Cash Transfers and Food Security in Sub-Saharan Africa

This paper compares the impact of social protection strategies based on cash transfers in a selection of lower-middle-income and low-income sub-Saharan African countries. We use the synthetic control method to evaluate changes in the trajectories of the prevalence of undernourishment indicators during the 1990s and 2000s for several relevant countries (Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi and Rwanda). The results suggest that cash transfers exert a significant effect on access to food, though there are differences in magnitude. Robustness analysis with placebo experiments confirms the soundness of our results, and their implications for policy-makers are discussed.