Cash, food, or vouchers? Evidence from a randomized experiment in northern Ecuador

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Hidrobo, Melissa; Hoddinott, John; Peterman, Amber; Margolies, Amy; Moreira, Vanessa
• 署名单位: CGIAR; International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI); University of North Carolina; University of North Carolina Chapel Hill; The World Bank
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0304-3878
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jdeveco.2013.11.009
• 发表日期: 2014
• 页码: 144-156
• 关键词: Food assistance; Cash and in-kind transfers; food security

摘要

The debate over whether to provide food-assistance and the form that this assistance should take has a long history in economics. Despite the ongoing debate, little rigorous evidence exists that compares food-assistance in the form of cash versus in-kind. This paper uses a randomized evaluation to assess the impacts and cost-effectiveness of cash, food vouchers, and food transfers. We find that all three modalities significantly improve the quantity and quality of food consumed. However, differences emerge in the types of food consumed with food transfers leading to significantly larger increases in calories consumed and vouchers leading to significantly larger increases in dietary-diversity. (C) 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.