Impact of government support programmes on household welfare in the Limpopo province of South Africa

Abstract

This study employed the compensation variation (CV) and propensity score matching (PSM) methods to analyse the impact of government support services and programmes on the welfare of households. The findings revealed that government support programmes, such as Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) support, social grants and government-subsidised houses, impact positively on the welfare of households in low- and middle-income classes in the Limpopo province. The findings further revealed that welfare gains of households in the low-income category are higher than those of households in the middle-income category. Moreover, it was found that the ownership of assets such as a television or a motor vehicle, which are associated with routine maintenance, monthly subscription fees, fuel and other costs, significantly reduce the welfare of households in the low- and middle-income categories. The study concludes that these programmes should be sustained and extended to other non-beneficiary households if the aim is to improve household welfare and better the standards of living.

Keywords

Household welfare; government support; CV; propensity score matching

Published in

Development Southern Africa
2020, volume: 37, number: 6, pages: 937-952
Publisher: ROUTLEDGE JOURNALS, TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD

SLU Authors

• Owusu Sekyere, Enoch

  • Department of Economics, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    
  • University of the Free State

UKÄ Subject classification

Economics

Publication identifier

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/0376835X.2020.1757414

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/106049