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  5. Sustainable Poverty Reduction through Social Assistance: Modality, Context, and Complementary Programming in Bangladesh

American Economic Journal:
Applied Economics

ISSN 1945-7782 (Print) | ISSN 1945-7790 (Online)

Sustainable Poverty Reduction through Social Assistance: Modality, Context, and Complementary Programming in Bangladesh

  • Akhter Ahmed
  • Melissa Hidrobo
  • John Hoddinott
  • Bastien Kolt
  • Shalini Roy
  • Salauddin Tauseef
American Economic Journal: Applied Economics (Forthcoming)

Abstract

Social assistance programs can increase consumption and reduce poverty, but less is known about whether these impacts are sustained after programs end, or how design and context influence sustainability. Using data collected in two regions of Bangladesh four years after a randomized intervention ended, we find that combining cash transfers with complementary programming led to sustained increases in consumption and reductions in poverty. Combining food transfers with complementary programming showed similar patterns, to a lesser extent. Cash alone had context-specific sustained effects; food alone had no sustained impacts. Results suggest that context, modality, and complementary programming matter for sustained impacts.

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