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The Long Term Impacts of Grants on Poverty: 9-year Evidence From Uganda's Youth Opportunities Program

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  • Christopher Blattman
  • Nathan Fiala
  • Sebastian Martinez

Abstract

In 2008, Uganda granted hundreds of small groups $400/person to help members start individual skilled trades. Four years on, an experimental evaluation found grants raised earnings by 38% (Blattman, Fiala, Martinez 2014). We return after 9 years to find these start-up grants acted more as a kick-start than a lift out of poverty. Grantees' investment leveled off; controls eventually increased their incomes through business and casual labor; and so both groups converged in employment, earnings, and consumption. Grants had lasting impacts on assets, skilled work, and possibly child health, but had little effect on mortality, fertility, health or education.

Suggested Citation

  • Christopher Blattman & Nathan Fiala & Sebastian Martinez, 2018. "The Long Term Impacts of Grants on Poverty: 9-year Evidence From Uganda's Youth Opportunities Program," NBER Working Papers 24999, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:24999
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    Cited by:

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    2. Blimpo, Moussa P. & Pugatch, Todd, 2021. "Entrepreneurship education and teacher training in Rwanda," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 149(C).
    3. Drew M. Anderson & Katharine M. Broton & Sara Goldrick‐Rab & Robert Kelchen, 2020. "Experimental Evidence on the Impacts of Need‐Based Financial Aid: Longitudinal Assessment of the Wisconsin Scholars Grant," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 39(3), pages 720-739, June.
    4. Henderson, Heath & Follett, Lendie, 2020. "A Bayesian framework for estimating human capabilities," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 129(C).
    5. Sedlmayr, Richard & Shah, Anuj & Sulaiman, Munshi, 2020. "Cash-plus: Poverty impacts of alternative transfer-based approaches," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    6. Blattman, Christopher & Dercon, Stefan & Franklin, Simon, 2022. "Impacts of industrial and entrepreneurial jobs on youth: 5-year experimental evidence on factory job offers and cash grants in Ethiopia," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 156(C).
    7. McIntosh, Craig & Zeitlin, Andrew, 2022. "Using household grants to benchmark the cost effectiveness of a USAID workforce readiness program," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 157(C).
    8. Matthew W. Ridley & Gautam Rao & Frank Schilbach & Vikram H. Patel, 2020. "Poverty, Depression, and Anxiety: Causal Evidence and Mechanisms," NBER Working Papers 27157, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Zhou, Lei & Jiang, Bo & Wang, Jingxi, 2020. "Do cash transfers have impacts on student Academic, cognitive, and enrollment outcomes? Evidence from rural China," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 116(C).
    10. Maria Caridad Araujo & Karen Macours, 2021. "Education, Income and Mobility: Experimental Impacts of Childhood Exposure to Progresa after 20 Years," PSE Working Papers halshs-03364972, HAL.
    11. Baird, Sarah & McIntosh, Craig & Özler, Berk, 2019. "When the money runs out: Do cash transfers have sustained effects on human capital accumulation?," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 140(C), pages 169-185.
    12. Paul,Boban Varghese & Dutta,Puja Vasudeva & Chaudhary,Sarang, 2021. "Assessing the Impact and Cost of Economic Inclusion Programs : A Synthesis of Evidence," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9536, The World Bank.
    13. Edmonds, Eric & Theoharides, Caroline, 2020. "The short term impact of a productive asset transfer in families with child labor: Experimental evidence from the Philippines," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 146(C).
    14. Simon Feeny & Gill Westhorp & Emma Williams, 2023. "Understanding sustainable outcomes in international development: Towards a realist evaluation framework," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 35(1), pages 21-42, January.
    15. Acevedo, Paloma & Cruces, Guillermo & Gertler, Paul & Martinez, Sebastian, 2020. "How vocational education made women better off but left men behind," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    16. Alaref, Jumana & Brodmann, Stefanie & Premand, Patrick, 2020. "The medium-term impact of entrepreneurship education on labor market outcomes: Experimental evidence from university graduates in Tunisia," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    17. Marinus, Wytze & Descheemaeker, Katrien K.E. & van de Ven, Gerrie W.J. & Waswa, Wycliffe & Mukalama, John & Vanlauwe, Bernard & Giller, Ken E., 2021. "“That is my farm” – An integrated co-learning approach for whole-farm sustainable intensification in smallholder farming," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 188(C).
    18. Stöterau, Jonathan, 2019. "Job training programs for youth in low-income countries," PEGNet Policy Briefs 15/2019, PEGNet - Poverty Reduction, Equity and Growth Network, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • C93 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Field Experiments
    • D13 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Household Production and Intrahouse Allocation
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • O12 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development

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