Review of Economic Studies · 2018 · Jesse M. Cunha、Giacomo De Giorgi、Seema Jayachandran
中文摘要
本文考察了现金与实物转移支付对当地价格的影响。两种类型的转移支付均增加了对正常商品的需求；实物转移支付还增加了受助社区的供给，这可能导致价格低于现金转移支付下的价格。我们利用墨西哥的一项项目检验并证实了这一预测，该项目将村庄随机分配接受成箱食品（由卡车运入村庄）、等值的现金转移支付或不接受转移支付。我们发现，与现金转移支付相比，实物转移支付下的价格显著更低；相对于对照组，实物转移支付导致价格下降4%，而现金转移支付导致价格正向但可忽略不计地增加。在样本中经济较发达的村庄，家庭的购买力仅受到这些价格效应的轻微影响。在较不发达的村庄，价格效应的量级要大得多，我们表明这是由于这些村庄与外部经济的联系较弱且当地供应商之间的竞争较少。
Abstract
This article examines the effect of cash versus in-kind transfers on local prices. Both types of transfers increase the demand for normal goods; in-kind transfers also increase supply in recipient communities, which could lead to lower prices than under cash transfers. We test and confirm this prediction using a programme in Mexico that randomly assigned villages to receive boxes of food (trucked into the village), equivalently-valued cash transfers, or no transfers. We find that prices are significantly lower under in-kind transfers compared to cash transfers; relative to the control group, in-kind transfers cause a 4% fall in prices while cash transfers cause a positive but negligible increase in prices. In the more economically developed villages in the sample, households’ purchasing power is only modestly affected by these price effects. In the less developed villages, the price effects are much larger in magnitude, which we show is due to these villages being less tied to the outside economy and having less competition among local suppliers.