The Impacts of the Ingreso Solidario program to confront the Covid-19 crisis in Colombia

How do cash transfers support newly-designated vulnerable populations and informal workers during an economic crisis? To help answer these questions, researchers studied the effect of Ingreso Solidario (Solidarity Income), a new unconditional cash transfer in Colombia that was launched in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Ingreso Solidario will assist over 3 million lower middle-income households that were not previously enrolled in other existing social assistance programs, thereby expanding social protection coverage to lower middle-income populations. Researchers evaluated the effects of the transfer on eligible households’ income, food and nonfood spending, labor market participation, education, and take-up and use of digital financial products, among other outcomes. The study found that Ingreso Solidario increased eligible households’ probability of maintaining an income source during the pandemic and did not disincentivize labor market participation.