Social Safety Nets: The Role of Education, Remittances and Migration

Abstract

We study the role of education as a social protection mechanism. We compare the effectiveness of direct cash handouts in comparison to education over the long-term in reducing the vulnerability to poverty. We also look at the role of three inter-related mechanisms related to protection against shocks: Education, Remittances and Migration. We compute internal rates of return to investments education when the objective is social protection or poverty, and not just the value of incomes. We use Ghanaian Livings Survey data and show that, for benchmark interest rates, the returns to primary and secondary education are positive for social protection. This suggests that for the long-run, education may be a more important means of social protection than cash transfers.