We study the impact of the Zimbabwe Harmonized Social Cash Transfer (HSCT) on household food security after 12 months of implementation. We investigate determinants of food security as measured by a well-known food security scale - the Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS) - and as measured by value of household food consumption composed of own-production, market purchases and gifts received. We find that several dimensions of household vulnerability correlate more strongly with the food security measure than with food consumption. Labor constraints, which is a key vulnerability criterion used by the HSCT to target households, is an important predictor of the food security score but not food consumption, and its effect on food security is even larger during the lean season. Impact analysis shows that the program has had statistically significant impacts on Food Security and Diet Diversity scores but null to low impacts on food consumption. However aggregate food consumption hides dynamic activity taking place within the household where the cash is used to obtain more food from the market and rely less on food received as gifts. The cash in turn gives beneficiaries greater choice in their food basket, which improves diet diversity.

中文翻译：

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现金转移和家庭脆弱性对津巴布韦粮食安全的影响

我们研究了津巴布韦统一社会现金转移 (HSCT) 在实施 12 个月后对家庭粮食安全的影响。我们调查了粮食安全的决定因素，其衡量标准是众所周知的食品安全量表 - 家庭粮食不安全获取量表 (HFIAS) - 以及由自产、市场购买和收到的礼物组成的家庭食品消费价值衡量。我们发现，与食品消费相比，家庭脆弱性的几个维度与食品安全措施的相关性更强。劳动力限制是 HSCT 用于目标家庭的关键脆弱性标准，是粮食安全评分的重要预测指标，但不是粮食消费量，其对粮食安全的影响在淡季时甚至更大。影响分析表明，该计划对食品安全和饮食多样性得分产生了统计上的显着影响，但对食品消费的影响为零到低。然而，总食品消费隐藏了家庭内部发生的动态活动，其中现金用于从市场上获取更多食品，减少对作为礼物收到的食品的依赖。现金反过来让受益人在他们的食物篮子中有更多选择，从而改善饮食多样性。