IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/unu/wpaper/wp-2016-107.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Gender differences in child investment behaviour among agricultural households: Evidence from the Lesotho Child Grants Programme

Author

Listed:
  • Ashwini Sebastian
  • Ana Paula de la O Campos
  • Silvio Daidone
  • Benjamin Davis
  • Ousmane Niang
  • Luca Pellerano

Abstract

We examine the impacts of an unconditional cash transfer in Lesotho using an experimental impact evaluation design. We find that the cash transfer led to different outcomes for girls and boys, overall favouring secondary school-aged girls. Girls in this age group were less likely to miss school, spent more time at school, and faced a reduced time burden in household chores. While the general results are maintained in households with a married couple present, in de jure female-headed households, outcomes improved among secondary school-aged boys relative to secondary school-aged girls.

Suggested Citation

  • Ashwini Sebastian & Ana Paula de la O Campos & Silvio Daidone & Benjamin Davis & Ousmane Niang & Luca Pellerano, 2016. "Gender differences in child investment behaviour among agricultural households: Evidence from the Lesotho Child Grants Programme," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2016-107, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
  • Handle: RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp-2016-107
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.wider.unu.edu/sites/default/files/wp2016-107.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Emmanuel Skoufias & Susan Wendy Parker, 2001. "Conditional Cash Transfers and Their Impact on Child Work and Schooling: Evidence from the PROGRESA Program in Mexico," Economía Journal, The Latin American and Caribbean Economic Association - LACEA, vol. 0(Fall 2001), pages 45-96, August.
    2. Esther Duflo, 2003. "Grandmothers and Granddaughters: Old-Age Pensions and Intrahousehold Allocation in South Africa," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 17(1), pages 1-25, June.
    3. Seth R. Gitter & James Manley & Vanya Slavchevska, 2010. "How Effective are Cash Transfer Programs at Improving Nutritional Status?," Working Papers 2010-18, Towson University, Department of Economics, revised Dec 2012.
    4. World Bank, 2015. "The State of Social Safety Nets 2015," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 22101, December.
    5. Gary S. Becker, 1981. "A Treatise on the Family," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number beck81-1, March.
    6. Jere R. Behrman & John Hoddinott, 2005. "Programme Evaluation with Unobserved Heterogeneity and Selective Implementation: The Mexican PROGRESA Impact on Child Nutrition," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 67(4), pages 547-569, August.
    7. Sudhanshu Handa & Benjamin Davis & Marco Stampini & Paul Winters, 2010. "Heterogeneous treatment effects in conditional cash transfer programmes: assessing the impact of Progresa on agricultural households," Journal of Development Effectiveness, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 2(3), pages 320-335.
    8. Benjamin, Dwayne, 1992. "Household Composition, Labor Markets, and Labor Demand: Testing for Separation in Agricultural Household Models," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 60(2), pages 287-322, March.
    9. Edmonds, Eric V., 2006. "Child labor and schooling responses to anticipated income in South Africa," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(2), pages 386-414, December.
    10. Eliana Cardoso & Andre Portela Souza, 2004. "The Impact of Cash Transfers on Child Labor and School Attendance in Brazil," Vanderbilt University Department of Economics Working Papers 0407, Vanderbilt University Department of Economics.
    11. Patrick M. Emerson & Andre Portela Souza, 2002. "Bargaining over Sons and Daughters: Child Labor, School Attendance and Intra-Household Gender Bias in Brazil," Vanderbilt University Department of Economics Working Papers 0213, Vanderbilt University Department of Economics.
    12. Quisumbing, Agnes R., 1996. "Male-female differences in agricultural productivity: Methodological issues and empirical evidence," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 24(10), pages 1579-1595, October.
    13. Kossoudji, Sherrie & Mueller, Eva, 1983. "The Economic and Demographic Status of Female-Headed Households in Rural Botswana," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 31(4), pages 831-859, July.
    14. Agnes R. Quisumbing & John A. Maluccio, 2003. "Resources at Marriage and Intrahousehold Allocation: Evidence from Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Indonesia, and South Africa," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 65(3), pages 283-327, July.
    15. Handa, Sudhanshu, 1996. "Expenditure behavior and children's welfare: An analysis of female headed households in Jamaica," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(1), pages 165-187, June.
    16. 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.
    17. Kirsten Majgaard & Alain Mingat, 2012. "Education in Sub-Saharan Africa : A Comparative Analysis," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 13143, December.
    18. Sudhanshu Handa & Luisa Natali & David Seidenfeld & Gelson Tembo & Zambia Cash Transfer Evaluation Team & UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre, 2015. "The Impact of Zambia’s Unconditional Child Grant on Schooling and Work: Results from a large-scale social experiment," Papers inwopa776, Innocenti Working Papers.
    19. Candace Miller & Maxton Tsoka, 2012. "Cash Transfers and Children's Education and Labour among Malawi's Poor," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 30(4), pages 499-522, July.
    20. Thomas, Duncan & Strauss, John & Henriques, Maria-Helena, 1990. "Child survival, height for age and household characteristics in Brazil," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 197-234, October.
    21. Bardhan, Pranab & Udry, Christopher, 1999. "Development Microeconomics," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198773719.
    22. FranÁois Bourguignon & Francisco H. G. Ferreira & Phillippe G. Leite, 2003. "Conditional Cash Transfers, Schooling, and Child Labor: Micro-Simulating Brazil's Bolsa Escola Program," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 17(2), pages 229-254, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Zietz, Susannah & de Hoop, Jacobus & Handa, Sudhanshu, 2018. "The role of productive activities in the lives of adolescents: Photovoice evidence from Malawi," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 246-255.
    2. Noemi Pace & Silvio Daidone & Benjamin Davis & Luca Pellerano, 2016. "Does "soft conditionality" increase the impact of cash transfers on desired outcomes? Evidence from a randomized control trial in Lesotho," Working Papers 2016:33, Department of Economics, University of Venice "Ca' Foscari".

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ashwini Sebastian & Ana Paula de la O Campos & Silvio Daidone & Benjamin Davis & Ousmane Niang & Luca Pellerano, 2016. "Gender differences in child investment behaviour among agricultural households: Evidence from the Lesotho Child Grants Programme," WIDER Working Paper Series 107, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    2. Ashwini Sebastian & Ana Paula de la O Campos & Silvio Daidone & Noemi Pace & Benjamin Davis & Ousmane Niang & Luca Pellerano, 2019. "Cash Transfers and Gender Differentials in Child Schooling and Labor: Evidence from the Lesotho Child Grants Programme," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 45(S1), pages 181-208, December.
    3. Indunil De Silva & Sudarno Sumarto, 2015. "How do Educational Transfers Affect Child Labour Supply and Expenditures? Evidence from Indonesia of Impact and Flypaper Effects," Oxford Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 43(4), pages 483-507, December.
    4. van den Bold, Mara & Quisumbing, Agnes R. & Gillespie, Stuart, 2013. "Women’s empowerment and nutrition: An evidence review:," IFPRI discussion papers 1294, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    5. Rodrigo R. Soares & Diana Kruger & Matias Berthelon, 2012. "Household Choices of Child Labor and Schooling: A Simple Model with Application to Brazil," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 47(1), pages 1-31.
    6. Kitaura, Koji & Miyazawa, Kazutoshi, 2021. "Inequality and conditionality in cash transfers: Demographic transition and economic development," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 276-287.
    7. Dammert, Ana C. & de Hoop, Jacobus & Mvukiyehe, Eric & Rosati, Furio C., 2018. "Effects of public policy on child labor: Current knowledge, gaps, and implications for program design," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 104-123.
    8. Elsa Valli, 2017. "Essays on social protection," Economics PhD Theses 1017, Department of Economics, University of Sussex Business School.
    9. Sumarto, Sudarno & de Silva, Indunil, 2013. "Education Transfers, expenditures and child labour supply in Indonesia: An evaluationof impacts and flypaper effects," MPRA Paper 57132, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. Klein, Matthew J. & Barham, Bradford L., 2018. "Point Estimates of Household Bargaining Power Using Outside Options," Staff Paper Series 590, University of Wisconsin, Agricultural and Applied Economics.
    11. Jacobus de Hoop & Furio C. Rosati, 2014. "Cash Transfers and Child Labor," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 29(2), pages 202-234.
    12. Bratti, Massimiliano & Mendola, Mariapia, 2014. "Parental health and child schooling," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 94-108.
    13. Seth R. Gitter & Bradford L. Barham, 2008. "Women's Power, Conditional Cash Transfers, and Schooling in Nicaragua," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 22(2), pages 271-290, May.
    14. Irineu Evangelista de Carvalho Filho, 2012. "Household Income as a Determinant of Child Labor and School Enrollment in Brazil: Evidence from a Social Security Reform," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 60(2), pages 399-435.
    15. Amar Hamoudi & Duncan Thomas, 2014. "Endogenous Co-residence and Program Incidence: South Africa's Old Age Pension," NBER Working Papers 19929, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    16. Laura Juarez & Tobias Pfutze, 2015. "The Effects of a Noncontributory Pension Program on Labor Force Participation: The Case of 70 y Más in Mexico," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 63(4), pages 685-713.
    17. Matthias Doepke & Michèle Tertilt, 2019. "Does female empowerment promote economic development?," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 24(4), pages 309-343, December.
    18. Bharati Basu & Pushkar Maitra, 2020. "Intra‐household bargaining power and household expenditure allocation: Evidence from Iran," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(2), pages 606-627, May.
    19. Rahul A. Sirohi, 2014. "Child Labour, Human Capital Accumulation and Foreign Aid," Journal of Economic Development, Chung-Ang Unviersity, Department of Economics, vol. 39(3), pages 1-14, September.
    20. Cooper, Jan E. & Benmarhnia, Tarik & Koski, Alissa & King, Nicholas B., 2020. "Cash transfer programs have differential effects on health: A review of the literature from low and middle-income countries," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 247(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Children; Education; Labour;
    All these keywords.

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp-2016-107. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Siméon Rapin (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/widerfi.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.