Poverty Development Gateway: "Does social policy aim at benefiting the whole of society or just a select group? This paper argues that policy regimes tend to lie somewhere between being universally beneficial and targetted at a specific group. However, how far a policy leans towards one of these aims can determine individuals' life chances. This paper discusses the forces behind the shift from universalism towards selectivity in using social policies to combat poverty in the developing world. It then considers the administrative difficulties of targeting in poor countries, the political economy basis of policy choices, and the consequences of these choices for individual incentive. Source: ELDIS. Produced by: United Nations (UN) Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD) (2005)
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