SEMINAR SERIES
Asian Economic Development Seminar
Teresa Molina（Associate Professor, University of Hawaii at Manoa）
- Date&Time:
- 2023.7.7 (Fri) 16:45-18:15
- Venue:
- Seminar Room 101 on 1F, Faculty of Law and Faculty of Economics, East Bldg., Yoshida Campus, Kyoto University
- Language:
- English
- Contact:
- Hisaki Kono
Title: "Mental Health and COVID-19 Cash Transfers in the Philippines: The Importance of Existing Social ProtectionPrograms (with Yoonyoung Cho)"
Abstract: A large literature documents that cash transfers can improve mental health, but evidence from cash transfer programsduring the COVID-19 pandemic is somewhat mixed. In this paper, we aim to shed light on how existing social protectionprograms may determine the effectiveness of these emergency cash transfer programs when it comes to protectingmental health. We use data from the Philippines, where the government aimed to provide emergency cash transfers to 18million households, a subset of whom were existing beneficiaries of the 4Ps conditional cash transfer program. In oursample, rates of severe depression increased substantially for both existing 4Ps beneficiaries and new cash transferrecipients, but the increase was 30% smaller for the 4Ps group -- even though both had received transfers by the timethe follow-up measures of depression were collected. This was due in large part to significant delays in transfer receipt forthe new recipients, who experienced greater increases in food insecurity than the 4Ps beneficiaries as a result.