On the Design of Educational Conditional Cash Transfer Programs and Non-Education Outcomes: the Case of Teenage Pregnancy

We investigate the effect of education Conditional Cash Transfer programs (CCTs) on teenage pregnancy. Our main concern is with how the size and sign of the e ect may depend on the design of the program. Using a simple model we show that an education CCT that conditions renewal on school performance reduces teenage pregnancy; the program can increase teenage pregnancy if it does not condition on school performance. Then, using an original data base, we estimate the causal impact on teenage pregnancy of two education CCTs implemented in Bogota (Subsidio Educativo, SE, and Familias en Accion, FA); both programs di er particularly on whether school success is a condition for renewal or not. We show that SE has negative average e ect on teenage pregnancy while FA has a null average e ect. We also nd that SE has either null or no e ect for adolescents in all age and grade groups while FA has positive, null or negative e ects for adolescents in different age and grade groups. Since SE conditions renewal on school success and FA does not, we can argue that the empirical results are consistent with the predictions of our model and that conditioning renewal of the subsidy on school success crucially determines the e ect of the subsidy on teenage pregnancy.