Can unconditional cash transfers raise long-term living standards? Evidence from Zambia

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Handa, Sudhanshu; Natali, Luisa; Seidenfeld, David; Tembo, Gelson; Davis, Benjamin
• 署名单位: University of North Carolina; University of North Carolina Chapel Hill; Istituto degli Innocenti; American Institutes for Research; Food & Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0304-3878
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jdeveco.2018.01.008
• 发表日期: 2018
• 页码: 42-65
• 关键词: Poverty reduction; Unconditional cash transfers; Zambia

摘要

In Africa, state-sponsored cash transfer programs now reach nearly 50 million people. Do these programs raise long-term living standards? We examine this question using experimental data from two unconditional cash transfer programs implemented by the Zambian Government. We find far-reaching effects of the programs both on food security and consumption as well as on a range of productive outcomes. After three years, household spending is on average 67 percent larger than the value of the transfer received, implying a sizeable multiplier effect, which works through increased non-farm activity and agricultural production.