Structural gender disparities in food-based assistance programs: Evidence from Syrian refugee households in Lebanon Público

Abstract

Food voucher programs typically provide a per-person benefit based on poverty lines or survival-minimum consumption baskets. Such uniform transfer packages do not account for variation in structural deprivations faced by households. In this study, I assess the degree to which a food voucher program for refugees in Lebanon adequately meets the food needs of female- relative to male-headed households. Using a natural experiment in which some households received an unconditional cash transfer in addition to the food voucher, I analyze spending on food, food consumption, and food coping behaviors that results from the additional cash transfer. To estimate program effects, I utilize a regression discontinuity design which restricts to a sample of households that have been assessed as equally needy by the implementing agencies. Results indicate that both programs produce positive results for all beneficiaries. However, female-headed households who qualify for the additional cash transfer increase their food expenditure, implying that the uniform food voucher benefit level systematically fell short in providing for their families’ nutritional needs. These results imply that social assistance programs concerned with addressing a specific type of deprivation should consider structural differences in the incidence of that deprivation when setting benefit levels.

Table of Contents

1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

2 Literature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

2.1 Food Voucher Programs . . . . 4

2.2 Cash Assistance Programs. . . . 4

2.3 Gender. . . . 5

3 Context and Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

3.1 Variable Construction. . . . 8

3.2 Summary Statistics. . . . 11

4 Empirical Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

5 Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

6 Discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

6.1 Limitations. . . . 23

Appendix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

About this Honors Thesis

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School	Emory College
Department	Economics
Degree	B.A.
Submission	Honors Thesis
Language	English
Research Field	Health Sciences, Human Development Economics, General
Palavra-chave	refugee women Lebanon Development food voucher Welfare cash transfer Nutrition Humanitarian Syria
Committee Chair / Thesis Advisor	Stephen O'Connell, Emory University
Committee Members	David McMillon, Emory University Michael Rich, Emory University

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