We estimate and test the restrictions of a collective model of household consumption, using z-conditional demands, in the context of a large conditional cash transfer program in rural Mexico. The model can explain the impacts of the program on the structure of food consumption. We use two plausible and novel distribution factors: the random allocation of a cash transfer to women and the relative size and wealth of the husband’s and wife’s family networks. Our structure does better at predicting the effect of exogenous increases in household income than an alternative, unitary, structure. We cannot reject efficiency of household decisions.
Authors
![Orazio Attanasio](/sites/default/files/styles/square_desktop/public/2022-06/Orazio_Attanasio.jpg?itok=Anbs4JXx)
Research Fellow
Orazio is an International Research Fellow at the IFS, a Professor at Yale and a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research.
![Valerie Lechene](/sites/default/files/styles/square_desktop/public/2022-05/Valerie_Lechene.jpg?itok=Di1RhxYE)
Research Fellow University College London
Valerie, a Research Fellow of the IFS, is a Reader at the University College London, whose research is focused on modelling intra-household behaviour.
Journal article details
- DOI
- 10.1086/674968
- Publisher
- University of Chicago Press
- Issue
- February 2014
Suggested citation
Attanasio, O and Lechene, V. (2014). 'Efficient Responses to Targeted Cash Transfers' (2014)
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