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Cash Transfers, Behavioral Changes, and Cognitive Development in Early Childhood: Evidence from a Randomized Experiment

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  • Karen Macours
  • Norbert Schady
  • Renos Vakis

Abstract

Cash transfer programs have become extremely popular in the developing world. A large literature analyzes their effects on schooling, health and nutrition, but relatively little is known about possible impacts on child development. This paper analyzes the impact of a cash transfer program on early childhood cognitive development. Children in households randomly assigned to receive benefits had significantly higher levels of development nine months after the program began. There is no fade-out of program effects two years after the program ended. Additional random variation shows that these impacts are unlikely to result from the cash component of the program alone. (JEL H23, I15, J13, O15)

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File URL: http://www.aeaweb.org/articles.php?doi=10.1257/app.4.2.247
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Bibliographic Info

Article provided by American Economic Association in its journal American Economic Journal: Applied Economics.

Volume (Year): 4 (2012)
Issue (Month): 2 (April)
Pages: 247-73

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Handle: RePEc:aea:aejapp:v:4:y:2012:i:2:p:247-73

Note: DOI: 10.1257/app.4.2.247
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References

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Blog mentions

As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:
  1. CCTs usually increase schooling but few studies have found gains in test scores – what’s behind this disconnect?
    by Jed Friedman in Development Impact on 2012-04-11 13:28:51
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Cited by:
  1. Tessa Bold & Mwangi Kimenyi & Germano Mwabu & Alice Ng'ang'a & Justin Sandefur, 2013. "Scaling-up What Works: Experimental Evidence on External Validity in Kenyan Education," CSAE Working Paper Series 2013-04, Centre for the Study of African Economies, University of Oxford.
  2. Richard Akresh & Emilie Bagby & Damien de Walque & Harounan Kazianga, 2012. "Child Labor, Schooling, and Child Ability," Mathematica Policy Research Reports 7699, Mathematica Policy Research.
  3. Sarah Baird & Craig McIntosh & Berk �zler, 2011. "Cash or Condition? Evidence from a Cash Transfer Experiment," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 126(4), pages 1709-1753.
  4. Akresh, Richard & de Walque, Damien & Kazianga, Harounan, 2013. "Cash transfers and child schooling : evidence from a randomized evaluation of the role of conditionality," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6340, The World Bank.
  5. María Caridad Araujo & Florencia López Bóo, 2010. "Invertir en los primeros años de vida: Una prioridad para el BID y los países de América Latina y el Caribe," IDB Publications 8529, Inter-American Development Bank.
  6. Dubois, Pierre & Rubio-Codina, Marta, 2012. "Child Care Provision: Semiparametric Evidence from a Randomized Experiment in Mexico," Open Access publications from University of Toulouse 1 Capitole http://neeo.univ-tlse1.fr, University of Toulouse 1 Capitole.
  7. Macours, Karen, 2012. "Volatility, Risk and Household Poverty: Micro-evidence from Randomized Control Trials," 2012 Conference, August 18-24, 2012, Foz do Iguacu, Brazil 128293, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
  8. Ravallion, Martin, 2009. "Why don't we see poverty convergence ?," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4974, The World Bank.
  9. Alexander Gelber & Matthew Weinzierl, 2012. "Equalizing Outcomes vs. Equalizing Opportunities: Optimal Taxation when Children's Abilities Depend on Parents' Resources," Harvard Business School Working Papers 13-014, Harvard Business School.
  10. Persson, U. Martin & Alpizar, Francisco, 2011. "Conditional Cash Transfers and Payments for Environmental Services: A Conceptual Framework for Explaining and Judging Differences in Outcomes," Discussion Papers dp-11-06-efd, Resources For the Future.
  11. Clemens, Michael A. & Tiongson, Erwin R., 2012. "Split decisions : family finance when a policy discontinuity allocates overseas work," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6287, The World Bank.
  12. Dubois, Pierre & Rubio-Codina, Marta, 2010. "Child Care Provision: Semiparametric Evidence from a Randomized Experiment in Mexico," IDEI Working Papers 542, Institut d'Économie Industrielle (IDEI), Toulouse, revised Sep 2011.
  13. Jenny Aker, . "Scaling Up What Works: Experimental Evidence on External Validity in Kenyan Education," Working Papers 321, Center for Global Development.
  14. Charity Moore, 2009. "Nicaragua?s Red de Protección Social: An Exemplary but Short-Lived Conditional Cash Transfer Programme," Country Study 17, International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth.

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