by David Ryckembusch, Romeo Frega, Marcio Guilherme Silva, Ugo Gentilini, Issa Sanogo, Nils Grede, and Lynn Brown

from World Development, Volume 49, September 2013, Pages 58–67

(download for free here)

Summary

This article presents a new analytical tool for ex-ante comparison of the cost-effectiveness of two transfer modalities in pursuing specific nutritional objectives. It does so by introducing a metric to score the nutrient value of a food basket—the Nutrient Value Score (NVS)—and explains how this metric can be combined with full supply chain analysis and costing to generate a new tool, the Omega Value. The use of the Omega Value allows policy-makers who design a program with nutrition objectives to compare direct food transfers and commodity-based food vouchers in terms of both cost efficiency and cost effectiveness.