Transferencias redistributivas en metálico y en especie: una síntesis.

Although the traditional argument states that transfers should always be made in cash, based on the idea of the consumer’s absolute sovereignty; in an imperfect world, there are many reasonings which are clearly in favor of in-kind transfers (egalitarianism in term of goods, paternalism, externalities, Second-Best scenarios, effects on the incentive to work, “The Samaritan’s dilemma”, pecuniary effects, social insurance, transmission of individual values, political considerations, or inflation). In this paper we review all these theoretical arguments given in the literature to justify that public transfers are carried out in cash or in kind. In addition, we outline the most relevant empirical studies.