The impact of PROGRESA on food consumption

Mexico's flagship antipoverty program, PROGRESA, has been the subject of extensive review showing that, inter alia, it improves schooling and child nutrition outcomes. In this article, we have examined the impact of PROGRESA on household food consumption. Our empirical strategy was motivated by the need to be conscious of the survey design with which we worked, the actual manner in which PROGRESA operated in the field, and the need to adequately control for confounding factors. Controlling for differences in household and municipality characteristics, as well as differences in prices, we find that there is no evidence of a statistically significant impact on caloric availability as of October 1998. Given that PROGRESA had begun only limited operations at the time of this survey, such a result is not surprising. However, there is evidence of a significant impact in June and November 1999. For example, in November 1999, the median household eligible for PROGRESA benefits in treatment localities obtained 6.4% more calories than did comparable households in control localities. The impact is greatest on the acquisition of calories from vegetable and animal products. © 2004 by The University of Chicago. All rights reserved.