Cash, food, or vouchers? Evidence from a randomized experiment in northern Ecuador

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 a...

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Autores principales: Hidrobo, Melissa, Hoddinott, John F., Peterman, Amber, Margolies, Amy, Moreira, Vanessa
Formato: Journal Article
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: Elsevier 2014
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/151182
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author Hidrobo, Melissa
Hoddinott, John F.
Peterman, Amber
Margolies, Amy
Moreira, Vanessa
author_browse Hidrobo, Melissa
Hoddinott, John F.
Margolies, Amy
Moreira, Vanessa
Peterman, Amber
author_facet Hidrobo, Melissa
Hoddinott, John F.
Peterman, Amber
Margolies, Amy
Moreira, Vanessa
author_sort Hidrobo, Melissa
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description 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.
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spelling CGSpace1511822025-09-25T13:01:37Z Cash, food, or vouchers? Evidence from a randomized experiment in northern Ecuador Hidrobo, Melissa Hoddinott, John F. Peterman, Amber Margolies, Amy Moreira, Vanessa income transfers calories food assistance nutrition food security cash transfers energy value impact assessment 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. 2014-03 2024-08-01T02:55:48Z 2024-08-01T02:55:48Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/151182 en https://hdl.handle.net/10568/154119 https://doi.org/10.1080/00220388.2019.1687879 Open Access Elsevier Hidrobo, Melissa; Hoddinott, John F.; Peterman, Amber; Margolies, Amy; and Moreira, Vanessa. 2014. Cash, food, or vouchers? Evidence from a randomized experiment in northern Ecuador. Journal of Development Economics 107(March 2014): 144-156. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jdeveco.2013.11.009
spellingShingle income transfers
calories
food assistance
nutrition
food security
cash transfers
energy value
impact assessment
Hidrobo, Melissa
Hoddinott, John F.
Peterman, Amber
Margolies, Amy
Moreira, Vanessa
Cash, food, or vouchers? Evidence from a randomized experiment in northern Ecuador
title Cash, food, or vouchers? Evidence from a randomized experiment in northern Ecuador
title_full Cash, food, or vouchers? Evidence from a randomized experiment in northern Ecuador
title_fullStr Cash, food, or vouchers? Evidence from a randomized experiment in northern Ecuador
title_full_unstemmed Cash, food, or vouchers? Evidence from a randomized experiment in northern Ecuador
title_short Cash, food, or vouchers? Evidence from a randomized experiment in northern Ecuador
title_sort cash food or vouchers evidence from a randomized experiment in northern ecuador
topic income transfers
calories
food assistance
nutrition
food security
cash transfers
energy value
impact assessment
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/151182
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AT margoliesamy cashfoodorvouchersevidencefromarandomizedexperimentinnorthernecuador
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