Whether social protection benefits should be assigned to all (universal) or kept only for those who meet specific criteria (targeting) remains one of the most contentious questions in social policy research. The purpose of this article is to revisit three assumptions on the two main social policy options for the provision of social benefits to older persons. Each assumption is assessed through counterfactual reasoning using a combination of literature review and statistical analysis with a global perspective. The study finds that (i) 79 countries would be economically able to shift from targeted noncontributory pensions to basic universal noncontributory pensions with less than 1.2 per cent of the respective national gross domestic products; (ii) 16 countries have means‐tested/region‐tested noncontributory pensions more expensive than a hypothetical basic universal social pension; (iii) an arbitrary threshold of “economic development” is not a limitation for implementing social pensions; and (iv) at least 17 countries with relatively low economic development have successfully implemented social pensions without means targeting. Therefore, contrary to what several international organizations and scholars have argued, universal social pensions are politically and economically viable and efficient strategies to alleviate income poverty.

中文翻译：

---

老年社会养老金和贫困：重新审视目标和普遍主义的假设

社会保护福利是应该分配给所有人（普遍）还是只保留给符合特定标准的人（目标）仍然是社会政策研究中最具争议的问题之一。本文的目的是重新审视关于向老年人提供社会福利的两个主要社会政策选项的三个假设。每个假设都是通过反事实推理评估的，结合文献综述和具有全球视角的统计分析。研究发现，(i) 79 个国家在经济上有能力从定向非缴费型养老金转向占各自国内生产总值不到 1.2% 的基本全民非缴费型养老金；(ii) 16 个国家的经济状况调查/地区调查的非缴费型养老金比假设的基本全民社会养老金更昂贵；(iii) “经济发展”的任意门槛不是实施社会养老金的限制；(iv) 至少有 17 个经济发展相对较低的国家成功实施了无经济目标的社会养老金。因此，与一些国际组织和学者所主张的相反，全民社会养老金是政治和经济上可行且有效的缓解收入贫困的战略。(iv) 至少有 17 个经济发展相对较低的国家成功实施了无经济目标的社会养老金。因此，与一些国际组织和学者所主张的相反，全民社会养老金是政治和经济上可行且有效的缓解收入贫困的战略。(iv) 至少有 17 个经济发展相对较低的国家成功实施了无经济目标的社会养老金。因此，与一些国际组织和学者所主张的相反，全民社会养老金是政治和经济上可行且有效的缓解收入贫困的战略。