Targeting social safety nets using proxy means tests: Evidence from Egypt’s Takaful and Karama program

Kurdi, Sikandra; Breisinger, Clemens; ElDidi, Hagar; El-Enbaby, Hoda; Gilligan, Daniel; and Karachiwalla, Naureen. 2018. Targeting social safety nets using proxy means tests: Evidence from Egypt’s Takaful and Karama program. In Boosting growth to end hunger by 2025: The role of social protection, eds. Fleur Stephanie Wouterse and Alemayehu Seyoum Taffesse. Chapter 10, Pp. 135-153. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). https://hdl.handle.net/10568/145842

Chapter 10 uses Egypt as a case study to examine the effectiveness of proxy means test (PMT) targeting. Targeting effectiveness is defined in terms of the ability of the program to enroll beneficiaries from the lowest two quintiles of the expenditure distribution. The authors also consider the social costs of implementing PMT in a context where administrative capacity to explain the targeting mechanism to the public is imperfect.