Food and Cash Transfers: Evidence from Colombia

Orazio Attanasio, Erich Battistin () and Alice Mesnard

No 7326, CEPR Discussion Papers from C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers

Abstract: We study food Engel curves among the poor population targeted by a conditional cash transfer programme in Colombia. After controlling for the endogeneity of total expenditure and for the (unobserved) variability of prices across villages, the best fit is provided by a log-linear specification. Our estimates imply that an increase in total expenditure by 10% would lead to a decrease of 1% in the share of food. However, quasi-experimental estimates of the impact of the programme on total and food consumption show that the share of food increases, suggesting that the programme has more complex impacts on expenditure patterns than those induced by higher household income and expenditure.

Keywords: demand patterns; evaluation of welfare programmes; food Engel curves (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C52 D12 I38 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr and nep-dev
Date: 2009-06

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