Publication: The Poverty Impacts of Cash and In-Kind Transfers : Experimental Evidence from Rural Mexico
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Date
2013-10-21
ISSN
1943-9342
Published
2013-10-21
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Abstract
The unique experimental design of the Food Support Programme (Programa de Apoyo Alimentario) is used to analyse in-kind and cash transfers in the poor rural areas of southern states of Mexico. The intent-to-treat effect on poverty of cash transfers of real value 25 per cent less than the market value of in-kind transfers is identical to that of in-kind transfers. Potential explanations of this result are investigated by looking into the differences in impacts of in-kind and cash transfers on food consumption and non-food expenditures and on the allocation of family labour between agricultural and non-agricultural activities. Both in-kind and cash transfers have identically large positive impacts on food consumption. Non-food expenditures are also higher in the localities with cash transfers, whereas they remain unaffected in the localities with in-kind transfers. Both kinds of transfers have a significant impact on the time allocation of males (and not females) who switch from agricultural to non-agricultural activities. But, the availability of cash transfers has a significantly higher marginal effect than in-kind transfers on the shift towards non-agricultural activities. Overall, the findings suggest that cash transfers may be better able than in-kind transfers at mitigating the impact of market imperfections, thus increasing both equity and efficiency.
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Publication The Impacts of Cash and In-Kind Transfers on Consumption and Labor Supply : Experimental Evidence from Rural Mexico(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2008-11)The authors use the unique experimental design of the Food Support Program (Programa Apoyo Alimentario) to analyze in-kind and cash transfers in the poor rural areas of southern states of Mexico. They compare the impacts of monthly in-kind and cash transfers of equivalent value (mean share 11.5 percent of pre-program consumption) on household welfare as measured by food and total consumption, adult labor supply, and poverty. The results show that approximately two years later the transfer has a large and positive impact on total and food consumption. There are no differences in the size of the effect of transfer in cash versus transfers in-kind on consumption. The transfer, irrespective of type, does not affect overall participation in labor market activities but induces beneficiary households to switch their labor allocation from agricultural to nonagricultural activities. The analysis finds that the program leads to a significant reduction in poverty. Overall, the findings suggest that the Food Support Program intervention is able to relax the binding liquidity constraints faced by poor agricultural households, and thus increases both equity and efficiency.Publication The Medium Term Impacts of Cash and In-kind Food Transfers on Learning(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2019-12)This paper studies the medium-term impact of early-life welfare transfers on children's learning. It studies children who were exposed to the randomized controlled trial of the Mexico's Food Support Program (the Programa de Apoyo Alimentario, PAL), in which households were assigned to receive cash, in-kind food transfers, or nothing (a control). 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