The impact of cash and food transfers: Evidence from a randomized intervention in Niger

John Hoddinott, Susanna Sandstrom and Joanna Upton

No 149919, 2013 Annual Meeting, August 4-6, 2013, Washington, D.C. from Agricultural and Applied Economics Association

Abstract: We assess the relative impacts of receiving cash versus food transfers using a randomized design. Drawing on data collected in eastern Niger, we find that households randomized to receive a food basket experienced larger, positive impact on measures of food consumption and diet quality than those receiving the cash transfer. Other outcomes showed greater variation by season. Receiving food reduced the use of a number of coping strategies but this effect was more pronounced during the height of the lean season. Households receiving cash spent more money repairing their dwellings prior to the start of the rainy season and spent more on agricultural inputs during the growing season. Less than five percent of food was sold or exchanged for other goods. Food and cash were delivered with the same degree of frequency and timeliness but the food transfers cost 15 percent more to implement.

Keywords: Consumer/Household Economics; Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety; Food Security and Poverty; International Development (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 27
Date: 2013
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-afr, nep-agr and nep-dev
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Related works:
Journal Article: The Impact of Cash and Food Transfers: Evidence from a Randomized Intervention in Niger (2018)
Working Paper: The impact of cash and food transfers: Evidence from a randomized intervention in Niger (2014)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ags:aaea13:149919

DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.149919

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