IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/fpr/ifprid/976.html

The medium-term impact of the primary education stipend in rural Bangladesh

Author

Listed:
  • Baulch, Bob

Abstract

This paper investigates the long-term impact of Bangladesh's Primary Education Stipend (PES) program on a range of individual and household welfare measures using a unique longitudinal study spanning the years 2000 to 2006. Using covariate and propensity score matching and difference-in-difference methods, the program is shown to have negligible impacts on school enrollments, household expenditures, calorie consumption, and protein consumption. At the individual level, the PES has a negative impact on grade progression, especially among boys from poor households who are ineligible to receive stipends at the secondary level. The program does, however, lead to improvements in height for age among girls and body mass index among boys. Nonetheless, the impacts of the PES are remarkably small for a program of its size. Poor targeting combined, in particular the program's limited coverage and lack of geographical targeting, plus the declining real value of the stipend are the most plausible reasons for this lack of impact.

Suggested Citation

  • Baulch, Bob, 2010. "The medium-term impact of the primary education stipend in rural Bangladesh," IFPRI discussion papers 976, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    • Handle: RePEc:fpr:ifprid:976
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://hdl.handle.net/10568/155027
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. James J. Heckman & Hidehiko Ichimura & Petra E. Todd, 1997. "Matching As An Econometric Evaluation Estimator: Evidence from Evaluating a Job Training Programme," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 64(4), pages 605-654.
    2. repec:wbk:wbpubs:13949 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. repec:wbk:wbpubs:2693 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Daniel Gilligan & John Hoddinott & Alemayehu Seyoum Taffesse, 2009. "The Impact of Ethiopia's Productive Safety Net Programme and its Linkages," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(10), pages 1684-1706.
    5. Naomi Hossain, 2009. "School Exclusion as Social Exclusion: The Practices And Effects of Conditional Cash Transfer Programme for the Poor in Bangladesh," Working Papers id:2177, eSocialSciences.
    6. Alberto Abadie & David Drukker & Jane Leber Herr & Guido W. Imbens, 2004. "Implementing matching estimators for average treatment effects in Stata," Stata Journal, StataCorp LLC, vol. 4(3), pages 290-311, September.
    7. James Heckman & Hidehiko Ichimura & Jeffrey Smith & Petra Todd, 1998. "Characterizing Selection Bias Using Experimental Data," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 66(5), pages 1017-1098, September.
    8. Peter Davis, 2007. "Discussions Among the Poor: Exploring Poverty Dynamics With Focus Groups in Bangladesh," Working Papers id:1106, eSocialSciences.
    9. Ahmed, Akhter U. & del Ninno, Carlo, 2002. "The Food For Education program in Bangladesh," FCND briefs 138, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    10. repec:wbk:wbpubs:2597 is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Al-Samarrai, Samer, 2007. "Financing basic education in Bangladesh," MPRA Paper 1505, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    12. Parker, Susan W. & Rubalcava, Luis & Teruel, Graciela, 2008. "Evaluating Conditional Schooling and Health Programs," Handbook of Development Economics, in: T. Paul Schultz & John A. Strauss (ed.), Handbook of Development Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 62, pages 3963-4035, Elsevier.
    13. Richard Palmer-Jones, 2010. "Handbook on impact evaluation: quantitative methods and practices, by S.R. Khandker, G.B. Koolwal and H.A. Samad," Journal of Development Effectiveness, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 2(3), pages 387-390.
    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. Manley, James & Gitter, Seth & Slavchevska, Vanya, 2013. "How Effective are Cash Transfers at Improving Nutritional Status?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 133-155.
    2. Davis, Peter, 2010. "Exploring the long-term impact of development interventions within life-history narratives in rural Bangladesh," IFPRI discussion papers 991, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    3. Agnes Quisumbing & Bob Baulch & Neha Kumar, 2011. "Evaluating the long-term impact of anti-poverty interventions in Bangladesh: an overview," Journal of Development Effectiveness, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 3(2), pages 153-174.
    4. Akhter Ahmed & Mubina Khondkar & Agnes Quisumbing, 2011. "Understanding the context of institutions and policy processes for selected anti-poverty interventions in Bangladesh," Journal of Development Effectiveness, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 3(2), pages 175-192.
    5. Peter Davis & Bob Baulch, 2010. "Casting the net wide and deep: lessons learned in a mixed-methods study of poverty dynamics in rural Bangladesh," Working Papers id:2674, eSocialSciences.
    6. Ahmed, Akhter & Khondkar, Mubina, 2010. "An analysis of institutions and policy processes for selected antipoverty interventions in Bangladesh," IFPRI discussion papers 1046, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).

    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. K. Sudhir & Debabrata Talukdar, 2015. "The "Peter Pan Syndrome" in Emerging Markets: The Productivity-Transparency Tradeoff in IT Adoption," Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers 1980, Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics, Yale University.
    2. Rojas Christian, 2012. "The Effect of Mandated Exclusive Territories in the US Brewing Industry," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 12(1), pages 1-41, May.
    3. Solomon Asfaw & Silvio Daidone & Benjamin Davis & Josh Dewbre & Alessandro Romeo & Paul Winters & Katia Covarrubias & Habiba Djebbari, 2012. "Analytical Framework for Evaluating the Productive Impact of Cash Transfer Programmes on Household Behaviour – Methodological Guidelines for the From Protection to Production Project," Working Papers 101, International Policy Centre.
    4. Julie Subervie & Isabelle Vagneron, 2012. "Can fresh produce farmers benefit from global gap certification? The case of lychee producers in Madagascar," Post-Print hal-02805034, HAL.
    5. Pender, John L. & Nkonya, Ephraim M. & Kato, Edward & Kaizzi, Crammer & Ssali, Henry, 2009. "Impacts of Cash Crop Production on Land Management and Land Degradation: The Case of Coffee and Cotton in Uganda," 2009 Conference, August 16-22, 2009, Beijing, China 50760, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    6. Pandej Chintrakarn, 2008. "Estimating the Euro Effects on Trade with Propensity Score Matching," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 16(1), pages 186-198, February.
    7. Grit Muehler & Michael Beckmann & Bernd Schauenberg, 2007. "The returns to continuous training in Germany: new evidence from propensity score matching estimators," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 1(3), pages 209-235, November.
    8. Hans Lööf & Anders Broström, 2008. "Does knowledge diffusion between university and industry increase innovativeness?," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 33(1), pages 73-90, February.
    9. Roberto ESPOSTI, 2014. "To match, not to match, how to match: Estimating the farm-level impact of the CAP-first pillar reform (or: How to Apply Treatment-Effect Econometrics when the Real World is;a Mess)," Working Papers 403, Universita' Politecnica delle Marche (I), Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche e Sociali.
    10. K. Sudhir & Debabrata Talukdar, 2015. "The “Peter Pan Syndrome” in Emerging Markets: The Productivity-Transparency Trade-off in IT Adoption," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 34(4), pages 500-521, July.
    11. Duflo, Esther & Glennerster, Rachel & Kremer, Michael, 2008. "Using Randomization in Development Economics Research: A Toolkit," Handbook of Development Economics, in: T. Paul Schultz & John A. Strauss (ed.), Handbook of Development Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 61, pages 3895-3962, Elsevier.
    12. Wehn‐Jyuan Tsai, 2018. "Mandatory Retirement and Older Worker Employment Decisions: Evidence from a Matched Difference‐in‐Differences Estimator," Pacific Economic Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 23(4), pages 590-608, October.
    13. Guido W. Imbens & Jeffrey M. Wooldridge, 2009. "Recent Developments in the Econometrics of Program Evaluation," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 47(1), pages 5-86, March.
    14. Riccardo D'Alberto & Francesco Pagliacci & Matteo Zavalloni, 2023. "A socioeconomic impact assessment of three Italian national parks," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 63(1), pages 114-147, January.
    15. Elizabeth Ty Wilde & Robinson Hollister, 2007. "How close is close enough? Evaluating propensity score matching using data from a class size reduction experiment," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(3), pages 455-477.
    16. Yanhong Feng & Shuanglian Chen & Pierre Failler, 2020. "Productivity Effect Evaluation on Market-Type Environmental Regulation: A Case Study of SO 2 Emission Trading Pilot in China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(21), pages 1-27, October.
    17. Maoyong Fan & Yanhong Jin, 2015. "The Effects of Weight Perception on Adolescents’ Weight-Loss Intentions and Behaviors: Evidence from the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance Survey," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-29, November.
    18. Justin Young & Eleanor Wiske Dillon, 2026. "Reevaluating Causal Estimation Methods with Data from a Product Release," Papers 2601.11845, arXiv.org, revised May 2026.
    19. Corchuelo, Beatriz & Martínez-Ros, Ester, 2009. "The Effects of Fiscal Incentives for R & D in Spain," DEE - Working Papers. Business Economics. WB wb092302, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. Departamento de Economía de la Empresa.
    20. Esposti, Roberto, 2015. "To match, not to matchm how to match: Estimating the farm-level impact of the 2005 CAP-first pillar reform," 2015 Conference, August 9-14, 2015, Milan, Italy 211625, International Association of Agricultural Economists.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:fpr:ifprid:976. 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: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ifprius.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.