![]() The analysis is based on a representative survey conducted in November 2019 of a randomly selected sample of 896 South Sudanese refugee households, five months after the first unrestricted cash transfer was made. The authors exploit this quasi-random policy change to assess the impact of cash transfer restrictions. In June 2019, the restriction was lifted for 1,050 households living in one area of the settlement. Since 2016, the World Food Programme (WFP) has been providing a monthly cash transfer to each refugee in the settlement of US$14, restricted to the purchase of food items (excluding alcohol, tobacco, and non-food items). Extreme poverty and food insecurity are widespread in the settlement (73 percent of households in the study were severely food insecure) and dietary diversity is very low. In 2019, when the research was undertaken, the settlement accommodated around 36,000 refugees. The Kalobeyei settlement was established in 2016 with the objective of promoting a model for refugee assistance that promotes self-reliance among the refugee and host communities. ![]() The authors assess whether restrictions affect consumer choices, whether recipients comply or circumvent restrictions, and whether restrictions increase or decrease the welfare of recipients. This paper studies the effect of cash transfer restrictions on the welfare of recipients in the Kalobeyei refugee settlement in Kenya, a context in which restrictions matter because cash transfers are extra-marginal (they are greater than the amount a household would have otherwise spent on food), and the resale of unrestricted goods (i.e., food items) is costly. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |