Large cash transfers to the elderly in South Africa

Type Journal Article - The Economic Journal
Title Large cash transfers to the elderly in South Africa
Author(s)
Volume 108
Issue 450
Publication (Day/Month/Year) 1998
Page numbers 1330-1361
URL http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1468-0297.00345
Abstract
We examine the social pension in South Africa, where large cash sums—about twice the median per capita income of African households—are paid to people qualified by age but irrespective of previous contributions. We present the history of the scheme and use a 1993 nationally representative survey to investigate the redistributive consequences of the transfers, documenting who receive the pensions, their levels of living, and those of their families. We also look at behavioural effects, particularly the effects of the cash receipts on the allocation of income to food, schooling, transfers, and savings.

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