Whom to target – an obvious choice?

There has been an ongoing debate among researchers, policy-makers, and development partners in developing countries on whether and to what degree non-contributory social transfers should be targeted. Targeting concerns the distribution of resources and services to a particular (sub-) group who is poor, particularly vulnerable or deprived. The alternative to targeting would be to allocate transfers to everybody (universal approach), although this is usually restricted to certain categories such as the elderly or children. In a strict sense, universal transfers would refer to a basic income, which every citizen of society receives. This chapter does not adopt the strict notion of universal targeting but also classifies categorical targeting as universal.