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Effectiveness of Food Subsidies in Raising Healthy Food Consumption: Public Distribution of Pulses in India

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  • Suman Chakrabarti
  • Avinash Kishore
  • Devesh Roy

Abstract

This paper provides evidence on the effectiveness of one of the most common policies to improve nutrition among the poor, that is, a food subsidy. We study the case of subsidies on pulses in select Indian states and their impact on consumption and ultimately nutrition (protein intake). As a natural experiment, we use the introduction of pulses into India’s Public Distribution System (PDS) where the variations in prices were brought about by the inclusion of pulses in the PDS in some states and not in others. Our difference in difference (DID) estimates show that change in the consumption of pulses because of their inclusion in the PDS, though statistically significant, was of a small order. The impact was not large enough to bring about any sizable difference in consumption of pulses or the total protein intake. The results withstand several robustness checks including randomized inference and triple differencing based on location and other consumer characteristics.

Suggested Citation

  • Suman Chakrabarti & Avinash Kishore & Devesh Roy, 2018. "Effectiveness of Food Subsidies in Raising Healthy Food Consumption: Public Distribution of Pulses in India," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 100(5), pages 1427-1449.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:ajagec:v:100:y:2018:i:5:p:1427-1449.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/ajae/aay022
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    1. Manda, Constantine & Sango, Danford & Hoffmann, Vivian & de Brauw, Alan & Zakaria, Zakayo & Temba, George & Brown, Elizabeth & Richards, Dorothy & Rashid, Said, 2025. "Overcoming budget constraints to healthy diets: Evidence from urban Tanzania," IFPRI discussion papers 2372, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    2. Mazzocchi, Mario & Capacci, Sara & Biondi, Beatrice, . "Causal inference on the impact of nutrition policies using observational data," Bio-based and Applied Economics Journal, Italian Association of Agricultural and Applied Economics (AIEAA), vol. 11(01).
    3. P.K. Joshi & Avinash Kishore & Devesh Roy, 2016. "Making Pulses Affordable Again: Policy Options from the Farm to Retail in India," Working Papers id:11327, eSocialSciences.
    4. Fresenbet Zeleke & Girma T. Kassie & Jema Haji & Belaineh Legesse, 2021. "Would Market Sheds Improve Market Participation and Earnings of Small Ruminant Keepers? Evidence from Ethiopia," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 72(2), pages 470-485, June.
    5. Cui, Yi & Zhao, Qiran & Si, Wei & Fan, Shenggen, 2024. "Can information intervention improve dietary quality? Evidence from a randomized controlled trial in rural China," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 176(C).
    6. Chintapalli, Prashant, 2023. "Optimal multi-period crop procurement and distribution policy with minimum support prices," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    7. Travis J. Lybbert & Ashish Shenoy & Tomoé Bourdier & Caitlin Kieran, 2024. "Striving to revive pulses in India with extension, input subsidies, and output price supports†," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 106(3), pages 1167-1192, May.
    8. Jaya Jumrani & J. V. Meenakshi, 2023. "How effective is a fat subsidy? Evidence from edible oil consumption in India," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 74(2), pages 327-348, June.
    9. Merfeld, Joshua D., 2020. "Smallholders, Market Failures, and Agricultural Production: Evidence from India," IZA Discussion Papers 13682, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    10. Mostafizur, Rahman Md. & Asma, Khatun Mst. & Islam, Moinul & Saijo, Tatsuyoshi & Kotani, Koji, 2025. "Does future design induce people to make a persistent change to sustainable food consumption?," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 135(C).
    11. Suman Chakrabarti & Samuel P. Scott & Harold Alderman & Purnima Menon & Daniel O. Gilligan, 2021. "Intergenerational nutrition benefits of India’s national school feeding program," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 12(1), pages 1-10, December.
    12. Keehyun Lee & Oral Capps, 2024. "The effect of immigration policy regime change on state-level participation rates of the special supplemental nutrition program for women, infants, and children in the United States," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 16(6), pages 1539-1553, December.
    13. Wenyan Xu & Qiran Zhao & Shenggen Fan & Chen Zhu, 2023. "Effects of direct grain subsidies on food consumption of rural residents in China," Agribusiness, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 39(S1), pages 1382-1398, December.

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