Social Protection, an investment with economic returns Prof Alex van den Heever Chair in the Field of Social Security
JUST SOCIETIES ARE PRODUCTIVE
Modern societies structurally generate social pathologies with long-term consequences Employment – Specialised – Binary – Substitute for non-traded forms of work – Vulnerable to structural economic change Informal risk sharing – Fractured Proximity to large populations – Social – Health
Income inequality – Structural increases – driving systemic poverty as one outcome – Economic distortions Consumption patterns Industrial organisation Weak adaptability Structural exclusion of segments of society – Poverty measures only a proxy indicator of a problem
Cumulative share of population Cumulative share of income Lorenz curve What does – “who pays” mean? Correct through both primary (1) and secondary (2) distributions of income (1) (2) (1) Structure of employment (2) Explicit income redistribution
Poverty Capabilities De-industrialisation Vulnerable to social risks Structure of consumption Economic returns to SP Inequality Economic growth potential Reduced social investments Income/production cycle narrows based on very high income earners
Social protection pays for itself by reversing the negative externalities of biased economic accumulation Poverty Capabilities De-industrialisation Vulnerable to social risks Structure of consumption Inequality Economic growth potential Sufficient income redistribution and risk pooling To structurally correct the distribution of income
END