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Household labor supply and social protection: Evidence from Pakistan’s BISP cash transfer program

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  • Ambler, Kate
  • de Brauw, Alan

Abstract

Cash transfers are a key component of social protection policy in many developing countries. Yet many policymakers are concerned that continued receipt of such transfers may have unintended consequences, such as a reduction in labor supply when household income rises. We study this question by evaluating the impact of Pakistan’s Benazir Income Support Program(BISP), a cash transfer program targeted to poor, married women,on male and female labor supply. The BISP was implemented via a mechanism that reliedon a poverty score cutoff to determine eligibility, allowing for the identification of causal impacts using regression discontinuity. We find no impacts on household labor supply in the aggregate. When we break up estimates by gender, we find littleevidence of a changein female labor supply, strongevidence of increased male labor supply, and no evidence of changes to child labor. Hence, policy makers should not be concerned that BISP transfers negatively affect labor supply among recipients.

Suggested Citation

  • Ambler, Kate & de Brauw, Alan, 2019. "Household labor supply and social protection: Evidence from Pakistan’s BISP cash transfer program," IFPRI discussion papers 1815, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    • Handle: RePEc:fpr:ifprid:1815
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    Cited by:

    1. Sefa Awaworyi Churchill & Nasir Iqbal & Saima Nawaz & Siew Ling Yew, 2024. "Do unconditional cash transfers increase fertility? Lessons from a large‐scale program," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 62(1), pages 74-96, January.
    2. Nawaz, Saima & Iqbal, Nasir, 2020. "The impact of unconditional cash transfer on fuel choices among ultra-poor in Pakistan: Quasi-experimental evidence from the Benazir Income Support Program," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 142(C).
    3. Dervisevic,Ervin & Perova,Elizaveta & Sahay,Abhilasha, 2022. "Conditional Cash Transfers and Gender-Based Violence—Does the Type of Violence Matter ?," Policy Research Working Paper Series 10122, The World Bank.
    4. Shujaat Farooq & Durr-e Nayab, 2023. "The Role of BISP’s Unconditional Cash Transfers in Alleviating Extreme Poverty in Pakistan: A Quasi-Experimental Analysis for the Period 2011–2019," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 166(2), pages 439-464, April.
    5. Ghulam Mustafa, 2022. "Weather Shocks, Unconditional Cash Transfers and Household Food Outcomes," PIDE-Working Papers 2022:8, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics.
    6. Saeed, Muhammad Kashif & Hayat, Muhammad Azmat, 2020. "The Impact of Social Cash Transfers on Poverty in Pakistan-A Case Study of Benazir Income Support Programme," MPRA Paper 99805, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. Nawaz, Saima & Iqbal, Nasir, 2021. "How cash transfers program affects environmental poverty among ultra-poor? Insights from the BISP in Pakistan," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 148(PB).

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