Policy brief on Social Protection Response to the COVID-19 Crisis: Options for Developing Countries by Francois Gerard

13 April 2020

François Gerard, Clément Imbert (Warwick) and Kate Orkin (Oxford) offer Covid-19 crisis for developing countried in a policy brief for the Economics for Inclusive Prosperity (Econfip), a network of academic economists committed to an inclusive economy and society.

In "Social Protection Response to the COVID-19 Crisis: Options for Developing Countries", Francois and his co-authors provides an overview of the policies that could form a comprehensive social protection strategy in developing countries, with examples of specific policies adopted around the developing world in recent days.

Their core argument is that middle-income and lower-income countries can cast an emergency safety net with extensive coverage if they use a broader patchwork of solutions than higher-income countries. These strategies could include:

1. Expanding their social insurance system, which typically covers a much smaller share of the labour force than in higher-income countries;
2. Building on existing social assistance programmes, which reach a large share of households in many developing countries;
3. Involving local governments and non-state institutions to identify and assist vulnerable groups who may not be reached by 1) and 2)

Read the full policy brief.