Ayala Cañón, LuisArranz Muñoz, José MaríaGarcía Serrano, CarlosMartínez Virto, Lucía2021-03-172022-06-2220201468-2397 (Electronic)10.1111/ijsw.12447https://academica-e.unavarra.es/handle/2454/39441One of the greatest peculiarities of the Spanish system of minimum income benefits is its complex organisation. There is a wide variety of specific means-tested benefits whose management and financing depend on the central government. They are designed to protect different contingencies, providing very different levels of protection. On the other hand, the general risk of poverty is covered by regional governments without any coordination and financing from the central government. In this article, we provide a picture of the possibilities and limits of the current set of welfare benefits, focusing especially on its effectiveness in terms of reducing poverty. Our findings show that most benefits are clearly insufficient to cover the risk of poverty in terms of both incidence and intensity. The results show the need for the redesign of the system to better articulate existing benefits in order to prevent new forms of poverty and to respond to emergency situations.40 p.application/pdfeng© 2020 Akademikerförbundet SSR (ASSR) and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.Minimum income benefitsPovertyPoverty reductionMediterranean welfare statesSpaininfo:eu-repo/semantics/articleinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess