The impact of unconditional cash and food assistance on contraceptive expenditure of rural households in Coastal Bangladesh: Evidence from fuzzy RDD

Md Abdul Bari; Ghulam Dastgir Khan; Bing He; Yuichiro Yoshida

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0262031

The impact of unconditional cash and food assistance on contraceptive expenditure of rural households in Coastal Bangladesh: Evidence from fuzzy RDD

PLoS One. 2022 Jan 21;17(1):e0262031. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0262031. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Md Abdul Bari¹, Ghulam Dastgir Khan¹, Bing He², Yuichiro Yoshida³

Affiliations

¹ Graduate School for International Development and Cooperation, Hiroshima University, Kagamiyama, Higashi-Hiroshima, Japan.
² School of Business, Jiangsu Ocean University, Haizhou District, Lianyungang, Jiangsu, China.
³ Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Hiroshima University, Kagamiyama, Higashi-Hiroshima, Japan.

Abstract

This study investigates the impact of unconditional cash and food (UCF) assistance on the monthly contraceptive expenditure of rural households in coastal Bangladesh using a fuzzy regression discontinuity design (RDD). Eligibility for UCF assistance was based on the running variable of land ownership in acres. We used eligibility as an instrumental variable to estimate the local average treatment effect of UCF assistance on contraceptive expenditures. The results show that UCF assistance results in increases in monthly contraceptive expenditures.

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Adult
Bangladesh
Contraception / economics*
Female
Food Assistance*
Fuzzy Logic*
Humans
Male
Medical Assistance
Middle Aged
Rural Population
Young Adult

Grants and funding

Dr. Yoshida acquired funding. The funder is JSPS Japan. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.