Cash Transfers and Business Survival During Covid: Evidence from Uganda

2026/01/15 by Kjetil Bjorvatn, Denise Ferris, Selim Gulesci +3 · 1 voice
Social Sciences · Economics, Econometrics and Finance · #Poverty, Education, and Child Welfare #COVID-19 Pandemic Impacts #Microfinance and Financial Inclusion

paper · doi:10.1080/00220388.2025.2601584

openalex publication_date 2026/01/15 · openalex created_date 2026/01/16 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/25

Abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic and the lockdown policies that followed led to a sharp economic downturn. Many countries used cash transfers to curb the negative effects on vulnerable households but little is known about the effects of such transfers in a time of crisis, when markets are closed and movements are restricted. In this paper, we study the impacts of cash transfers to households in Uganda. Leveraging differences in the timing of the intervention, we show that the temporary cash transfers improved business outcomes during the pandemic and had persistent, positive effects on household income, savings and food security.

Citations

• Adaptive linear step-up procedures that control the false discovery rate
• The Impact of Cash Transfers: A Review of the Evidence from Low- and Middle-income Countries
• Social Protection and Jobs Responses to COVID-19: A Real-Time Review of Country Measures
• COVID-19 implications on household income and food security in Kenya and Uganda: Findings from a rapid assessment
• Recent Developments in the Econometrics of Program Evaluation
• A global panel database of pandemic policies (Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker)

Discussions

• 📄 Kjetil Bjorvatn, Selim Gulesci, Arne Nasgowitz and Vincent Somville, with Denise Ferris and Lore Vandewalle, have published a new paper in the Journal of Development Studies: “Cash Transfers and Bu [bsky, 0 points, 0 comments]