The Egyptian food subsidy system is untargeted. Its impact on the welfare of the poor has been questioned. Using 1997 survey data, this paper shows that the Egyptian food subsidy system is self-targeted to the poor, because it subsidizes “inferior” goods. In urban Egypt, the main subsidized...

Confronted with rising poverty after an economic crisis in 1995, the Government of Mexico changed its social policy. It terminated universal subsidies for tortilla and funded new investments in human capital through PROGRESA, an innovative program providing school stipends to poor children as...