The impact of the Mamata conditional cash transfer program on child nutrition in Odisha, India
基于三重差分估计，研究发现印度奥里萨邦的Mamata现金转移计划使儿童消瘦率下降7个百分点，但效果主要由较富裕家庭驱动，最贫困家庭儿童反而更易消瘦。
Based on a triple difference estimation, this paper shows that the impact of a universal cash transfer on child nutrition differs by household wealth. In 2011, Odisha state in India introduced a conditional maternal cash transfer named "Mamata Scheme". Using data from the National Family Health Survey, I find that the program reduced child wasting by 7 percentage points, a 39% reduction compared to the average prevalence of wasting in the pre-program period. The reduction in child wasting is driven by children from households in the top four of five national wealth quintiles, for whom the program reduced wasting by 13 percentage points or a reduction of about 80%. Children from households in the bottom wealth quintile were 13 percentage points more likely to suffer from wasting than their wealthier counterparts. Reduction in stunting is also limited to children from households in the top four wealth quintiles, with an average program effect of 12 percentage points, that is, a 40% reduction. The results suggest that access to universal cash benefit schemes is important for mothers and children from marginalized households to realize proportionate benefits.