Evaluating Pro-Poor Transfers When Targeting is Weak: The Albanian Ndihma Ekonomike Program Revisited

University of Florence DSE Working Paper No. 08/2009

36 Pages Posted: 12 Sep 2009

See all articles by Lucia Mangiavacchi

Lucia Mangiavacchi

University of Florence - Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche

Paolo Verme

World Bank Group; University of Turin - Department of Economics

Date Written: 2009

Abstract

The Albanian Ndihma Ekonomike is one of the first poverty reduction programs launched in transitional economies. Its record has been judged positively during the recession period of the 1990s and negatively during the more recent growth phase. This paper reconsiders the program using a regression-adjusted matching estimator first suggested by Heckman, et al. (1997, 1998) and exploiting discontinuities in program design and targeting failures. We find the program to have a weak targeting capacity and a negative and significant impact on welfare. We also find that recent changes introduced to the program have not improved its performance. An analysis of the distributional impact of treatment based on stochastic dominance theory suggests that our results are robust.

Keywords: Social assistance, Poverty, Impact Evaluation, Albania

JEL Classification: H53, H72, I32, I38, P35, P36

Suggested Citation

Mangiavacchi, Lucia and Verme, Paolo, Evaluating Pro-Poor Transfers When Targeting is Weak: The Albanian Ndihma Ekonomike Program Revisited (2009). University of Florence DSE Working Paper No. 08/2009, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1471586 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1471586

Lucia Mangiavacchi

University of Florence - Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche ( email )

Florence 50127
Italy

Paolo Verme (Contact Author)

World Bank Group ( email )

Washington, DC 20433
United States

University of Turin - Department of Economics ( email )

Via Po, 53
Torino, 10124
Italy

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