@techreport{NBERw16102,
 title = "Do Consumer Price Subsidies Really Improve Nutrition?",
 author = "Robert T. Jensen and Nolan H. Miller",
 institution = "National Bureau of Economic Research",
 type = "Working Paper",
 series = "Working Paper Series",
 number = "16102",
 year = "2010",
 month = "June",
 URL = "http://www.nber.org/papers/w16102",
 abstract = {Many developing countries use food-price subsidies or price controls to improve the nutrition of the poor. However, subsidizing goods on which households spend a high proportion of their budget can create large wealth effects. Consumers may then substitute towards foods with higher non-nutritional attributes (e.g., taste), but lower nutritional content per unit of currency, weakening or perhaps even reversing the intended impact of the subsidy. We analyze data from a randomized program of large price subsidies for poor households in two provinces of China and find no evidence that the subsidies improved nutrition.  In fact, it may have had a negative impact for some households.},
}