Cash Versus Kind: Benchmarking a Child Nutrition Program Against Unconditional Cash Transfers in Rwanda
提出一种方法，将实物项目与成本等价的现金转移进行基准比较，发现卢旺达的儿童营养干预在一年内未改善核心儿童指标，而现金转移在消费和资产积累上效果更显著，更大额现金转移还能改善饮食多样性和儿童生长。
Abstract We develop a methodology to benchmark in-kind programs against cost-equivalent cash transfers. Our application compares a multi-dimensional child nutrition intervention to unconditional cash transfers, using randomised variation in transfer amounts and regression adjustment of expenditures to estimate impacts of cash transfers at identical cost as well as to estimate the return to increasing cash transfer amounts. While neither the in-kind program nor a cost-equivalent transfer costing $124 per household moves core child outcomes within a year, cash transfers create significantly greater consumption and asset accumulation. A larger cash transfer costing $517 substantially improves consumption and investment outcomes and drives modest improvements in dietary diversity and child growth.