@techreport{NBERw17456,
 title = "The Price Effects of Cash Versus In-Kind Transfers",
 author = "Jesse M. Cunha and Giacomo De Giorgi and Seema Jayachandran",
 institution = "National Bureau of Economic Research",
 type = "Working Paper",
 series = "Working Paper Series",
 number = "17456",
 year = "2011",
 month = "September",
 URL = "http://www.nber.org/papers/w17456",
 abstract = {This paper compares how cash and in-kind transfers affect local prices. Both types of transfers increase the demand for normal goods, but only in-kind transfers also increase supply. Hence, in-kind transfers should lead to lower prices than cash transfers, which helps consumers at the expense of local producers. We test and confirm this prediction using a program in Mexico that randomly assigned villages to receive boxes of food (trucked into the village), equivalently-valued cash transfers, or no transfers. The pecuniary benefit to consumers of in-kind transfers, relative to cash transfers, equals 11% of the direct transfer.},
}