[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-detail-113217-en":3,"doc-seo-113217-105":29,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":90},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",{"doc_id":7,"user_id":8,"nickname":9,"user_avatar":10,"doc_module":4,"category_id":11,"category_name":12,"doc_title":13,"doc_description":14,"doc_content":15,"file_id":16,"file_url":17,"file_type":18,"file_size":19,"view_count":4,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":20,"is_downloadable":20,"audit_status":20,"page_count":21,"language":22,"language_code":23,"site_id":24,"html_lang":23,"table_of_contents":25,"faqs":26,"seo_title":13,"seo_description":14,"update_tm":27,"read_time":28},113217,137441390410,"Hazel","https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/avatar/2000252f4ab5702993?_k=1776741390130283984",8,"Research & Report","The Social Protection Engel Curve - Article Summary","The article asks why richer countries tend to allocate a higher share of income to social protection than poorer countries. Using a newly assembled dataset covering 142 countries from 1995 onward, it analyzes competing explanations and treats the pandemic period separately due to major expansions in social protection. Although the mean income share devoted to social protection rises with income, the pattern reflects confounders such as relative prices, weak governance, and access to information and communication technologies. After controlling for these factors, spending levels are similar in rich and poor countries, including during the pandemic.","Pub lic Disclosure Authorized Pub lic Disclosure Authorized  \nThe World Bank Economic Review, 37(4), 2023, 519–548  \n[https://doi.org10.1093/wber/lhad016](https://doi.org10.1093/wber/lhad016)  \nArticle  \nThe Social Protection Engel Curve Michael Lokshin , Martin Ravallion, and Iván Torre  \nAbstract  \nWhy do richer countries spend a higher share of their income on social protection than poor countries? A newly assembled dataset on social protection spending for 142 countries since 1995 allows an exploration of alternate hypotheses, treating the pandemic period separately, as it entailed a large expansion in social protection efforts. While the mean income share devoted to social protection rises with income, this is attributable to multiple confounders, including relative prices, weak governance in low-income countries, and access to informationcommunication technologies. Controlling for these, social protection spending is similar between rich and poor countries. This was also true during the pandemic.  \nJEL classification: H53, I38, O15  \nKeywords: social protection, Engel curve, pandemic, governance, distribution, ICT, selective data reporting  \n1. Introduction  \nSocial protection (SP) has long been seen as an important task for governments in rich countries but much less so in poor ones.1 Public spending on SP tends to account for a higher share of national income in richer countries, implying an overall income elasticity exceeding unity.2 In short, SP spending appears tobe a “luxury good” at the national level.  \nMichael Lokshin (corresponding author) is Lead Economist at the Office of the Chief Economist for Europe and Central Asia at the World Bank; his email address [is mlokshin@worldbank.org. Martin Ravallion was](is mlokshin@worldbank.org. Martin Ravallion was) a professor at Georgetown University. Iván Torre is Senior Economist at the Office of the Chief Economist for Europe and Central Asia at the World Bank; [his email address is itorre@worldbank.org. The research for this article was financed by the analytical program of](his email address is itorre@worldbank.org. The research for this article was financed by the analytical program of)[ ](his email address is itorre@worldbank.org. The research for this article was financed by the analytical program of)[the Office of the Chief Economist for Europe and Central Asia at the World Bank](the Office of the Chief Economist for Europe and Central Asia at the World Bank), and Georgetown University. The authors are grateful to Harold Alderman, Aart Kraay, Peter Lindert, Franco Peracchi, Nithin Umapathi, Frank Vella, Dominique vande Walle, and two anonymous referees for comments and/or discussions. Aylén Rodriguez Ferrari and Michael Gottschalk provided excellent assistance in data collection. A supplementary online appendix is available with this article at The World Bank Economic Review website.  \n1 Following World Bank usage,“SP” refers to public programs for “social assistance”(in the form of cash or in-kind benefits often targeted to poor families),“social insurance”(mainly unemployment benefits and pensions), and “active labor market programs”(such as job training schemes). On the history ofthought on the role of SP, see Ravallion (2016a, Part 1) .  \n2 See, e.g., Kristov, Lindert, and McClelland (1992); Lindert (1994); Peracchi (2001); Cornelisse and Goudswaard (2002); Auteri and Costantini (2004); Shelton (2007); Brückner, Chong, and Gradstein (2012); and Clemente, Marcuello, and Montañes (2012) . The finding that public spending as a whole tends to rise as a share of GDP as GDP rises is sometimes referred to as Wagner’s Law.  \n􀀂C 2023 International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / The World Bank. Published by Oxford University Press  \nDownloaded from [https://academic.oup.com/wber/article/37/4/519/7238664 by University of Oxford user on](https://academic.oup.com/wber/article/37/4/519/7238664 by University of Oxford user on) 12 December 2023  \nFigure 1. Scatte","cbCaicqWD8bQsoY2","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaicqWD8bQsoY2","pdf",1683564,1,30,"English","en",105,"# Introduction\n## Social protection spending and the “luxury good” idea\n# Data and approach\n## Pandemic period treatment\n# Empirical relationship\n## Social Protection Engel Curve (SPEC)\n# Interpretation and findings\n## Confounders and controlled comparisons","[{\"question\":\"What question does the article focus on about social protection spending?\",\"answer\":\"It examines why richer countries spend a higher share of their income on social protection than poorer countries.\"},{\"question\":\"How does the dataset and research design support the analysis?\",\"answer\":\"It uses a newly assembled dataset on social protection spending for 142 countries since 1995 and treats the pandemic period separately to reflect a large expansion in social protection efforts.\"},{\"question\":\"What do the findings suggest after accounting for confounders?\",\"answer\":\"Controlling for factors such as relative prices, weak governance, and access to ICT shows that social protection spending is broadly similar between rich and poor countries, including during the 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