• About us
  • GSDRC Publications
  • Research Helpdesk
  • E-Bulletin
  • Privacy policy

GSDRC

Governance, social development, conflict and humanitarian knowledge services

  • Governance
    • Democracy & elections
    • Public sector management
    • Security & justice
    • Service delivery
    • State-society relations
  • Social Development
    • Gender
    • Inequalities & exclusion
    • Social protection
    • Poverty & wellbeing
  • Humanitarian Issues
    • Humanitarian financing
    • Humanitarian response
    • Recovery & reconstruction
    • Refugees/IDPs
    • Risk & resilience
  • Conflict
    • Conflict analysis
    • Conflict prevention
    • Conflict response
    • Conflict sensitivity
    • Impacts of conflict
    • Peacebuilding
  • Development Pressures
    • Climate change
    • Food security
    • Fragility
    • Migration & diaspora
    • Population growth
    • Urbanisation
  • Approaches
    • Complexity & systems thinking
    • Institutions & social norms
    • PEA / Thinking & working politically
    • Results-based approaches
    • Theories of change
  • Aid Instruments
    • Budget support & SWAps
    • Capacity building
    • Civil society partnerships
    • Multilateral aid
    • Private sector partnerships
    • Technical assistance
  • M&E
    • Indicators
    • Learning
    • M&E approaches
Home»GSDRC Publications»Social assistance and idiosyncratic shocks

Social assistance and idiosyncratic shocks

Helpdesk Report
  • Edward Laws
August 2016

Question

What does recent literature tell us about the effectiveness of social assistance interventions in reducing individual and household vulnerability to idiosyncratic shocks in low-income contexts?

Summary

While there is a growing literature documenting and analysing how social assistance programmes can help in reducing income poverty and food insecurity, very little systematic empirical research has been done concerning their effectiveness in reducing individual and household vulnerability to idiosyncratic shocks. This rapid review focuses on cash transfers and public works programmes, as they have received the most attention in terms of relevant empirical evaluation studies.

There is overlap and interaction between different types of shocks and the coping strategies deployed in response. For example, a regional drought (covariate shock) may lead to the death of an income-earning household member (idiosyncratic shock).  The major idiosyncratic shocks discussed most commonly in recent academic, practitioner and policy literature are: economic, crime, health and familial.

Key findings from this report include:

  • There is some evidence to suggest that social assistance programmes can stabilise household consumption and help households to decrease negative coping strategies during shocks.
  • However, whether social assistance interventions are fully effective at protecting individuals or households against particular types of shocks, or whether they make specific groups of households more or less resilient than others to particular shocks, has not been investigated in great detail.
  • Some studies suggest that cash and conditional cash transfer programmes are often not flexible enough to provide adequate assistance to individuals and households in the event of idiosyncratic shocks.
  • According to some authors, joint or complementary approaches to social assistance can be effective in helping households build resilience to idiosyncratic shocks, although this report did not find much in the way of rigorous empirical investigation of this issue.
  • There is an evidence gap on how social assistance programmes can be attuned to gender dynamics in ways that reduce the vulnerability of women to idiosyncratic shocks.
file type icon See Full Report [PDF - 263 KB]

Enquirer:

  • DFID

Suggested citation

Laws, E. (2016). Social assistance and idiosyncratic shocks (GSDRC Helpdesk Research Report 1383). Birmingham, UK: GSDRC, University of Birmingham.

Related Content

Social protection
Topic Guide
2019
Social Safety Nets in Fragile and Conflict-Affected States
Helpdesk Report
2019
Cash-Based Initiatives for Refugees in Jordan: Annotated Bibliography
Helpdesk Report
2019
Assistive technologies in developing countries
Helpdesk Report
2017
birminghamids hcri

gro.crdsg@seiriuqne Feedback Disclaimer

Outputs supported by FCDO are © Crown Copyright 2022; outputs supported by the Australian Government are © Australian Government 2022; and outputs supported by the European Commission are © European Union 2022
Connect with us: facebooktwitter

Outputs supported by DFID are © DFID Crown Copyright 2022; outputs supported by the Australian Government are © Australian Government 2022; and outputs supported by the European Commission are © European Union 2022