Study on assessment of micro and macro-economic returns of social protection expenditure

Measuring the returns of social protection expenditure has been a long-standing challenge in the literature and yet still comes to mixed conclusions. The main objectives of this study are to: 1) map existing methodologies and practices for measuring social protection expenditure returns, and 2) develop quantitative methodologies and assessments to contribute to plugging some of the identified methodological and empirical gaps.

The study confirms the complex relationship between social protection spending and economic and social outcomes, stressing the necessity for accurate and tailored measurement methods and acknowledgement of the diverse effects across functions, countries and over time.