The Effect of Gender-Targeted Transfers:Experimental Evidence from India

47 Pages Posted: 12 Sep 2023

See all articles by Ingvild Almås

Ingvild Almås

Stockholm University

Vincent Somville

NHH Norwegian School of Economics

Lore Vandewalle

Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies (IHEID) - Department of Economics; University of Oslo

Abstract

Women are the primary recipients of many welfare programs around the world. This gender targeting is backed by claims that women make better consumption choices than men, but the empirical evidence is scarce. We report from an experiment designed to study the effect of such gender targeting: In each household, weekly cash transfers were randomly allocated to a man or a woman. We combine the randomized transfers with information from weekly interviews to measure the effect of targeting on the households’ economic decisions. Our precise estimates show no difference in consumption allocations or nutrition with female rather than male recipients.

Keywords: Gender, development, Transfer schemes, Public policy design

Suggested Citation

Almås, Ingvild and Somville, Vincent and Vandewalle, Lore, The Effect of Gender-Targeted Transfers:Experimental Evidence from India. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4569610 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4569610

Ingvild Almås (Contact Author)

Stockholm University ( email )

Vincent Somville

NHH Norwegian School of Economics ( email )

Helleveien 30
Bergen, NO-5045
Norway

Lore Vandewalle

Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies (IHEID) - Department of Economics ( email )

Geneva Avenue de la Paix 11A
Geneva, 1202
Switzerland

University of Oslo ( email )

PO Box 6706 St Olavs plass
Oslo, N-0317
Norway

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