Subject The article reviews the existing social benefits to demonstrate the extent, to which the current social safety net is targeting the poor. Objectives The study aims to analyze the system of social security benefits in Russia. Methods In the study, we apply general scientific methods and the statistical analysis. Results The analysis reveals the problem of a cumbersome categorial system of social benefits. The system fails to target at the poor, and allocated public funds are partially dispersed in the form of negligible payments to a large number of beneficiaries. The current practice of social benefits is such that the poor are not the primary beneficiaries of the financial support. However, there is no straightforward definition of targeted social assistance and poverty concepts among Russian policy makers and practitioners, even though they broadly use both concepts in public documents. Conclusions and Relevance In the existing social and economic conditions, it is important to expand the use of poverty targeting. The composition of the set of social protection benefits and eligibility conditions require improvement: the system needs fine-tuning to become more manageable and transparent, more comprehensible to citizens. There should be greater conformity between the criteria for granting social benefits and the principles of social justice, whereby the benefits should support those in the greatest need. Our recommendation is to revise the concept of targeted social assistance at the law-making level.
Keywords: social expenditures, social welfare, categorical targeting, targeted measures, means testing
References:
Gontmakher E., Trubin V. [The evolution of the system of social support]. Obshchestvo i ekonomika = Society and Economics, 2000, no. 9-10, pp. 30–69. (In Russ.)
Grishina E. [Strengthening the targeted social assistance to the poor in Russia]. Sotsial'naya politika i sotsial'noe partnerstvo = Social Policy and Social Partnership, 2014, no. 3, pp. 46–51. (In Russ.)
Zolotareva A.B. Sostoyanie i perspektivy razvitiya sistemy sotsial'noi zashchity v Rossii [The state and prospects for the social safety network in Russia]. Available at: Link. (In Russ.)
Zolotareva A.B. [The law on benefit monetization: delineation of authority and unfunded mandates]. Finansovyi zhurnal = Financial Journal, 2014, no. 4, pp. 94–104. (In Russ.)
Grishina E., Kirillova M., Florinskaya Yu. [The end of the great era: revenues are declining, wages are not growing]. Ekonomicheskoe razvitie Rossii = Russian Economic Developments, 2015, no. 3, pp. 67–70. (In Russ.)
Kolesnikov M.M. [The essence and content of social security for the employed]. Narodonaselenie = Population, 2011, no. 2, pp. 57–61. (In Russ.)
Coady D., Grosh M., Hoddinott J. Obespechenie adresnosti transfertov v razvivayushchikhsya stranakh: analiz opyta i nekotorye vyvody [Targeting of Transfers in Developing Countries: Review of Lessons and Experience]. Available at: Link. (In Russ.)
Mezhdunarodnyi opyt organizatsii sistemy sotsial'noi pomoshchi. Na primere pyati stran [International experience in arranging the social assistance schemes. The case of five countries]. Moscow, Mezhdunarodnoe byuro truda Publ., 2004, 124 p.
Korchagina I.I., Migranova L.A. [Social assistance to indigent households under social contract terms]. Narodonaselenie = Population, 2013, no. 1, pp. 74–83. (In Russ.)
Ovcharova L.N. Predlozheniya dlya strategii sodeistviya sokrashcheniyu bednosti v sovremennoi Rossii. V kn.: Razvitie chelovecheskogo kapitala – novaya sotsial'naya politika [Recommendations for the poverty reduction strategy in modern Russia. In: Human capital development: the new social policy]. Moscow, Delo Publ., 2013, pp. 318–337.
Maleva T., Ovcharova L. [Recommendations on long-term and short-term measures in social policy]. Ekonomicheskaya politika = Economic Policy, 2010, no. 1, pp. 15–26. (In Russ.)
Sotsial'naya podderzhka: uroki krizisa i vektory modernizatsii [Social support: lessons of the crisis and modernization vectors]. Moscow, Delo Publ., 2010, 336 p.
Misikhina S.G. Sotsial'naya podderzhka uyazvimykh grupp naseleniya [Social support to disadvantaged groups]. Moscow, Gaidar Institute Publ., 2011, 92 p.
Misikhina S.G., Grishina E.E. Zarubezhnyi opyt i reformirovanie sotsial'noi podderzhki maloimushchikh semei (naseleniya) v Rossii [International experience and reforming the social support to poor families (population) in Russia]. Available at: Link. (In Russ.)
