Smoother withdrawal rates - by which benefits are only reduced rather than eliminated as households become less poor (e.g. the South African old age pension and Mexico’s Seguro Popular) - and the looser application of means tests allow vulnerable households to receive a greater share of the marginal returns from working, which in turn eases any loss of incentive to look for employment. Looser eligibility criteria also ensure greater coverage among vulnerable households near the poverty line, but come at a cost to targeting efficiency, thereby increasing total programme costs. The strictness and frequency of means tests should match the poverty profiles targeted so as to protect the chronic poor even when they step out of poverty.