Means Testing versus Universal Provision in Poverty Alleviation Programmes

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

This paper contrasts the use of means-tested and universal schemes in the alleviation of poverty. Using a class of poverty measures, the authors illustrate the trade-off from the fact that means testing is costly to both the government and the claimant, while universal provision entails a leakage to the nonpoor. The paper provides numerical, as well as analytical, results.