The inadequacy of social assistance benefits for working-age persons to protect them against income poverty is well-known. In about half the OECD countries means-tested benefits for the able-bodied are below the poverty line, as measured by 50% of median equivalent income. Looking at the international variation in social assistance benefit levels across the OECD, this doctoral research attempts to find empirical evidence on the impact of a number of factors which are widely perceived to impede or facilitate the development of generous assistance schemes. The following findings emerge from this research.;First, having a GDP per capita that is relatively low in purchasing power terms is consistently linked to having below-median assistance benefits.;Second, in Bismarckian welfare states social assistance benefits tend to be low compared to most richer OECD countries, even compared to liberal welfare states like Ireland and the UK. One explanation is that social provisions in Bismarckian welfare states are predominantly financed through social security contributions. It is not unimaginable that in such social models where benefit entitlements are typically earned through work, there is more concern about the gap between contributory and non-contributory benefits. Korpi and Palme provide an alternative explanation. They argue that as Bismarckian social models tend to segment the population in numerous occupational and income based schemes, they make social policy more focused on the individual interests of the strongest target groups than on the interests of the poor.;Third, in countries where substantial parts of the assistance package---such as the basic rate or the housing benefits---are not regulated centrally but by either the regional or local authorities, we always find regions or municipalities where benefits are inadequate in terms of poverty alleviation. By contrast, we find particularly high minimum income protection levels in countries where local governments are relatively closely involved in the delivery of assistance, but where local autonomy is restricted as a result of fairly strict national guidelines regarding the level of both basic rates and housing allowances and where municipalities have a substantial financial responsibility for the administration role they play.
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