The purpose of this study is to help AusAID staff, their counterparts in partner governments and others
working in the field of social protection to better understand the strengths and weaknesses of a targeting
methodology known as the proxy means test (PMT). Despite the substantial literature on the PMT there is a dearth of comprehensive analysis. This means that developing country governments - and those advising on social protection - do not have an adequate basis upon which to consider the merits of proxy means testing or assess the methodology against alternatives.

Despite the substantial literature on the PMT there is a dearth of comprehensive analysis. This means that developing country governments - and those advising on social protection - do not have an adequate basis upon which to consider the merits of proxy means testing or assess the methodology against alternatives.

This study’s findings show that the PMT is inherently inaccurate, especially at low levels of coverage, and it relatively arbitrarily selects beneficiaries. It therefore functions more like a simple rationing  mechanism that selects some poor and non-poor but excludes large numbers of eligible poor from receiving benefits and support.