Cash, food, or vouchers? Evidence from a randomized experiment in northern Ecuador
通过随机实验比较现金、食品代金券和实物食品三种援助方式的效果，发现三者均能改善食物数量和质量，但实物食品增加热量摄入更多，代金券则更提升膳食多样性。
The debate over whether to provide food-assistance and the form that this assistance should take has a long history in economics. Despite the ongoing debate, little rigorous evidence exists that compares food-assistance in the form of cash versus in-kind. This paper uses a randomized evaluation to assess the impacts and cost-effectiveness of cash, food vouchers, and food transfers. We find that all three modalities significantly improve the quantity and quality of food consumed. However, differences emerge in the types of food consumed with food transfers leading to significantly larger increases in calories consumed and vouchers leading to significantly larger increases in dietary-diversity.