The Impact of Cash and Food Transfers: Evidence from a Randomized Intervention in Niger
研究比较了尼日尔农村极低收入家庭接受现金或食品转移支付的效果，发现食品转移对饮食多样性有更大正面影响，而现金转移则更多用于购买谷物、私人转移和还债。
Abstract We contribute to debates regarding the use of cash and in‐kind transfers by providing new evidence from a very low income setting, rural Niger. We motivate our findings through the use of a conceptual model that emphasizes that the impact of cash and food transfers on dimensions of food consumption—both quantity and quality—will differ by the income level of the household and whether or not the food transfer is extra‐marginal. Consistent with this model, households in localities randomized to receive the food basket experienced larger, positive impacts on measures of dietary diversity than those receiving the cash transfer. By contrast, households receiving cash were more likely to make bulk purchases of grains and spent more money on private transfers and debts. Despite the seasonal dimensions to food insecurity in Niger, the relative impact of food and cash transfers on our measures of dietary diversity did not vary markedly by season.