Without an explicit conceptual framework within which to examine these effects, evaluating their likely long term poverty impacts remains problematic. The focus of this research is to distil the current thinking on poverty and social protection to establish an appropriate theoretical framework within which to appraise anti-poverty measures. 'An Assets-Augmented' Capabilities Framework is proposed with a focus on asset-building as the primary means of poverty reduction. Focusing on the Child Support Grant (CSG), empirical analysis is then applied to examine whether the underlying causes of poverty are being addressed. Using the National Income Dynamics Study (NIDS) Wave 1 Dataset, the effects of the CSG on households' expenditure patterns are examined to assess the extent to which CSG-recipients invest in asset-building. A propensity score matching method is employed to construct an appropriate counterfactual. Households receiving the CSG are not found to exhibit significantly different expenditure patterns compared to a control group and cannot therefore be argued to invest differently in assets. This key finding provides evidence that the CSG primarily addresses the symptoms of poverty and cannot be expected to generate sustainable poverty reduction. A linking approach is thus proposed to combine the cash transfer element of the grant with more explicitly promotional measures in order to seek greater asset effects. A key recommendation is to ensure that the CSG acts as a gateway to other complementary services and benefits in order to increase the value of the grant with relatively little additional effort or cost. DA - 2010 DB - OpenUCT DP - University of Cape Town LK - https://open.uct.ac.za PB - University of Cape Town PY - 2010 T1 - Is South Africa's social protection system addressing the causes or the symptoms of poverty? : the case of the Child Support Grant TI - Is South Africa's social protection system addressing the causes or the symptoms of poverty? : the case of the Child Support Grant UR - http://hdl.handle.net/11427/13418 ER - en_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11427/13418
dc.identifier.vancouvercitationAllan C. Is South Africa's social protection system addressing the causes or the symptoms of poverty? : the case of the Child Support Grant. [Thesis]. University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,Department of Social Development, 2010 [cited yyyy month dd]. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/13418en_ZA
dc.language.isoengen_ZA
dc.publisher.departmentDepartment of Social Developmenten_ZA
dc.publisher.facultyFaculty of Humanitiesen_ZA
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Cape Town
dc.subject.otherApplied Economics Applications in Developmenten_ZA
dc.titleIs South Africa's social protection system addressing the causes or the symptoms of poverty? : the case of the Child Support Granten_ZA
dc.typeMaster Thesis
dc.type.qualificationlevelMasters
dc.type.qualificationnameMSocScen_ZA
uct.type.filetypeText
uct.type.filetypeImage
uct.type.publicationResearchen_ZA
uct.type.resourceThesisen_ZA
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