Beneficiary Views on Cash and In-Kind Payments : Evidence from Ethiopia's Productive Safety Net Program

Hirvonen, Kalle ; Hoddinott, John

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: SOCIAL PROTECTION;    FOOD AID;    CASH TRANSFERS;    SAFETY NETS;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-9125
RP-ID  :  WPS9125

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

Economists often default to theassumption that cash is always preferable to an in-kindtransfer. Do beneficiaries feel the same way? This paperaddresses this issue using longitudinal household data fromEthiopia where a large-scale social safety net intervention(PSNP) operates. Even though most payments are made in cash,and even though the (temporal) transaction costs associatedwith food payments are higher than payments received ascash, most beneficiaries stated that they prefer theirpayments only or partly in food. Higher food prices induceshifts in stated preferences towards in-kind transfers. Morefood secure households, those closer to food markets and tofinancial services are more likely to prefer cash. Thoughshifts occur, the stated preference for food is dominant: Inno year do more than 17 percent of households prefer onlycash. There is suggestive evidence that stated preferencesfor food are also driven by self-control concerns.