This paper explores the extent to which government-run cash transfer programs in four sub-Saharan countries affect food security and nutritional outcomes. These programs include Ghana's Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty, Kenya's Cash Transfer for Orphans and Vulnerable Children, Lesotho's Child Grants Program and Zambia's Child Grant model of the Social Cash Transfer program. Our cross-country analysis highlights the importance of robust program design and implementation to achieve the intended results. We find that a relatively generous and regular and predictable transfer increases the quantity and quality of food and reduces the prevalence of food insecurity. On the other hand, a smaller, lumpy and irregular transfer does not lead to impacts on food expenditures. We complement binary treatment analysis with continuous treatment analysis to understand not only the impact of being in the program but also the variability in impacts by the extent of treatment.

本文探讨了四个撒哈拉以南国家的政府运行的现金转移计划在多大程度上影响了粮食安全和营养成果。这些计划包括加纳的扶贫生计，肯尼亚的孤儿和弱势儿童现金转移，莱索托的儿童补助金计划以及赞比亚的社会现金转移计划的儿童补助金模式。我们的跨国分析强调了稳健的程序设计和实施以实现预期结果的重要性。我们发现，相对慷慨的，有规律的和可预测的转移增加了粮食的数量和质量，并减少了粮食不安全的发生率。另一方面，较小的，块状的和不规则的转移不会对食品支出产生影响。