Food Transfers and Child Nutrition: Evidence from India's Public Distribution System
Document Type
Article
Publication Title
American Economic Journal: Applied Economics
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 five 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.
DOI Link
Publication Date
1-7-2025
Publisher
American Economic Association
Volume
Vol.17
Issue
Iss.3
Recommended Citation
Shrinivas, Aditya; Baylis, Kathy; and Crost, Benjamin, "Food Transfers and Child Nutrition: Evidence from India's Public Distribution System" (2025). Faculty Publications. 1845.
https://research.iimb.ac.in/fac_pubs/1845
