IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/deveco/v160y2023ics0304387822000918.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The short-lived effects of unconditional cash transfers to refugees

Author

Listed:
  • Altındağ, Onur
  • O’Connell, Stephen D.

Abstract

We study two year-long unconditional cash-based assistance programs for Syrian refugees in Lebanon, and show that they improve consumption, child well-being, food security, and reduce livelihood coping. Despite high transfer values, we find no evidence of lasting effects at six months after either program ends. Households spend transfers on basic needs and take children out of work and re-enroll them in school. Beneficiaries increase cash savings and their stock of durable goods, but liquidate and spend these assets during or soon after the beneficiary period. The results are similar for longer assistance periods and across transfer modalities.

Suggested Citation

  • Altındağ, Onur & O’Connell, Stephen D., 2023. "The short-lived effects of unconditional cash transfers to refugees," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:deveco:v:160:y:2023:i:c:s0304387822000918
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jdeveco.2022.102942
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304387822000918
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jdeveco.2022.102942?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Quattrochi, John & Aker, Jenny C. & van der Windt, Peter & Voors, Maarten, 2020. "Contributions of experimental approaches to development and poverty alleviation: Field experiments and humanitarian assistance," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 127(C).
    2. Sebastian Calonico & Matias D. Cattaneo & Max H. Farrell & Rocío Titiunik, 2019. "Regression Discontinuity Designs Using Covariates," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 101(3), pages 442-451, July.
    3. Salti, Nisreen & Chaaban, Jad & Moussa, Wael & Irani, Alexandra & Al Mokdad, Rima & Jamaluddine, Zeina & Ghattas, Hala, 2022. "The impact of cash transfers on Syrian refugees in Lebanon: Evidence from a multidimensional regression discontinuity design," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 155(C).
    4. Hidrobo, Melissa & Hoddinott, John & Peterman, Amber & Margolies, Amy & Moreira, Vanessa, 2014. "Cash, food, or vouchers? Evidence from a randomized experiment in northern Ecuador," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 144-156.
    5. Clare Balboni & Oriana Bandiera & Robin Burgess & Maitreesh Ghatak & Anton Heil, 2023. "Why Do People Stay Poor?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 137(2), pages 785-844.
    6. Christopher Blattman & Nathan Fiala & Sebastian Martinez, 2020. "The Long-Term Impacts of Grants on Poverty: Nine-Year Evidence from Uganda's Youth Opportunities Program," American Economic Review: Insights, American Economic Association, vol. 2(3), pages 287-304, September.
    7. Abhijit Banerjee & Sendhil Mullainathan, 2010. "The Shape of Temptation: Implications for the Economic Lives of the Poor," Working Papers id:2484, eSocialSciences.
    8. Benjamin Schwab, 2020. "In the Form of Bread? A Randomized Comparison of Cash and Food Transfers in Yemen," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 102(1), pages 91-113, January.
    9. McCrary, Justin, 2008. "Manipulation of the running variable in the regression discontinuity design: A density test," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 142(2), pages 698-714, February.
    10. Özler, Berk & Çelik, Çiğdem & Cunningham, Scott & Cuevas, P. Facundo & Parisotto, Luca, 2021. "Children on the move: Progressive redistribution of humanitarian cash transfers among refugees," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 153(C).
    11. Altındağ, Onur & O'Connell, Stephen D. & Şaşmaz, Aytuğ & Balcıoğlu, Zeynep & Cadoni, Paola & Jerneck, Matilda & Foong, Aimee Kunze, 2021. "Targeting humanitarian aid using administrative data: Model design and validation," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 148(C).
    12. Delius, Antonia & Sterck, Olivier, 2024. "Cash transfers and micro-enterprise performance: Theory and quasi-experimental evidence from Kenya," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    13. Jenny C. Aker, 2017. "Comparing Cash and Voucher Transfers in a Humanitarian Context: Evidence from the Democratic Republic of Congo," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 31(1), pages 44-70.
    14. MacPherson, Claire & Sterck, Olivier, 2021. "Empowering refugees through cash and agriculture: A regression discontinuity design," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 149(C).
    15. Lehmann, M. Christian & Masterson, Daniel T. R., 2020. "Does Aid Reduce Anti-refugee Violence? Evidence from Syrian Refugees in Lebanon," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 114(4), pages 1335-1342, November.
    16. Baird, Sarah & McIntosh, Craig & Özler, Berk, 2019. "When the money runs out: Do cash transfers have sustained effects on human capital accumulation?," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 140(C), pages 169-185.
    17. David K. Evans & Anna Popova, 2017. "Cash Transfers and Temptation Goods," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 65(2), pages 189-221.
    18. Abhijit Banerjee & Esther Duflo & Garima Sharma, 2021. "Long-Term Effects of the Targeting the Ultra Poor Program," American Economic Review: Insights, American Economic Association, vol. 3(4), pages 471-486, December.
    19. Haushofer, Johannes & Chemin, Matthieu & Jang, Chaning & Abraham, Justin, 2020. "Economic and psychological effects of health insurance and cash transfers: Evidence from a randomized experiment in Kenya," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    20. Dean Karlan & Sendhil Mullainathan & Benjamin N. Roth, 2019. "Debt Traps? Market Vendors and Moneylender Debt in India and the Philippines," American Economic Review: Insights, American Economic Association, vol. 1(1), pages 27-42, June.
    21. Daniel Masterson & M. Christian Lehmann, 2020. "Refugees, Mobilization, and Humanitarian Aid: Evidence from the Syrian Refugee Crisis in Lebanon," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 64(5), pages 817-843, May.
    22. Johannes Haushofer & Jeremy Shapiro, 2016. "The Short-term Impact of Unconditional Cash Transfers to the Poor: ExperimentalEvidence from Kenya," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 131(4), pages 1973-2042.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Henrique, 2024. "The Power of Dialogue: Forced Displacement and Social Integration amid an Islamist Insurgency in Mozambique," HiCN Working Papers 405, Households in Conflict Network.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. MacPherson, Claire & Sterck, Olivier, 2021. "Empowering refugees through cash and agriculture: A regression discontinuity design," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 149(C).
    2. Stephen O’Connell & Onur Altındağ & and Rim Achour, 2024. "Geographic poverty targeting in social protection programs: Evidence from a nationwide policy experiment," HiCN Working Papers 418, Households in Conflict Network.
    3. Gupta, Prankur & Stein, Daniel & Longman, Kyla & Lanthorn, Heather & Bergmann, Rico & Nshakira-Rukundo, Emmanuel & Rutto, Noel & Kahura, Christine & Kananu, Winfred & Posner, Gabrielle & Zhao, K.J. & , 2024. "Cash transfers amid shocks: A large, one-time, unconditional cash transfer to refugees in Uganda has multidimensional benefits after 19 months," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 173(C).
    4. Claire MacPherson & Olivier Sterck, 2019. "Humanitarian vs. Development Aid for Refugees: Evidence from a Regression Discontinuity Design," CSAE Working Paper Series 2019-15, Centre for the Study of African Economies, University of Oxford.
    5. Delius, Antonia & Sterck, Olivier, 2024. "Cash transfers and micro-enterprise performance: Theory and quasi-experimental evidence from Kenya," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    6. Hızıroğlu Aygün, Aysun & Kırdar, Murat Güray & Koyuncu, Murat & Stoeffler, Quentin, 2024. "Keeping refugee children in school and out of work: Evidence from the world's largest humanitarian cash transfer program," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).
    7. Gazeaud, Jules & Khan, Nausheen & Mvukiyehe, Eric & Sterck, Olivier, 2023. "With or without him? Experimental evidence on cash grants and gender-sensitive trainings in Tunisia," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 165(C).
    8. McIntosh, Craig & Zeitlin, Andrew, 2022. "Using household grants to benchmark the cost effectiveness of a USAID workforce readiness program," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 157(C).
    9. Arlen Guarin & Juliana Londoño-Vélez & Christian Posso, 2023. "Reparations as Development? Evidence from Victims of the Colombian Armed Conflict," Borradores de Economia 1236, Banco de la Republica de Colombia.
    10. Kurdi, Sikandra, 2021. "The nutritional benefits of cash transfers in humanitarian crises: evidence from Yemen," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 148(C).
    11. Siu, Jade & Sterck, Olivier & Rodgers, Cory, 2023. "The freedom to choose: Theory and quasi-experimental evidence on cash transfer restrictions," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    12. Betts, Alexander & Flinder Stierna, Maria & Omata, Naohiko & Sterck, Olivier, 2024. "The economic lives of refugees," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 182(C).
    13. Kondylis,Florence & Loeser,John Ashton, 2021. "Intervention Size and Persistence," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9769, The World Bank.
    14. Koppenberg, Maximilian & Mishra, Ashok K. & Hirsch, Stefan, 2023. "Food aid and violent conflict: A review and Empiricist’s companion," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 121(C).
    15. Lehmann, M. Christian & Matarazzo, Hellen, 2019. "Voters’ response to in-kind transfers: Quasi-experimental evidence from prescription drug cost-sharing in Brazil," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 184(C).
    16. Shapiro, Jeremy, 2019. "The impact of recipient choice on aid effectiveness," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 137-149.
    17. Ahrens, Achim & Casalis, Marine & Hangartner, Dominik & Sánchez, Rodrigo, 2024. "Cash-based interventions improve multidimensional integration outcomes of Venezuelan immigrants," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 181(C).
    18. Quattrochi, John & Aker, Jenny & van der Windt, Peter Cornelis & Voors, Maarten, 2020. "Field Experiments and Humanitarian Assistance," SocArXiv px75z, Center for Open Science.
    19. Blattman, Christopher & Dercon, Stefan & Franklin, Simon, 2022. "Impacts of industrial and entrepreneurial jobs on youth: 5-year experimental evidence on factory job offers and cash grants in Ethiopia," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 156(C).
    20. repec:wbk:wbrwps:10251 is not listed on IDEAS
    21. Fiala, Nathan & Rose, Julian & Aryemo, Filder & Peters, Jörg, 2022. "The (very) long-run impacts of cash grants during a crisis," Ruhr Economic Papers 961, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Unconditional cash transfers; Cash-based interventions; Food vouchers; Forced displacement; Humanitarian aid; Refugees; Children; Lebanon;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I38 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Government Programs; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs
    • I32 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Measurement and Analysis of Poverty
    • O12 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
    • D74 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Conflict; Conflict Resolution; Alliances; Revolutions

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:deveco:v:160:y:2023:i:c:s0304387822000918. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/devec .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.