unconditional cash transfer program called the Benazir Income Support Program (BISP). It targets women in means-tested households and aims to safeguard the minimum levels of consumption of the poor, without a specific emphasis on the elderly. Impact evaluations of the cash transfer program have provided evidence of positive impacts on consumption, investments in assets and changes in labor market activities, notably a reduction in dependence on casual labor.<sup>6</sup>

# 4.2 Private savings

While section 6 will attempt to characterize private wealth accumulation rates, Table 2 summarizes the levels and types of private wealth owned by different categories of Pakistani households. It distinguishes between urban versus rural households and along the distribution of household consumption. Note that consumption quintiles are computed for each survey round and for each age group (up to 25, 26-35, 36-45, 46-55, 56-65, and over 65 years old), rather than for the overall pooled sample. This implies for example that Q1 households are among the 20% poorest households in their age group (based on the age of the head) and in that survey round.

In 2018, rural households owned 31.8% more wealth than urban households on average, relative to their consumption (76.5 months versus 58.0 months). Both groups have experienced substantial growth in their net worth over the period (52.6% for urban households and 20.6% for rural households). Households in the fifth quintile of the consumption distribution owned almost twice as much wealth as households in the first quintile, relative to their consumption (93.6 months versus 49.8 months). Net worth growth between 2001 and 2018 was much faster in quintile 5 (+24%) relative to quintile 1 (+7.4%). All categories of households hold the bulk of their wealth in residential housing with no clear time trends. Rural households also hold significant amounts of land (around a third of their net worth). Residential wealth accounts for a larger percentage of the wealth of rural versus urban households (70.8% versus 56.6% in 2018) and of poorer versus richer households (Q1: 66.7% versus Q5: 54.5%).

Table 2 also shows a much higher saving rate for urban households relative to rural households and for the fifth quintile of consumption relative to the first. Note, however, that saving rates subtract logged household consumption from logged household incomes and that home production is accounted for in consumption but not in income. The value of what a smallholder farm household grows and consumes is therefore not counted as income but it is subtracted as part of consumption when computing the saving rate, which could explain the negative saving rates obtained for rural and lower quintile households.

- _Table 2 Household net worth by categories of households (as a multiple of household monthly consumption)_

|||Ave|rage Net|Worth|||%|Housing|||||% Land||||Average|savingra|te(%)||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|Year|Urban|Rural|Q1|Q3|Q5|Urban|Rural|Q1|Q3|Q5|Urban|Rural|Q1|Q3|Q5|Urban|Rural|Q1<br>-|Q3<br>-|Q5<br>-|
|2001|40.9|65.1|47.0|59.1|72.2|77.8|52.9|64.0|62.2|48.9|5.6|33.5|19.7|27.3|29.3|4.8|-24.2|17.4|18.1|8.3|
|2005|58.8|76.1|49.6|62.3|99.3|75.2|55.2|68.0|60.7|59.4|5.7|31.8|17.9|24.2|25.5|10.6|-11.9|-7.8|-7.3|6.1|
|2007|68.7|85.6|57.6|73.6|111.1|69.9|53.8|62.6|59.3|53.6|5.4|27.9|17.2|20.7|24.0|10.6|-7.1|-6.4<br>-|-3.9<br>-|9.6|
|2010|56.6|69.7|43.5|59.2|99.6|63.6|54.9|66.3|59.8|46.7|5.6|26.8|13.5|19.7|26.9|5.0|-15.0|15.9<br>-|11.3|4.8|
|2011|61.6|76.7|46.3|69.9|104.1|72.4|59.4|70.9|62.1|56.2|4.5|25.9|12.4|19.0|23.4|6.8|-10.1|10.2<br>-|-6.9|7.8|
|2013|56.6|80.5|51.4|66.5|98.7|67.5|56.6|64.4|62.3|53.3|5.4|27.8|14.9|20.2|24.7|4.9|-11.7|11.1|-8.3|4.0|
|2015|58.8|79.9|52.9|76.3|95.3|71.8|57.7|67.3|61.6|59.3|4.2|26.7|14.8|21.4|19.9|3.9|-9.1|-8.6|-7.0|7.1|
|2018|62.4|78.5|50.5|70.2|90.0|68.3|62.1|70.1|64.7|58.9|5.4|24.4|14.4|18.8|17.6|7.4|-6.2|-5.4|-5.1|8.7|

> 6 Oxford Policy management https://www.opml.co.uk/projects/evaluating-benazir-income-support-programme

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