Emergency Economies: the Impact of Cash Assistance in Lebanon

This report describes the impacts of the winter cash transfer program run by UNHCR and partners from November 2013 to April 2014. The program gave $575 USD via ATM cards to 87,700 registered Syrian refugees in Lebanon with the objective of keeping people warm and dry during cold winter months. This research measured the impacts of cash on numerous metrics of household well-being, negative coping strategies, and food and non-food consumption. It tested whether cash produces negative consequences, such as local-level inflation or the drawing of more refugees to regions with assistance (a “pull factor”). And finally, it sought to estimate the multiplier effect of cash aid. For every dollar of cash assistance, how much would the Lebanese economy benefit?