Does food subsidy affect household nutrition? Some evidence from the Indian Public Distribution System
International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy
ISSN: 0144-333X
Article publication date: 4 March 2014
Abstract
Purpose
Indian households having the below poverty line (BPL) ration card receive rice, wheat, sugar and kerosene from the Indian Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS) at subsidized rates. The paper uses the National Sample Survey Organization's consumption expenditure survey for the 61st round to study the causal effect of the BPL ration card on BPL households' calorie consumption. The paper aims to discuss these issues.
Design/methodology/approach
This causal effect is estimated by comparing per-capita-per-day calorie consumption of the BPL households having BPL card with that of a matched counterfactual BPL household from the same state not having BPL card, using stratified propensity score matching.
Findings
The BPL ration card was found to increase calorie consumption from cereals and decrease calorie consumption from non-cereal food items without affecting the overall calorie consumption of household. Thus, TPDS induces households to consume more cereals and less non-cereal without significantly changing the overall calorie consumption.
Research limitations/implications
The research methodology controls for selection bias due to observable variables. Further, research needed to devise experimental set up to control for the selection bias due to unobserved variables.
Originality/value
The paper uses the targeting error in identifying BPL households in TPDS as a quasi-experiment set up to study the causal effect of the BPL ration card.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to express their gratitude towards Kalpana Bindu who was kind enough to read through the manuscript and give her comments to improve the work and being very supportive at each and every stage of the work. The authors are also indebted towards Dr Shubhasish Gangopadhyay, Dr Bappaditya Mukhopadhyay, Sambit Rath, Bibhu Mahapatra and Kshitiz for their insightful comments. At the end, it is needless to say that the authors take all the responsibilities for any error.
Citation
Shankar Shaw, T. and Telidevara, S. (2014), "Does food subsidy affect household nutrition? Some evidence from the Indian Public Distribution System", International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, Vol. 34 No. 1/2, pp. 107-132. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSSP-08-2012-0073
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2014, Emerald Group Publishing Limited