A framework for comparing social protection in developing and developed countries: The example of child benefits Ingrid Esser, Tommy Ferrarini, Kenneth Nelson and Ola Sjöberg Swedish Institute for Social Research, Stockholm University Abstract The article outlines a conceptual and theoretical framework for improved comparative analysis of publicly pro- vided social protection in developing countries, drawing on the research tradition of the study of longstanding welfare democ- racies. An important element of the proposed institutional approach is the establishment of comparable qualitative and quantitative indicators for social protection. The empirical example of child benefits indicates that differences between developed and developing countries should not be exaggerated, and that the prevalence of child benefits in sub-Saharan African and Latin American countries today resembles the inter-war period (1919-1938) situation in developed regions. Keywords social security scheme, social policy, children, family benefit, comparison, developing countries, OECD Introduction Publicly provided social protection is increasingly recognized as an important element for realizing socio-economic progress in developing societies (Wood and Gough, 2006; Gordon et al., 2003). Concerns about the abilities of traditional devel- opment policies to alleviate poverty have spurred new efforts to address economic Address for correspondence: Ingrid Esser, Swedish Institute for Social Research, Stockholm University, S-106 91, Sweden. Email: ingrid.esser@sofi.su.se; Tommy Ferrarini, Swedish Institute for Social Research, Stockholm University, S-106 91, Sweden. Email: tommy.ferrarini@sofi.su.se; Kenneth Nelson, Swedish Institute for Social Research, Stockholm University, S-106 91, Sweden. Email: kenneth.nelson@sofi.su.se; Ola Sjöberg, Swedish Institute for Social Research, Stockholm University, S-106 91, Sweden. Email: ola.sjoberg@sofi.su.se. 91 © 2009 The author(s) Journal compilation © 2009 International Social Security Association International Social Security Review, Vol. 62, 1/2009 Published by Blackwell Publishing Ltd, 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK and 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA