Resource information
Poverty and Social Impact Analysis
(PSIA) is an approach used increasingly by governments,
civil society organizations, the World Bank, and other
development partners to examine the distributional impacts
of policy reforms on the well-being of different
stakeholders groups, particularly the poor and vulnerable.
PSIA has an important role in the elaboration and
implementation of poverty reduction strategies in developing
countries because it promotes evidence-based policy choices
and fosters debate on policy reform options. This
publication presents a collection of case studies that
illustrate the spectrum of sectors and policy reforms to
which PSIA can be applied; it also elaborates on the broad
range of analytical tools and techniques that can be used
for PSIA. The case studies provide examples of the impact
that PSIA can have on the design of policy reforms and draw
operational lessons for PSIA implementation. The case
studies deal largely with policy reforms in a single sector,
such as agriculture (crop marketing boards in Malawi and
Tanzania and cotton privatization in Tajikistan); energy
(mining sector in Romania and oil subsidies in Ghana);
utilities (power sector reform in Ghana, Rwanda, and
transition economies, and water sector reform in Albania);
social sectors (education reform in Mozambique and social
welfare reform in Sri Lanka); taxation reform (Nicaragua);
as well as macroeconomic modeling (Burkina Faso).
