Stepping up during a crisis: The unintended effects of a noncontributory pension program during the Covid-19 pandemic

Nicolas Bottan, Bridget Hoffmann and Diego A. Vera-Cossio
Authors registered in the RePEc Author Service: Diego A. Vera Cossio

Journal of Development Economics, 2021, vol. 150, issue C

Abstract: We use a regression discontinuity design to study the impacts of a noncontributory pension program covering one-third of Bolivian households during the COVID-19 pandemic. Becoming eligible for the program during the crisis increased the probability that households had a week's worth of food stocked by 25% and decreased the probability of going hungry by 40%. Although the program was not designed to provide emergency assistance, it provided unintended positive impacts during the crisis. The program's effects on hunger were particularly large for households that lost their livelihoods during the crisis and for low-income households. The results suggest that, during a systemic crisis, a preexisting near-universal pension program can quickly deliver positive impacts in line with the primary goals of a social safety net composed of an income-targeted cash transfer and an unemployment insurance program.

Keywords: Cash transfers; Resilience; Social insurance; COVID-19; Noncontributory pensions (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H55 H84 I15 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (19)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304387821000146
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
Working Paper: Stepping Up During a Crisis: The Unintended Effects of a Noncontributory Pension Program during the Covid-19 Pandemic (2020)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:deveco:v:150:y:2021:i:c:s0304387821000146

DOI: 10.1016/j.jdeveco.2021.102635

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Development Economics is currently edited by M. R. Rosenzweig

More articles in Journal of Development Economics from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().