Shortening the Path to Productive Investment: Evidence from Input Fairs and Cash Transfers in Malawi

Shilpa Aggarwal, Dahyeon Jeong, Naresh Kumar, David Sungho Park, Jonathan Robinson and Alan Spearot

No 32263, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: While cash transfers consistently show large effects on immediate outcomes like consumption, limited access to markets may mute their impact on productive investment. In an experiment in Malawi, we cross-cut cash transfers with an "input fair," designed to reduce transport costs to access agricultural inputs. Cash alone increases investment by 27%, while the joint provision of cash and the input fair increases investment by about 40%; thus, the incremental effect of the input fair is equivalent to about a 50% increase compared to the effect of cash alone. Input fairs alone were ineffective.

JEL-codes: O13 Q12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024-03
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr, nep-dev and nep-exp
Note: DEV
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Published as Shilpa Aggarwal & Dahyeon Jeong & Naresh Kumar & David Sungho Park & Jonathan Robinson & Alan Spearot, 2024. "Shortening the path to productive investment: Evidence from input fairs and cash transfers in Malawi," Journal of Development Economics, vol 170.

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