Social Protection in 2021: A compilation of suggested readings

As the year is coming to an end, it’s a great moment to reflect on the impressive amount and quality of social protection publications produced over the past 12 months. For example, since January I reviewed and shared around 750 titles on the theme – a fitting testament to the salience of social protection globally and the careful empirical scrutiny that the topic received.

Yet, such volume of publications makes it challenging to select “papers of the year”. Rather than laying out my personal ranking like in 2020, 2019 and 2018, this year was time for something new: so I asked 33 global social protection thinkers for a couple among their favorite papers of 2021. The collection is not meant to be an exhaustive compilation, but to rather offer a nimble source of learning, inspiration and sharing as availed by a vibrant community of researchers and practitioners.

Contributors draw from diverse institutions, organizations, and departments providing richness and diversity in perspectives, contexts, and themes: overall, the selection covers an array of social protection issues around the pandemic, jobs, climate, education, food security, early childhood, adolescence, old-age, gender, nutrition, economic multipliers, financing, politics, and social contracts.

Enjoy the suggested readings!

Amanda Glassman (Center for Global Development, CGD)

• Conditional Cash Transfers and Women’s Reproductive Choices, by Laszlo et al

• Social Protection and Jobs Responses to Covid-19: A Real-Time Review of Country Measures, by Gentilini et al

Amber Peterman (University of North Carolina)

• Childcare and Mothers’ Labor Market Outcomes in Lower- and Middle-Income Countries, by Halim et al 
• Non-contributory Social Protection and Adolescents in Lower- and Middle-Income Countries: A Review of Government Programming and Impacts, by Cirillo et al

Anit Mukherjee (Center for Global Development, CGD)

• The Effects of Emergency Government Cash transfers on Beliefs and Behaviours during the Covid Pandemic: Evidence from Brazil, by De Leon et al
• Intergenerational Nutrition Benefits of India’s National School Feeding Program, by Chakraborti et al 

Armando Barrientos (University of Manchester)

• After the Virus. Lessons from the Past for a Better Future, by Cooper and Szreter
• Alternative Routes to the Institutionalisation of Social Transfers in Sub-Saharan Africa: Political Survival Strategies and Transnational Policy Coalitions, by Lavers and Hickey

Berk Özler (World Bank)

• The Impacts of a Multifaceted Prenatal Intervention on Human Capital Accumulation in Early Life, by Carneiro et al

Carmen Burbano (World Food Programme)

• Covid-19: Missing More Than a Classroom. The Impact of School Closures on Children’s Nutrition, by Borkowski et al
• The Broader Economic Value of School Feeding Programs in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: Estimating the Multi-Sectoral Returns to Public Health, Human Capital, Social Protection, and the Local Economy, by Verguet et al

Charles Knox-Vydmanov (Independent Consultant)

• Understanding a Less Developed Labor Market through the Lens of Social Security data, by Wasi et al
• Challenges in Measuring Individual Poverty among Older People Using Household Surveys, by Gelders

Christina Behrendt and Ian Orton (International Labour Organization, ILO)

• 2021 Poverty Projections: Assessing the Impact of Benefits and Stimulus Measures, by Wheaton et al
• Child Labour: Global Estimates 2020, Trends and the Road Forward, by ILO and UNICEF

Daniel Clarke (Centre for Disaster Protection)

• Anticipatory Cash Transfers in Climate Disaster Response, by Pople et al
• Stress Testing Social Protection, by World Bank

David Coady (International Monetary Fund, IMF)

• Social Protection and Jobs Responses to Covid-19: A Real-Time Review of Country Measures, by Gentilini et al

David Evans (Center for Global Development, CGD)

• Cash Transfers, Food Prices, and Nutrition Impacts on Ineligible Children, by Filmer et al (open access version)
• Partisanship and Public Opinion on Cash Transfers: Survey Evidence from Kenya, by Opalo

Eeshani Kandpal (World Bank)

• Cash Transfers and Formal Labor Markets: Evidence from Brazil, by Gerard et al
• School Food Policy Affects Everyone: Retail Responses to the National School Lunch Program, by Handbury and Moshary

Florence Kondylis (World Bank)

• Cross-region Transfer Multipliers in a Monetary Union: Evidence from Social Security and Stimulus Payments, by Pennings
• Pathways out of Extreme Poverty: Tackling Psychosocial and Capital Constraints with a Multi-faceted Social Protection Program in Niger, by Bossuroy et al 

Francesca Bastagli (Overseas Development Institute, ODI)

• The Value of Sick Pay, by Adams-Prassl et al
• Latin America at the Crossroads Yet Again: What Income Policies in the Post-Pandemic Era?, by Lavinas 

Franziska Gassmann (UNU-MERIT/Maastricht University)

• Targeting Social Transfers in Ethiopia's Agro-Pastoralist and Pastoralist Societies, by Lind et al
• Recognizing the Impact of Covid-19 on the Poor Alters Attitudes Towards Poverty and Inequality, by Wiwad et al

Harold Alderman (International Food Policy Research Institute, IFPRI)

• Food vs. Food Stamps: Evidence from an At-Scale Experiment in Indonesia, by Banerjee et al
• Effectiveness of Cash-Plus Programmes on Early Childhood Outcomes Compared to Cash Transfers Alone: A systematic Review and Meta-Analysis in Low- and Middle-Income Countries, by Little et al

Herwig Immervoll (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, OECD)

• A Global Panel Database of Pandemic Policies, by Hale et al
• Increasing the Minimum Wage through Tax Policy, by Saez and Zucman

John Hoddinott (Cornell University)

• Stepping Up During a Crisis: The Unintended Effects of a Noncontributory Pension Program during the Covid-19 Pandemic, by Bottan et al

Joshua Blumenstock (U.C. Berkeley)

• An Adaptive Targeted Field Experiment: Job Search Assistance for Refugees in Jordan, by Caria et al
• General Equilibrium Effects of Cash Transfers: Experimental Evidence from Kenya, by Egger et al

Keetie Roelen (Centre for Social Protection, Institute of Development Studies)

• Non-contributory Social Protection and Adolescents in Lower- and Middle-Income Countries: A Review of Government Programming and Impacts, by Cirillo et al
• Competitive Clientelism, Donors and the Politics of Social Protection Uptake in Ghana, by Abdulai  

Laura Alfers (Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing and Organizing, WIEGO)

• Older Women: The Hidden Workforce, by AgeInternational
• Extending Social Security to Self-Employed Workers: Lessons from International Experience, by ILO

Michal Rutkowski (World Bank)

• The Political (In) Stability of Funded Social Security, by Beetsma et al
• Cash Transfers and Formal Labor Markets: Evidence from Brazil, by Gerard et al

Miguel Niño-Zarazúa (SOAS University of London and UNU-WIDER)

• Conditional Cash Transfer Programs and Household Labor Supply, by Del Boca et al
• Social Protection and State-Society Relations in Environments of Low and Uneven State Capacity, by Alik-Lagrange et al

Natalia Winder Rossi (UNICEF)

• Social Protection and Jobs Responses to Covid-19: A Real-Time Review of Country Measures, by Gentilini et al
• “Poverty Can Break a Home”: Exploring Mechanisms Linking Cash Plus Programming and Intimate Partner Violence in Ghana, by Barrington et al

Patrick Premand (World Bank)

• Cash Transfers and Formal Labor Markets: Evidence from Brazil, by Gerard et al
• Covid-19 and Food Security in Ethiopia: Do Social Protection Programs Protect?, by Abay et al

Paul Harvey (Humanitarian Outcomes)

• Targeting for Social Safety Nets: Evidence from Nine Programs in the Sahel, by Schnitzer and Stoeffler
• Social Protection and Climate Change: Scaling Up Ambition, by Costella et al

Paul Niehaus (U.C. San Diego)

• Cash Transfers and Formal Labor Markets: Evidence from Brazil, by Gerard et al
• Urban Public Works in Spatial Equilibrium: Experimental Evidence from Ethiopia, by Franklin et al

Rachel Strohm (Innovations for Poverty Action)

• The Politics of Social Protection in Kenya: State Capacity, Political Competition and Social Pension Registration in Marsabit County, by Shariff Mohamed et al
• Measuring Women’s Decision-making: Indicator Choice and Survey Design Experiments from Cash and Food Transfer Evaluations in Ecuador, Uganda and Yemen, by Peterman et al

Rema Hanna (Harvard Kennedy School)

• On Her Own Account: How Strengthening Women's Financial Control Impacts Labor Supply and Gender Norms, by Field et al
• Racial Inequality, Minimum Wage Spillovers, and the Informal Sector, by Derenoncourt et al.

Ruth Hill (World Bank)

• Cash Transfers as a Response to Covid-19: A Randomized Experiment in Kenya, by Brooks et al
• Gimme Shelter: Social Distancing and Income Support in Times of Pandemic, by Aminjonov et al

Simone Cecchini (United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, ECLAC)

• Social Information Systems and Registries of Recipients of Non-contributory Social Protection in Latin America in Response to Covid-19, by Berner and Van Hemelryck
• Social Protection and Jobs Responses to Covid-19: A Real-Time Review of Country Measures, by Gentilini et al

Ugo Gentilini (World Bank)

• Intervention Size and Persistence, by Kondylis and Loeser
• Gimme Shelter: Social Distancing and Income Support in Times of Pandemic, by Aminjonov et al

Valentina Barca (Social Protection Approaches to COVID-19: Expert advice helpline (SPACE) team leader 2020-21)

• Drivers of Timely and Large-Scale Cash Responses to Covid-19: What Does the Data Say?, by Beazley et al
• Social Protection Response to Covid-19 and Beyond: Emerging Evidence and Learning for Future Crises, by Bastagli and Lowe