Journal Article: 'Food Transfers and Child Nutrition: Evidence from India’s Public Distribution System' Prof. Aditya Shrinivas

Abstract: India’s National Food Security Act of 2013 (NFSA) led to one of the biggest expansions in food transfers in history, affecting over 500 million people. We use plausibly exogenous variation created by the NFSA to estimate the effect of food transfers on child nutrition. Using individual panel data across eight states in India over 5 years, we find that increased transfers significantly reduced stunting. The food transfers increased wage incomes and improved dietary diversity. Our results suggest that, in the states we study, the NFSA prevented approximately 1.8 million children from being stunted.
Authors’ Names: Aditya Shrinivas, Kathy Baylis, Benjamin Crost
Journal Name: American Economic Journal: Applied Economics
URL: https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/app.20220505
Journal Article: 'Food Transfers and Child Nutrition: Evidence from India’s Public Distribution System' Prof. Aditya Shrinivas
Abstract: India’s National Food Security Act of 2013 (NFSA) led to one of the biggest expansions in food transfers in history, affecting over 500 million people. We use plausibly exogenous variation created by the NFSA to estimate the effect of food transfers on child nutrition. Using individual panel data across eight states in India over 5 years, we find that increased transfers significantly reduced stunting. The food transfers increased wage incomes and improved dietary diversity. Our results suggest that, in the states we study, the NFSA prevented approximately 1.8 million children from being stunted.
Authors’ Names: Aditya Shrinivas, Kathy Baylis, Benjamin Crost
Journal Name: American Economic Journal: Applied Economics
URL: https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/app.20220505