The Impact of Droughts on Food Consumption and the Mitigating Effects of a Conditional Cash Transfer Program - Evidence from Rural Mexico

This paper exploits the panel data of a randomized experiment from PROGRESA program to evaluate the impact of droughts on food consumption and the mitigating effects of the conditional cash transfer program on such impacts. Drought reduces caloric availability from vegetables, fruits and animal products but increases calories from grains. PROGRESA can completely mitigate the effects of droughts on calories from most sources, but not on calories from grains. The Engel curve analysis shows that grains are inferior goods. Conditional cash transfer program should strengthen the educational components on the importance of balanced diets and nutritional intake