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Nutritional and Schooling Impact of a Cash Transfer Program in Ethiopia: A Retrospective Analysis of Childhood Experience

Author

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  • Mariapia Mendola

    (Università di Milano Bicocca, IZA and Centro Studi Luca d'Agliano)

  • Mengesha Yayo Negasi

    (Ababa Science and Addis Ababa Science and Technology University)

Abstract

The rate of malnutrition among under-five children in Ethiopia is among the highest in Sub-Saharan Africa and in the world. Since 2005, the Government of Ethiopia has been implementing a nation-wide social protection program, with the aim to improve nutrition and food security, decrease poverty and enhance human capital accumulation. This paper investigates the direct impact of this program on long-term anthropometric measures of nutritional status and the indirect effects on enrollment delay and educational attainment. Our research design uses unique administrative data on the regional coverage of the program and combines differences in program intensity across regions with differences across cohorts induced by the timing of the program. Findings show that early childhood exposure to the program leads to better nutritional status and hence higher human capital accumulation. Results are robust to different measures of program intensity, estimation samples, empirical models and some placebo tests.

Suggested Citation

  • Mariapia Mendola & Mengesha Yayo Negasi, 2019. "Nutritional and Schooling Impact of a Cash Transfer Program in Ethiopia: A Retrospective Analysis of Childhood Experience," Development Working Papers 451, Centro Studi Luca d'Agliano, University of Milano.
    • Handle: RePEc:csl:devewp:451
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Jules Gazeaud & Victor Stephane, 2023. "Productive Workfare? Evidence from Ethiopia's Productive Safety Net Program," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 105(1), pages 265-290, January.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Cash Transfers; Social Protection; Nutrition; Primary Education; Ethiopia;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
    • D85 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Network Formation
    • C45 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods: Special Topics - - - Neural Networks and Related Topics

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