Targeting Social Transfers to the Poor in Mexico

Mexico’s main social support program, Oportunidades, combines two methods to target cash to poor households: an initial self-selection by households who acquire knowledge about the program and apply for benefits, followed by an administrative determination of eligibility based on a means test. Self-...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Coady, David
Other Authors: Parker, Susan
Format: eBook
Language:English
Published: Washington, D.C. International Monetary Fund 2009
Series:IMF Working Papers
Subjects:
Online Access:
Collection: International Monetary Fund - Collection details see MPG.ReNa
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651 4 |a Mexico 
653 |a Population & demography 
653 |a Economics 
653 |a Income 
653 |a Taxation and Subsidies: Incidence 
653 |a Budget Systems 
653 |a Demographic Economics: General 
653 |a Income distribution 
653 |a Personal income 
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653 |a Macroeconomics 
653 |a Public financial management (PFM) 
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520 |a Mexico’s main social support program, Oportunidades, combines two methods to target cash to poor households: an initial self-selection by households who acquire knowledge about the program and apply for benefits, followed by an administrative determination of eligibility based on a means test. Self-selection improves targeting by excluding high-income households, while administrative targeting does so mainly by excluding middle-income households. The two methods are complementary: expanding program knowledge across households substantially increases applications from non-poor households, thus reinforcing the importance of administrative targeting. The paper shows that targeting can be further improved through redesigning the means test and differentiating transfers according to demographic characteristics