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School Attendance, Child Labor and Cash Transfers. An Impact Evaluation of PANES

Author

Listed:
  • Veronica Amarante
  • Mery Ferrando
  • Andrea Vigorito

Abstract

In this paper we analyze the impact an emergency social assistance program, PANES, on school attendance and child labour. The program was carried out in Uruguay from April 2005 to December 2007. Specifically, we analyze the effects of the cash transfer component of the plan (Ingreso Ciudadano), and explore potential explanatory channels such as labour market outcomes, income and awareness of conditionalities. This research is based on a panel of successful and unsuccessful applicants to PANES. The first wave uses the administrative records of the program and the second wave is a follow-up survey that was gathered two months after the program ended and was specifically designed to carry out the impact evaluation of the program. In order to check the robustness of our results, we provide evidence based on two different identification strategies: a regression discontinuity approach using data from the second wave of the panel, and a difference-in-difference approach that exploits the longitudinal nature of the collected data. Our results indicate that the program did not affect school attendance or child labour, whether children are considered as one group or are disaggregated by age or sex. We also do not find any impact on household income, which suggests that income substitution does not explain the lack of results in terms of schooling. It therefore appears that either the size of the transfer was not generous enough to promote school attendance or that the determinants of child school attendance are more complex and require complementary interventions. Our results are particularly relevant for understanding of the role of cash transfers in middle-income countries where attendance rates at primary school are already high, and where the main challenge is to keep students in school at the secondary level. The data also allows us to explore the role of conditionalities. Only a small share of households was aware of the school enrolment condition (20%). Conditionalities were announced and are present in other social security programs in Uruguay, but were ultimately not monitored in this case. We did not find the conditionality to have any robust impact (as perceived by the household) on children’s school enrolment.

Suggested Citation

  • Veronica Amarante & Mery Ferrando & Andrea Vigorito, 2011. "School Attendance, Child Labor and Cash Transfers. An Impact Evaluation of PANES," Working Papers PIERI 2011-22, PEP-PIERI.
    • Handle: RePEc:lvl:piercr:2011-22
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    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. Verónica Amarante & Marco Manacorda & Edward Miguel & Andrea Vigorito, 2011. "Do Cash Transfers Improve Birth Outcomes? Evidence from Matched Vital Statistics, Social Security and Program Data," CEP Discussion Papers dp1106, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
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    1. School Attendance, Child Labor and Cash Transfers. An Impact Evaluation of PANES
      by Maximo Rossi in Wikiprogress América Latina on 2012-01-06 02:24:00

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    Cited by:

    1. Jinnat Ara & Dipanwita Sarkar & Jayanta Sarkar, 2021. "Like mother like daughter? Occupational mobility among children under asset transfer program in Bangladesh," QuBE Working Papers 061, QUT Business School.
    2. Verónica Amarante & Maira Colacce & Victoria Tenenbaum, 2019. "The National Care System in Uruguay: Who Benefits and Who Pays?," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 45(S1), pages 97-122, December.
    3. 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.
    4. Rodrigo Ceni & Gonzalo Salas, 2021. "Transfer program enforcement and children’s time allocation," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 19(4), pages 1099-1137, December.
    5. Bergolo, M. & Cruces, G., 2021. "The anatomy of behavioral responses to social assistance when informal employment is high," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 193(C).
    6. Verónica Amarante & Andrea Vigorito, 2012. "La Expansión de las Transferencias no Contributivas en Uruguay en los Últimos Años," Policy Research Brief 29, International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth.
    7. Joan Vilá, 2019. "Respuestas en los ingresos frente a un programa de transferencias monetarias: evidencia de un notch a partir de registros administrativos de Uruguay," Documentos de Trabajo (working papers) 19-07, Instituto de Economía - IECON.
    8. Jiménez, Maribel. & Jiménez, Mónica., 2015. "Asistencia escolar y participación laboral de los adolescentes en Argentina : el impacto de la Asignación Universal por Hijo," ILO Working Papers 994889043402676, International Labour Organization.
    9. Cecilia Parada, 2018. "Income cash transfers and intrahousehold decision making," Documentos de Trabajo (working papers) 18-17, Instituto de Economía - IECON.
    10. Independent Evaluation Group, 2014. "Social Safety Nets and Gender : Learning from Impact Evaluations and World Bank Projects," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 21365.
    11. Hidayatina, Achsanah & Garces-Ozanne, Arlene, 2019. "Can cash transfers mitigate child labour? Evidence from Indonesia’s cash transfer programme for poor students in Java," World Development Perspectives, Elsevier, vol. 15(C), pages 1-1.
    12. Maribel Jiménez & Mónica Jiménez, 2016. "Efectos del programa Asignación Universal por Hijo en la deserción escolar adolescente," Revista Cuadernos de Economia, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, FCE, CID, vol. 35(69), pages 709-752, April.
    13. Verónica Amarante & Maira Colacce & Victoria Tenenbaum, 2019. "The National Care System in Uruguay: Who Benefits and Who Pays?," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 45(S1), pages 97-122, December.
    14. Verónica Amarante & Andrea Vigorito, 2012. "The Expansion of Non-Contributory Transfers in Uruguay in Recent Years," Policy Research Brief 29, International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth.
    15. Santiago Garganta & Leonardo Gasparini & Mariana Marchionni, 2017. "Cash transfers and female labor force participation: the case of AUH in Argentina," IZA Journal of Labor Policy, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 6(1), pages 1-22, December.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Cash transfer program; Impact evaluation; School attendance; Child labour; Uruguay;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I38 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Government Programs; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply

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