APPLIED ECONOMICS AND POLICY


Sustainable Poverty Reduction through Social Assistance: Modality, Context, and Complementary Programming


JOHN HODDINOTT H.E. BABCOCK PROFESSOR Charles H. Dyson School


of Applied Economics and Management Cornell SC Johnson College of Business Cornell University


in Bangladesh American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 17, 2, April 2025 LINK TO PAPER


Co-authors • John Hoddinott


H.E. Babcock Professor of Food & Nutrition Economics and


Policy, Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management, Cornell SC Johnson College of Business, Cornell University


• Akhter Ahmed, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Dhaka, Bangladesh


• Melissa Hidrobo, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Dhakar, Senegal


• Bastien Kolt, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Washington, DC • Shalini Roy, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Washington, DC • Salauddin Tauseef, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Vientiane Capital, Lao PDR


Summary Social assistance programs can increase consumption and reduce poverty. Ev-


idence across low- and middle-income country settings shows that cash and food transfer programs are effective in the short term at increasing household consumption and reducing multidimensional poverty, and can protect house- holds from poverty and food insecurity in the context of adverse shocks as well. Less is known about whether these impacts are sustained after programs end or how design and context influence sustainability. Cash “plus” or grad- uation models, which tackle the multiple constraints faced by the poor, have become increasingly popular ways to help households sustainably “graduate” from poverty.


Using data collected in two regions of Bangladesh four years after a random- ized intervention ended, the authors find that combining cash transfers with complementary programming led to sustained increases in consumption and reductions in poverty. Combining food transfers with complementary programming showed similar patterns to a lesser extent. Tese results suggest that context, modality, and complementary programming matter for sus- tained impacts.


CONTENTS TO MAIN | RESEARCH WITH IMPACT: CORNELL SC JOHNSON COLLEGE OF BUSINESS • 2025 EDITION 15


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