Harmony and Dissonance: The Interplay of Formal and Informal Social Protection

This blog is based on an article in Social Policy and Society by Zahid Mumtaz. 

A sizeable segment of the global population, particularly in Global South nations, lacks access to state-provided formal welfare. Consequently, they rely on informal support to meet their needs. This informal assistance however – whether originating from family, non-kin relationships, friends, religious organisations, NGOs, or other sources – may not consistently meet recipients’ requirements. Similarly, in some instances state-provided formal welfare also falls short of addressing recipients’ needs. There are also scenarios where both informal and formal welfare systems inadequately cater to the requirements of individuals benefitting from both. It is thus imperative to explore the interaction between formal and informal welfare when recipients are exposed to both, determining relative effectiveness. Previous research on the interplay between formal and informal welfare has largely focused on the crowding-in and crowding-out hypothesis, which examines how formal welfare substitutes the use of informal welfare. In this study, 90 semi-structured interviews were conducted with households in 14 Pakistani cities. These households received both formal and informal welfare.