especially for seasonal workers (Raouf et al.,
Related Literature
2020). In Morocco, an employee who is affiliated
to
the
social
security
system
The effectiveness of SSNs in protecting against
benefited from about USD202. Besides, informal
food insecurity has been examined in different
workers received a cash compensation, but
contexts (Adato & Bassett, 2009). A rigorous
only when applied to the allowance (King,
meta-analysis
2020). In Tunisia, TND150 million has been
protection
programs
allocated for the vertical expansion of social
spanning
24
assistance
were
representing 48 programs from all developing
disbursed to more than 800,000 households
regions 2, concludes that these programs
working in the informal sector, with an elderly
improved both the quantity and the quality of
person, fostering children without parental
food consumed by beneficiaries, where the
support, or hosting a person with a disability.
value of food consumption increased by 13%
Moreover, the Tunisian government distributed
and caloric acquisition by 8% (Hidrobo et al.,
a one-off cash transfer during the holy month
2018). Cross-country analyses also indicates
of
that
programs.
Transfers
Ramadan (April 2020)
to low-income
households (UN, 2020).
than
on
food
social
security,
(1994–2016)
generous,
cash
of
regular,
transfers
improve
and
and the
More importantly, there is strong evidence that cash transfers have a significant impact on
how SSNs mitigate the effect of macro largerather
impact
quantity and quality of food (Tiwari et al., 2016).
use a unique micro-level dataset to estimate disasters
the
years
relatively
predictable
The importance of our study is twofold. First, we
scale
of
household means to achieve food security,
idiosyncratic
specifically the accumulation of productive
shocks on food insecurity. 1 Second, this study is
assets, and on direct measures of access to
the first to empirically identify the impact of
food (Burchi et al., 2018).
SSNs on food insecurity in MENA and to differentiate between the impact of benefits
However,
received
non-
inconclusive evidence as to whether a social
governmental institutions. Our findings will
protection program is effective or not. One
enable MENA governments to efficiently adjust
example is Ethiopia’s flagship program, the
their
productive safety net program (PSNP), where
from
social
smoothing sweeping
governments
protection out
the
strategies
negative like
while
effects
COVID-19.
of
several
studies
studies
show
often
that
it
provide
improved
These
household food security and child nutrition
negative effects can be exacerbated by the
(e.g., Berhane et al., 2014) while other studies
rising frequency of health disasters worldwide
show that it did not (e.g., Bahru et al., 2020).
and their associated indirect development
Evidence
impact in low- and middle-income countries’
generally confirms a significant impact of cash
context (El-Shal et al., 2022).
transfers on food security and food diversity
1
disasters
and
country
Idiosyncratic shocks differ from large-scale ones like the COVID-19 shock we are studying here. Idiosyncratic shock
2
is a term used to refer to shocks that are not common to the whole community, but rather shocks that hit only some individuals.
7
from
Sub-Saharan
Africa
(SSA)
Latin America and Caribbean, Sub-Saharan Africa, MENA, South Asia, and East Asia and Pacific.
