This book addresses the thorny and fascinating question of how food and voucher programs, despite theory and evidence generally favoring cash, remain relevant, have evolved, and, in most circumstances, have improved over time.

This paper uses a panel data of 347 households in Egypt to measure changes in household consumption between 1997 and 1999 and to identify causes behind the changes.

This paper uses a panel data of 347 households in Egypt to measure changes in household consumption between 1997 and 1999 and to identify causes behind the changes.

Egypt's food subsidy system has been a mainstay of the government's long-term policy of promoting social equity and political stability.

Egypt’s food subsidy system has been a mainstay of the government’s long-term policy of promoting social equity and political stability.

The principal theme of this chapter is the implications of the Egyptian food subsidies for such macroeconomic measures as nonfarm output, the government's budget, inflation, the exchange rate, and the balance of payments.

Food subsidies affect various sectors of the Egyptian economy, but their influence on agriculture, which employs a considerable share of the nation's resources, seems particularly strong (von Braun and de Haen, 1983).

Egypt’s food subsidy system has been a mainstay of the government’s long-term policy of promoting social equity and political stability.

Since its earliest years IFPRI has conducted research on food subsidies, concentrating on methods to achieve the social objectives of subsidies without undue distortion of the economy or excessive economic and political costs.