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There’s no such thing as a free lunch: evidence of altruism and agency from household expenditure responses to child nutrition programs

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  • Paul Bingley
  • Ian Walker

Abstract

Transfers for particular client groups such as children are often in-kind rather than cash. However, this may, at least partially, crowd out private expenditures on the goods in question because they reduce the incentive for other individuals, like parents, to make altruistic transfers. They are often made to one household member on behalf of another so there may also be agency concerns. This paper uses three nutrition programs for children in UK households to cast light on altruism and agency effects. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media New York 2013

Suggested Citation

  • Paul Bingley & Ian Walker, 2013. "There’s no such thing as a free lunch: evidence of altruism and agency from household expenditure responses to child nutrition programs," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 11(3), pages 371-392, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:reveho:v:11:y:2013:i:3:p:371-392
    DOI: 10.1007/s11150-013-9196-7
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Hilary W. Hoynes & Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach, 2009. "Consumption Responses to In-Kind Transfers: Evidence from the Introduction of the Food Stamp Program," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 1(4), pages 109-139, October.
    2. James Banks & Richard Blundell & Arthur Lewbel, 1997. "Quadratic Engel Curves And Consumer Demand," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 79(4), pages 527-539, November.
    3. Heckman, James, 2013. "Sample selection bias as a specification error," Applied Econometrics, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), vol. 31(3), pages 129-137.
    4. Blundell, Richard & Pashardes, Panos & Weber, Guglielmo, 1993. "What Do We Learn About Consumer Demand Patterns from Micro Data?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 83(3), pages 570-597, June.
    5. Manan Roy & Daniel Millimet & Rusty Tchernis, 2012. "Federal nutrition programs and childhood obesity: inside the black box," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 10(1), pages 1-38, March.
    6. Gruber, Jonathan & Hungerman, Daniel M., 2007. "Faith-based charity and crowd-out during the great depression," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(5-6), pages 1043-1069, June.
    7. Hungerman, Daniel M., 2009. "Crowd-out and diversity," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(5-6), pages 729-740, June.
    8. Richard Blundell & Alan Duncan & Krishna Pendakur, 1998. "Semiparametric estimation and consumer demand," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 13(5), pages 435-461.
    9. Bergstrom, Theodore C, 1989. "A Fresh Look at the Rotten Kid Theorem--and Other Household Mysteries," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 97(5), pages 1138-1159, October.
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    Cited by:

    1. Angus Holford, 2015. "The labour supply effect of Education Maintenance Allowance and its implications for parental altruism," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 13(3), pages 531-568, September.
    2. Holford, Angus, 2016. "Do parents tax their children? Teenage labour supply and financial support," ISER Working Paper Series 2016-05, Institute for Social and Economic Research.
    3. Andres Silva & Lindsey M. Higgins & Micaela M. Kulesz, 2016. "Nutritional Impact of Child-Directed TV Food Advertising Regulation: Are We Rearranging the Deck Chairs on the Titanic?," Journal of the Association for Consumer Research, University of Chicago Press, vol. 1(3), pages 422-444.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    In-kind transfers; Program participation; Altruism; Agency; I38; H53;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I38 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Government Programs; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs
    • H53 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Government Expenditures and Welfare Programs

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