Private transfers, public transfers, and food insecurity during the time of COVID‐19: Evidence from Bangladesh

Abstract

AbstractIn the aftermath of the COVID‐19 pandemic, interest has grown in what kinds of assistance protect household food security during shocks. We study rural and urban Bangladesh from 2018 to 2019 to late 2021, assessing how pre‐pandemic access to social safety net programs and private remittances relate to household food insecurity during the pandemic. Using longitudinal data and estimating differences‐in‐differences models with household fixed effects, we find that pre‐pandemic access to social protection is associated with significant reductions in food insecurity in all rounds collected during the pandemic, particularly in our urban sample. However, pre‐pandemic access to remittances shows no similar protective effect.