Construcción de un estado del arte sobre los Beneficios de Alimentación al Trabajador (BAT) y estimación de su multiplicador macroeconómico para la economía colombiana

Abstract

Most workers in Colombia do not receive sufficient wages to cover their basic needs, especially food, which negatively impacts their health and productivity. Improving their nutrition not only improves individual well-being but also strengthens productivity, reduces informality, and promotes economic development. Within this framework, Worker Food Benefits (WFBs) are presented as an effective tool, already adopted in several countries, to support nutrition in the workplace through various mechanisms such as vouchers, subsidies, or cafeterias.

Thus, the objective of this report is to quantify the implications of granting the food subsidy through two components: The first seeks to precisely identify what the proposed tax relief would entail for both the company and the State, estimating how much each party would invest if they opted for the tax deduction or discount. This exercise will be complemented by the use of quantitative and macroeconomic tools to estimate the impact of productive linkages on the acceleration of economic activity and the effect this would have on potential future revenue collection. The second component focuses on building a state-of-the-art framework for food benefits for workers, using a structured and multidimensional approach. To this end, international experiences, as well as qualitative and quantitative impacts, are reviewed to identify best practices to guide the design of effective public policies in the country.