Income transfers are a means of alleviating poverty. In order to utilise this
type of poverty enhancing mechanism, it is necessary to understand the
potential poverty reduction effect it may have. In this article, Reza Daniels
discusses the likely impact of income transfers on poverty and inequality
levels in the subsistence fisheries sector of South Africa. The article allows
us to answer some of the following questions: what is the impact of the
hypothetical transfer on income levels in the target population, who are the
likely beneficiaries and why, and what are the opportunity costs of the
transfer given limited state resources?