Urban cash transfers and poverty in Ghana

Abstract

AbstractThe increasing attention to social protection in urban settings is not being paired with increasing evidence. This paper offers a single ex‐ante evaluation methodology that simulates the monetary poverty effects of changing eligibility conditions, unitary benefits, and the composition of cash transfer programs aimed at expanding coverage in urban areas. We apply this methodology to Ghana, a growing, middle‐income country committed to reducing poverty but with a weak social protection system with little urban presence. We show that while a flagship cash transfer program, the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty program (LEAP), transfers less than GHS 34 million (US$7.6 million) a year, ending extreme poverty in Ghana would require spending around GHS 1,800 million ($400 million). Efforts to tackle urban poverty through transfers will prove unsuccessful without enough fiscal resources.