 Can social programs break the vicious cycle between poverty and obesity? Evidence from urban MexicoWorld Development, 2019, vol. 113, issue C, 143-156 Abstract: This article analyzes how social interventions offer a solution to counteract the spread of overweight among the poor. Focusing on the Mexican conditional cash transfers program, we assess the average effect of a long run enrollment on adult body mass index and waist-to-height ratio. An original triple difference approach, which distinguishes over time participants from nonparticipants and stayers from leavers, is implemented. We find that the expansion of this program (to urban areas) has a protective effect on adult bodyweight for staying participants, but not an absolute effect. Moreover, the global impact of the program to reduce obesity is halved due to a low rate of participation in Mexican cities. Furthermore, we find health-risky externalities related to the cash component of the program. Indeed, the amount of cash payments is positively correlated with abdominal fat concentration, especially among enrolled women and for short-run enrollments. To sum up, our results bring new insights to the complementary role of both program components (cash and conditionalities). Keywords: Mexico; Social protection; Conditional cash transfers; Obesity; Triple difference (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:113:y:2019:i:c:p:143-156 DOI: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2018.09.003 Access Statistics for this article World Development is currently edited by O. T. Coomes More articles in World Development from Elsevier |
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