The relevance of market prices for the design of transfer programs in response to food insecurity

This paper focuses on the use of market prices as discriminatory factors for the selection of strategies in response to conditions of food insecurity according to the comparative efficiency of different strategies. A classical production model has been used to define the conditions of relative advantage of different response options and to capture the effect of some contextual variables on such conditions. This type of approach can be quite useful when trying to optimise response strategy through its geographical diversification or adjustment over time.While such analytical approach reflects mainly a static cost-efficiency perspective, it can be sharpened through the partial inclusion of an effectiveness perspective.