Payment modality preferences: Evidence from Ethiopia’s Productive Safety Net Programme
Economists typically default to the assumption that cash is always preferable to an in-kind transfer. We extend the classic Southworth (1945) framework to predict under what conditions this assumption holds. We take the model to longitudinal household data from Ethiopia where a large-scale social sa...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Artículo preliminar |
| Language: | Inglés |
| Published: |
International Food Policy Research Institute
2018
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/145532 |
| _version_ | 1855539696622370816 |
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| author | Hirvonen, Kalle Hoddinott, John F. |
| author_browse | Hirvonen, Kalle Hoddinott, John F. |
| author_facet | Hirvonen, Kalle Hoddinott, John F. |
| author_sort | Hirvonen, Kalle |
| collection | Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace) |
| description | Economists typically default to the assumption that cash is always preferable to an in-kind transfer. We extend the classic Southworth (1945) framework to predict under what conditions this assumption holds. We take the model to longitudinal household data from Ethiopia where a large-scale social safety net intervention – the Productive Safety Net Programme (PSNP) – operates. Even though most PSNP payments are paid in cash, and even though the (temporal) transaction costs associated with food payments are higher than payments received as cash, the overwhelming majority of the beneficiary households prefer their payments only or partly in food. However, these preferences are neither homogeneous nor stable. Higher food prices induce shifts in preferences towards in-kind transfers, but more food secure households and those closer to food markets and to financial services prefer cash. There is suggestive evidence that preferences for food are also driven by self-control concerns. |
| format | Artículo preliminar |
| id | CGSpace145532 |
| institution | CGIAR Consortium |
| language | Inglés |
| publishDate | 2018 |
| publishDateRange | 2018 |
| publishDateSort | 2018 |
| publisher | International Food Policy Research Institute |
| publisherStr | International Food Policy Research Institute |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | CGSpace1455322025-11-06T07:14:54Z Payment modality preferences: Evidence from Ethiopia’s Productive Safety Net Programme Hirvonen, Kalle Hoddinott, John F. social protection food security cash transfers food prices poverty food aid Economists typically default to the assumption that cash is always preferable to an in-kind transfer. We extend the classic Southworth (1945) framework to predict under what conditions this assumption holds. We take the model to longitudinal household data from Ethiopia where a large-scale social safety net intervention – the Productive Safety Net Programme (PSNP) – operates. Even though most PSNP payments are paid in cash, and even though the (temporal) transaction costs associated with food payments are higher than payments received as cash, the overwhelming majority of the beneficiary households prefer their payments only or partly in food. However, these preferences are neither homogeneous nor stable. Higher food prices induce shifts in preferences towards in-kind transfers, but more food secure households and those closer to food markets and to financial services prefer cash. There is suggestive evidence that preferences for food are also driven by self-control concerns. 2018-10-23 2024-06-21T09:04:37Z 2024-06-21T09:04:37Z Working Paper https://hdl.handle.net/10568/145532 en https://hdl.handle.net/10986/33261 Open Access application/pdf International Food Policy Research Institute Ethiopian Development Research Institute Hirvonen, Kalle; and Hoddinott, John F. 2018. Payment modality preferences: Evidence from Ethiopia’s Productive Safety Net Programme. ESSP Working Paper 125. Washington, DC and Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and Ethiopian Development Research Institute (EDRI). https://hdl.handle.net/10568/145532 |
| spellingShingle | social protection food security cash transfers food prices poverty food aid Hirvonen, Kalle Hoddinott, John F. Payment modality preferences: Evidence from Ethiopia’s Productive Safety Net Programme |
| title | Payment modality preferences: Evidence from Ethiopia’s Productive Safety Net Programme |
| title_full | Payment modality preferences: Evidence from Ethiopia’s Productive Safety Net Programme |
| title_fullStr | Payment modality preferences: Evidence from Ethiopia’s Productive Safety Net Programme |
| title_full_unstemmed | Payment modality preferences: Evidence from Ethiopia’s Productive Safety Net Programme |
| title_short | Payment modality preferences: Evidence from Ethiopia’s Productive Safety Net Programme |
| title_sort | payment modality preferences evidence from ethiopia s productive safety net programme |
| topic | social protection food security cash transfers food prices poverty food aid |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/145532 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT hirvonenkalle paymentmodalitypreferencesevidencefromethiopiasproductivesafetynetprogramme AT hoddinottjohnf paymentmodalitypreferencesevidencefromethiopiasproductivesafetynetprogramme |