A Methodology for Local Economy-Wide Impact Evaluation (LEWIE) of Cash Transfers

Abstract

As soon as a household receives a cash transfer, it usually spends it. This transmits the transfer’s impacts from the beneficiary household to others inside and outside the local economy, including households not eligible for the transfer. As the programme’s influences swirl around the project’s zone of influence (ZOI), they create local general equilibrium (LGE) effects in addition to the programme’s direct impact on the beneficiary households. Local economy-wide impact evaluation (LEWIE) is designed to capture the full impact of government programmes (as well as other exogenous shocks; see Taylor and Filipski, 2012) on local economies. (…)