TY  - JOUR
AU  - Jensen,Robert T.
AU  - Miller,Nolan H.
TI  - Do Consumer Price Subsidies Really Improve Nutrition?
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 16102
PY  - 2010
Y2  - June 2010
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w16102
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w16102.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Robert T. Jensen
UCLA School of Public Affairs
3250 School of Public Affairs Building
Box 951656
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1656
Tel: 310-825-9865
Fax: 310-206-0377
E-Mail: robertjensen@ucla.edu

Nolan H. Miller
College of Business
University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign
4033 BIF
515 East Gregory Drive
Champaign, IL 61820
Tel: 217/244-2847
E-Mail: nmiller@illinois.edu
AB  - 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.
ER  -